A Rendezvous with Daniel at Les Contamines

1/ Graeme & Daniel

We met Daniel at Les Contamines in early February. He was a lovely man who was trying to learn to telemark. Since meeting Daniel, he has called us a couple of times to invite us to stay at his house near Annecy. Unfortunately, every time he rang us we were about to head off somewhere, first to Slovakia and then Livigno. To be fair we were also a bit reluctant to go off and stay with a bloke we had only met for a couple of hours and could hardly communicate with.

But we decided to trust our instincts and meet up again with Daniel. The easiest place for us both seemed to be back at Les Contamines, the resort where we had first met. Daniel knows the resort well and we still have free tickets there.

2/ The Lunch Gathering

Our meeting with Daniel is remarkable in that he really does not speak English and we really don't speak French. As you can imagine our whole day was full of hilarious miscommunications and widespread reliance on Franglish.

Even more challenging, the idea behind the day was for Graeme to give Daniel some telemark lessons! We'd double checked with Liz some key phrases we could use - "flechez les jambs" , "poid egal" and "regardez on ba la montagne"!

It was so hot today and the snow turned very quickly. Our best skiing was done mid morning before "la neige devenir comme souppe!" Along the way, we learnt quite a bit about Daniel. We knew that he was separated and that he has 3 sons, David, Jeremy and Timothy, who are all grown now. He also has a little grand-daughter.

Graeme can't believe how so many people feel the need to "unburden themselves" to me. In the past, without any prompting on my part, Te Wanaka guests would often reveal the most random "dark secrets" to me. I have no idea why? I've checked my forehead to confirm there's no tatoo saying " Tell me all!" or "I am your confidante". But suffice to say, Daniel too, felt the need to share his dark secret with me today while riding the chairlift. There was nothing lost in translation, but the wonderful thing is that after a hard 3 years, he now has a second chance at life and is revelling in the opportunity to re-establish his relationship with his 3 sons.

3/ The cadeaux! Daniel presented us with a pen and little key ring.

By lunch-time both Daniel and I were pleading with Graeme - "On n'a plus les jambs!" (We have no more legs left!). Kindly Graeme stopped the lessons and we enjoyed a healthy lunch of pomme frittes in the sunshine. [The budget is starting to get pretty tight!!] Over lunch, Graeme pulled out his map of the area and were were able to establish exactly where Daniel lived and where he worked. He lives in a little village called Le Villard in Parc National Reg. du Massif des Bauges. And he works as a remontee mechanic at a tiny resort called Margeriaz.

Lunch was a long one. We all seemed to have lost enthusiasm for tackling the "souppe" again. But we wanted to get some photos and film footage of Daniel skiing, so we managed to have a couple more runs before we called it a day.

It is always surprising how you can still communicate when you have a common interest. We had a really fun day with Daniel and we are pleased he persisted with us. We wish him well for the future and hope that we can keep in contact with him.

4/ Not the best shot of Daniel telemarking. He did much better avant midi! But to be fair! He was skiing in "souppe" and like me - "Il n'a plus les jambes!!"

A Quick Recon & We Introduce Rick to Telemarking!

Shaking off the sunny sky blues, we got ourselves motivated today.

A busy day today! We want to take a quick reconnaissance of the Flaine back-country, be back in Les Carroz by 11:30 to meet Rick for telemark lessons and then home for dinner with Hubert & Marie.

1/ Flaine Backcountry - Desert de Plate

It's been so hot here this week, that I am seriously worried about the stability of the snow pack.

There's been no frosts overnight and the freezing level is floating between 2200 - 2600m. There's a heap of natural wet slides around and I tossed and turned with nightmares about falling down Flaine rock holes or getting caught in an avalanche. I am driving Graeme crazy with all my fears and making it impossible for him to plan any tours! Who'd be married to me?

Compromise was a "dawn raid" of the Flaine backcountry. The deal, no freeze-up, no go! We were on the first telecabine from Flaine to the top 2500m at 8:45am. Looks like all my nightmares are groundless. The snow - she was locked up solid! All the holes are well covered but still easy to see. It was a slick, quick run down to the floor of the Desert de Plate but it gave us a much better idea of all the aspects and angles. Much to Graeme's relief, I am much happier about touring there now. Back up at the top of Flaine at 10:30 am for the lift down and back down the hill to meet Rick in Les Carroz for his first telemark lesson.

2/ Having a good look around Flaine backcountry in the early morning sunshine

3/ Ground Zero - Rick not looking confidant about this Telemark Caper!!

