It was cold, grey, windy and looking a little miserable this morning so Chris, Thomas and I all headed towards the Sachette for shelter and fairly -haggis-trap-free’ skiing. When we arrived on top of the Palafour the Aiguille Percee chairlift was closed due to wind so we needed to come up with a Plan B quickly. Thomas showed me a little route of his down from the bottom of the Merles and it was excellent with good quality and surprisingly deep snow. It was nice having Thomas in front as it makes an incredible difference when you have someone below giving you the line in the flat-light. From there we circled back and if yesterday was perhaps the finest day of the season today we skied perhaps the finest run. (Code-mode although anyone who knows the resort should be able to figure it out!) Getting there involved dealing with a pretty punchy wind but once on the slope it was steep, deep, consistent and in 38-years as good as I’ve ever skied it. Wow!!! Thomas cut the track out and it was seriously hard work for his young legs as it was deep and I was glad it was him and not me! Thanks Thomas! We then finished with the Familial, Thomas going classic and my team skiing the funky run near the crater with the little tree sticking up to remind you of where you are and for a low-expectation morning it was outstanding!
Chris had a great morning and ended up near the Col du Palet and Grande Motte while Andreas was skiing with Tansy in St Foy scouting out the runs in the trees.
Dave Carr was unfortunately hit by a skier yesterday off-piste in the Cugnai and had two ribs broken. Collisions off-piste should never happen and poor Dave was taken out by an incredible idiot who had miles of space on either side of him. So sorry to hear about your accident Dave and we all wish you a speedy recovery! And good luck to Barry L who is having a problem with his Achilles tendon. Barry aggravated it last week while ‘skinning’ with me and we all hope it isn’t serious.
And 39 people were rescued out of the Gorge du Malpasset yesterday! Can you believe it! It was a huge financial day for the helicopter company as well as the rescue service here in town. Their skis were confiscated and the gendrames were involved to make sure they paid their bill.
It’s now clearing up at 2:15, which we could have used a couple of hours ago, but it looks like light snow and flat-light are forecast again for tomorrow. Stay tuned!
PS And it’s that time of the week when I start gearing up for the Guinea Pigs at the Danois tomorrow at 5:30 followed by Andreas and Karen and the weekly Alpine Get-Together on Friday starting at 5 o’clock. See you there!
PPS Tomorrow’s update may be late as I’m working all day, then going to the Danois for the ‘Pigs’ and then I’m out for dinner.