A Day Discovering Our Little Hill

1/ The Mandatory Morning Coffee

The rain has cleared and we're out to play. The good news is that wet snow has fallen at about 1200m upwards.

The Bartons have learned that our "little hill" is not so "small". Today we took them for a more concentrated tour of our backyard - just the Les Carroz and Samoens areas. This is less than half the sectors that make up our ski resort called the Grand Massif. After an early start, a morning coffee and hot chocolate at our favourite chalet was mandatory!

All systems go today! Leanne has swapped her ski boots and she has no more foot pain! With a new lease of life, she positively tore down the slopes today. But we may have gone a little hard out again!! Mike was a shadow of his formal self! It took a little bit of encouragement to convince him to disengage from the couch for the evening's activities!!

4/ Hmm...a tired wee Mike!

Following the girls recommendation, the boys headed off to see the english version of Slumdog Millionaire. Leanne decided to go again too! She had slept through most of the film the first time around last Friday, when jet lag claimed her. I stayed home and tried to catch up on the blogging.

Blogging Observation

Don't ever get behind on a blog! It is a total nightmare to try and catch up! Not only that, you get copious emails and skype calls from your friends who are following it. Most of them were concerned that we had disappeared into the wilds of Slovakia but a few were very cross that I had not been keeping up to date! Please forgive me! I didn't mean to get behind, honestly! But when you are with friends it's very rude to have your head buried in the computer all the time! Add to this the lack of internet connection in Slovakian ...and there it is... a blogging crises!

Only 4 more days to catch up on....phew!!

The Sun Returns. Further Exploration.

1/ The skies filled again with hot-air balloons!!

After the cold foggy day yesterday, the skies have cleared and are again filled with balloons as the Les Carroz Montgolfiere Festival continues. Try as we might, it's seriously hard to get a good photograph of them once they are aloft. Our little all purpose digi-camera struggles. There is actually 12 balloons in the photo I have posted!

We could not get warm this morning. Despite the sunshine, a brisk northerly was blowing. That's our equivalent of a cold southerly downunder. In January, my usual ski attire has been an icebreaker t-shirt, 2 patagonia layers of long underwear, a patagonia black fleece, a purple windcheater vest and my red overjacket - that's 6 layers! I also have a pair of 3 layer gloves. And my fingers and toes are still cold. I can't imagine what it must be like skiing in North America or Canada when it's -10C or less! Although I will thank our Chamonix guide Eric, who taught us a bizarre shoulder & arm manouvre to get the blood pumping into the finger tips! It came in handy this morning. Shame he didn't also have a cure for cold toes!!

We met Rick & Liz for lunch today at the our favourite little mountain restaurant at the foot of the "Goolies" chairlift in Samoens. Rick, Graeme and I shared a delicious cheese fondue, while Liz very wisely chose a salad. Tragically, even though these traditional cheese fondues are totally scrumptious, they are not my friends! My digestive system exacts a wicked revenge when I eat very rich cakes, creamy pastas or too much cheese. So sadly, today will be my last cheese fondue. Sniff!

Over lunch, Rick advised us that an area that we had yet to ski in Flaine had opened. Called the Combe de Veret, it's a "cheeky little bowl" ( to borrow a favourite "Rick'ism") whose top is at 2309m. It faces west so it's nice and sunny in the afternoon, the vertical's good and best news is that it's serviced by a good ol' fashioned Poma. This means few or no snowboarders sharing our playground.....yeeha!

The old poma on the Combe de Veret was remarkably gentle. There's still quite a few poma's about the Grand Massif and to-date all of them have seriously dodgy springs. Graeme and I have regularly been launched high into the air as we get the pole between our legs. For obviously anatomical reasons, Graeme finds this a little less exciting than I do!! [No need for further details!!]

We think we've really got this filming caper stitched up now. Here's todays movie footage of our ski in the Combe de Veret and views across to Flaine and Mont Blanc.

2/ The surprisingly gentle Poma at the Combe de Veret

3/ "The Combe de Ger "

One of the best things about being able to ski the Combe de Veret today was the view from the top. We have a ski tour planned for tomorrow down into the Ger Valley. While it's hard to see from this photo, just out of the shadow is a lake and a very cute restaurant. A ski tour with hot chocolate and coffee? Who could ask for more?

4/ Our proposed route down into the Combe de Ger

The Early Bird Gets the Powder in France!!

1/ At the bottom of Les Gouilles (the "Goolies")

It really pays to be first on the slopes in France. The French are not early risers! While there was no more serious snow overnight, yesterday, we had spied an area in Samoens that had remained closed all day due to the high avalanche risk. The area faces due north ("the dark side!!) and has some good vertical . It is serviced by a classic old triple chairlift called Les Gouilles (we've knicknamed it the "Goolies"!!). Even on a perfectly good day, the operation of the Goolies is somewhat erratic. We have a sneaking suspicion that it closes for lunch (12:30 - 2pm) regardless of the snow or weather conditions. Classic!!

We had 5 fabulous runs in totally untracked knee deep powder by 10:30am when those pesky snowboarders arrived and swept half the snow down the mountain as they side slipped down the steep bits! I will refrain from making any prejudicial comments against snowboarders...but I'm sure you know what I am thinking!! To be fair there were a few good ones amongst them who were doing some beautiful lines through the rock chutes. Unfortunately, they were in the minority!

At the foot of the Goolies chairlift is a really cute little chalet/gite called Le Luge du Teran - not quite sure of the translation. Designed in the old style it is actually brand new. The bar lady was very friendly and the coffee was good. The lunch menu is also tempting. Even better, the prices look very reasonable. We had our cheapest coffee on the mountain so far E$2.80 for 2 espressos. Comparing it to E$6.80 for the same thing at Megeve, it was a bargain!

2/ & 3/ The very cute "Le Luge de Teran"

The sun had come out and after morning tea, we headed over to another shady face on Samoens which has become a favourite. It's a steep face and it's difficult to see what's over the edge when you leave the piste. Ideal!! We had taken a few runs down it yesterday and expected it to be tracked out, but no, the punters had left it alone and we enjoyed a pile of runs and a couple of good crashes as we completed the task of tracking it out!! There's some footage of Graeme on the lower section. He is having a mighty splendid time!! Click on http://picasaweb.google.com/TeWanaka/ArachesWeek10?authkey=erJxyjT9YrI## if you want to see live footage. We have been playing with our camera and we think we may have slightly improved the quality of image. Fingers crossed!

We will confess to being completely exhausted by 1:30pm and headed home for an early lunch.... and quite possibly a "Nana Nap". The sad but inescapable truth is that the ol' bodies are not as young as our minds!!

4/ Heading home through the sunlit trees! Magic!!