Oh no! We've created another telemark enthusiast. After a nervous start, Rick picked up telemarking really quickly. By the second run he was linking turns and by the fifth run we had moved off the beginner slope to something steeper! Well done Rick. Graeme likes to think it's his tuition that does the trick. I'm not sure about that ....I am also his student. Rick's comment of the day. "I like it much better than snowboarding!" Well duh!!!???

4/ I'm not sure I should put a caption to this one?

This evening, I invited Hubert and Marie for dinner. Marie has been here for the week with the kids and Hubert has joined them over the Easter break. French children are on holidays again! Can you believe it? Two weeks in Feb, 2 weeks over Easter, 6 weeks July/August, 2 weeks Oct/beginning Nov, 2 weeks at Christmas. That's 14 weeks of holidays! If my calculations are right, that's 3 -4 more weeks than Kiwi kids get? Add to that, children in the Haute Savoie region don't go to school on Wednesdays - well there's skiing to do, after all!!

Conversation is alway interesting with H&M. Their english is perfect (unlike our abyssmal French), but I still think some things are lost in translation. Marie tried to tell me that French people don't drink that much. Using their family as the example, she told me that she and Hubert only have wine on the weekends. Hubert explained that he also never has wine at business lunches or during the working week. I'm not sure about this? We saw Hubert after a hectic week of wine-tasting (business trip) in the S-W of France. Do you think they are kidding us?

The other classic French observation arose because Hubert is now sporting a very nice new pair of bifocal glasses. They look very smart on him, although he is concerned that he can no longer see his feet clearly anymore? I reassured him that "feet aren't that interesting!" But the discussion about spectacles led us to a question about whether you have to have an eye test to get a drivers licence in France. "Well....no, not really. If you are wearing glasses in your licence photograph, then you can be fined if the police pull you over and you're not wearing them" explained Marie. "But if you don't wear your glasses when the photo is taken, even if your eyesight is poor, then there will be no penalty" Marie chuckles wickedly. "Silly French way, hey?" "No not really....it just explains so much!" I reply.

It was a late night as we delved further into the french education system, familes, working mothers, house design...so much to talk about...so little time.

A Fabulous Last Day and Evening in Livigno

1/ Farewell to our "height challenged Zini Apartment!"

Isn't it always the way? The last day of a visit is often the best?

The morning was spent saying farewell to the Zini Family and our comfy but "height challenged" apartment. Loading the car with our gear, we set out on foot to explore the streets of Livigno in depth. Our room at the B&B -"Chalet Moon" will not be ready until mid morning.

My husband is a very lucky man. Not only do I share his passion for skiing, but I suspect that I'm the only woman in the world not enthralled by "retail therapy". Mind you, if I was going to change my "spots", Livigno might just be the place that could tempt me. The shopping is mind blowing. A tax-free haven, the shops are bristling with all the best brands. Clothing, shoes, jewellery, stylish homewares and of course ski, bike and outdoor equipment from all corners of the globe. All at very reasonable tax free prices.

But we were on a mission. Not only were my gloves worn out, somehow I managed to lose them the day before yesterday. I have memories of putting them down in the carpark before our ski tour. I can't honestly remember picking them up again!! Fortunately, the weather has been positively balmy and I have been surviving on some spare fleece gloves, but given it will be winter again in NZ, I really do need a new pair. The feature list was very specific. My gloves needed - 1/A Goretex outer and removable inners. 2/ They have to be long and reach over my wrist with an adjustable wrist strap. Should be easy enough to find?

After searching the length and breadth of Livigno ski shops, we learned that finding the perfect combination of all these features, was severely limited. I was seriously losing interest after our 3rd ski shop. Luckily for me, Graeme comes from a long line of professional shoppers and took over the task. Somehow along the way, I was distracted by the most beautiful pair of patent leather black boots you ever did see. A pair of utilitarian gloves no longer held any appeal once I had tried on the "Cinderella boots"- their soft shiny leather was all I could think about. But alas, the budget could only stretch to one choice...the gloves or the boots....sigh!! What to do?

By late morning we had made our purchase and returned to meet Roberta at Chalet Moon. As expected (given Genni's glowing recommendation) our room was perfect. We didn't have much time to spare however, we were due to meet an English bloke called Philip at the top of the Carosella gondola. We made it and met up again with Fritz the swiss mountain guide and some german guys, Franz and Christian for some more ...you guessed it ...telemarking!

2/ An unusual position for Fritz - he is normally an outstanding telemark skier.. but those misery sticks can catch out even the professionals!!

I can't say that I shared the blokes passion for this form of skiing, but it was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon and it was fun to be out on the hill. Suddenly, when I let go all the "instructions" and just kept up with the boys, something seemed to "click". Finally, I was making it down the slope without the usual thigh burn. Maybe I was getting the hang of this telemark skiing? A small glimmer of hope wedged in my brain and was growing bigger after each run. I was getting good at this....at least until I tripped over my new telemark ego and landed in a messy pile of skis mid-way through our last run. I managed to skewer my left buttock on a ski tip. I can't even begin to imagine the yoga pose I had to perform in mid air to achieve this feat!! I will surely be sporting a good bruise on my bottom over the next few days.

3/ In true telemark tradition - it was soon "Beer O'Clock"

The end of the day was drawing near, and in true La Skieda fashion, free pasta and a band were on offer at one of the mountain cafes. Well, it would be rude not to accept such hospitality. N'est pas?

The band was another classic Italian music experience. Headed up by one of the most unkempt Italian's we've seen so far, it was a repertoire of heavy metal classics, ZZ-Top, Kiss, AC-DC, Lynard Skynard... the list went on. He couldn't sing for nuts, but his guitar playing was great and he really had the Angus Young, ZZ-Top hair flick thing going!

But the true highlight of the afternoon on the bar terrace was the masterful skiing of Luigi Martinelli - largely credited as the founding father of La Skieda. Hurtling down the heavily moguled slope above the bar on his tele's, he stopped abruptly to send a huge wave of spring snow cascading over the band. Not content with his first trick, he then continued to ski down at warp speed, launch off a snow bank, land on a table, jump off that and arrive on stage to join the chorus. John Falkiner in his Jame Bond stuntman mode couldn't have done better! The crowd roared approval!

3/ Check out that hair!!

The afternoon's entertainment was hard to beat, but we wound up the day with a great pasta meal in the evening with the Blokes!

One of the most memorable stories of the evening was of course from Fritz the Swiss Mountain guide. Despite being of more mature years (he's 57) and his conservative Swiss demeanour, he was sporting an unusual earring in his left ear. It was a small gold cow. I couldn't resist asking him about it. His story was a good one.

Fritz's passion is ice-climbing and it turns out that one day he was out friendly climbing with two german women. Arriving at their first pitch there was much debate about the integrity of a very beautiful looking ice column. The women were adamant that the column was broken and shouldn't be climbed. Fritz was equally adamant that it was fine. The debate continued for some time until finally "bets were laid". The bet was that whoever was wrong had to get a "body piercing". The mind boggles how on earth a bet involving "piercing" came about at the bottom of an ice-climb? But there you go....I'm not a climber?

Fritz admitted to me, that while he was pretty sure about the ice-column, he thought he'd put in a bit of rock protection too...just in case! He's very proud of his earring. He reckons the bet saved his life. About 20 m up, the whole ice-column collapsed leaving him dangling from the rock! He was more than happy to get the piercing but baulked at the initial suggested location by the girls! Understandable...he is Swiss and married after all.

Swapping email addresses, we were sad to being saying good-bye to Livigno, La Skieda and all the wonderful people we have met this week. Perhaps with the power of the internet we'll manage to stay in touch. Fritz, Franz, Philip and Christian are all very keen for us to create a NZ version of La Skieda....hmmmm?

A Cruising Kinda Day

1/ Looking to Livigno backcountry. Photo doesn't show it but there are wet slides
on every face including the northly aspects!!

It's seriously spring now. The sun is shining and there's not a breath of wind. Wet slides are occurring all over the back-country as the sun cooks the slopes. Without a freeze overnight, the touring conditions are not good. Consequently, after 3 late nights and early starts in a row, we whimped out and stayed in bed this morning.

But by late-morning, I was back on those misery sticks, persisting with this telemark caper! Graeme is incredibly patient with me. But at the moment, I feel that I have hit the "intermediate wall". I find that I'm not progressing beyond groomed runs. The tips from John Falkiner have been helpful, but nothing has really clicked for me so far. After 10 turns my thighs are burning with lactic acid and by the end of the run, I am doubled over with nausea. And this is supposed to be fun....???

Fortunately, being pretty tired himself, Graeme was amenable to taking a few breaks today. Our first stop was a high mountain restaurant where we found ourselves surrounded by Poles, Slovaks and Czechs. After spending time in Slovakia with Dana, the distinctive sounds of the Slovak language are now familiar to us. We have learned that aside from the cheap lift tickets, accommodation and food, the duty free alcohol (in particular spirits like vodka) is a major attraction for these tourists. There certainly does not seem to be a shortage of money. We have been astounded at the number of former communists driving top of the line 4WD Mercedes, Audis and BMW's. I did have to giggle when Genni, our italian landlady hinted darkly that these tourists are mainly new mafia. Now, given that we are in Italy... surely that would be the "pot calling the kettle black!!?"

2/ This Polish lady was having so much fun after washing her lunch down with
the cheap Livigno vodka that she obviously thought she was at the beach.
Taking off her top and shoes, she danced around in the snow in her bare feet!!

3/ A traditional farmhouse bar

Second stop was a funky little farmhouse restaurant in the late afternoon sunshine. Instead of beer, my preferred choice is a "Panochet" - a French shandy of beer and lemonade. I often mistakenly call this drink a Chilean Dictator (a "Pinochet"), but the long suffering french in our resort now know what I mean. It took a little more explaining in Italy! The ol' Pinochet, is much better for the balance if you have to continue skiing! Not that anything seems to help my telemark skiing. Graeme on the other hand ordered a medium sized beer - see below. Not sure how large BIG would have been?

4/ Graeme and his "medium beer"

Tonight we are attending the last dinner of the Festival! Then, up early tomorrow morning to change accommodation. Unfortunately like most apartments in Europe, they're only a 7 night deal - Saturday to Saturday. If you want to stay longer than that period you need to book a hotel or pension. Fortunately, through Genni we have found a good little B&B called Chalet Moon just down the road.

Not the Best Day for a Ski Tour!

1/ Daniela & Luciano. Sure they're smiling now...but it's only the beginning.

Somehow we managed to struggle out of bed this morning after the mountain top dinner last night. We were meeting Daniela and Luciano for one of the organised ski tours being held each day during the festival. Sensibly D&L didn't go to the party last night. The were bright eyed and bushy tailed. A sharp contrast to our own bleary eyes and sagging tails!! Nevertheless we made it to the cable car on time and the morning cappucino at the top helped start our engines.

2/ A busy day for the ski tour!!

It was not the best day for a ski tour. The weather has changed. It was warm and foggy today and the powder snow at the beginning of the week is now only a distant memory. The excursion turned out really to be an endurance event, travelling in a dense fog, with 70 or so other telemarkers up and down the ridge-line separating Italy and Switzerland. Ordinarily the views are really quite something, so it was disappointing to have only the view of Graeme's bottom wiggling in front of me as he shuffled along on his skins. Ordinarily a good view in itself, but I have seen rather a lot of it over the recent months!

I had learnt my lesson from the last ski tour and today I donned my "normal" skis rather than try and pretend that I was anything else other than a very ordinary intermediate telemark skier. Nobody seemed to mind and I wasn't immediately ostrascised from the telemark community. Such is the relaxed attitude of these kind people.

About half way into the tour, I am sooooooo relieved that I didn't use the telemark skis. After a 2.5 hour skin up to the ridgeline in a white out, we had to back track to find a safe skiable slope back to the resort. With such poor visability, the original tour plan was abandoned. As is often the way with ski touring, the snow was heinous. Either heavy and wet or diabolical breakable crust. It would have been impossible for me to ski this on telemarks. I had enough trouble on my alpine skis! Graeme seemed to have no trouble at all and made a wonderful job of skiing in such difficult conditions. He received a terrific tip from John on our last tour and it was reinforced in the lesson we had yesterday. Graeme has been able to apply the "Cat Step" to very useful effect in the breakable crust conditions.

3/ Luciano loves his cake!! And cheese too!!

The "Ski Tour from Hell" as Daniela termed it, culminated in a final steep climb back to the ski resort. The final skin required about 10 or so kick-turns, so if you were not able to perform these easily, it was extremely hard going. The technique for a telemark kick-turn is actually very tricky and Daniela found it almost impossible. She was totally exhausted when she finally made it back to the ski resort.

Nothing a good bowl of pasta and a delicious cake couldn't fix however! We waited for D&L and joined them for lunch. Sadly, they are leaving this afternoon, as Daniela has to be back at work on Friday. But we've swapped emails and hopefully we'll have time to nip over to Italy and the Aosta valley before we leave France.

Late afternoon, we stopped by to see some ski films submitted to the Livigno Mountain Film Festival that is being held concurrently with La Skieda. We were especially interested to see a telemark film from Australia. A low-budget film, it nevertheless had some fantastic footage of skiing in the snowy mountains and around Hotham and Falls Creek. I am not sure that the European crowd was really that impressed by the skiing footage. I mean to say, skiing around on windswept hard packed slab snow understandably doesn't push their buttons. But there was some footage of a Val D'Isere patroller who spent a winter at Thredbo. His observations about our intense sun, blue sky and lovely snow gums went over well with the audience.

By early evening, we are back in our little apartment and I am busy blogging away, trying desperately to catch up. Graeme has left me to it, heading off to see another film or theatre production as part of the festival. I can't blog and socialise I'm afraid. But now I am back to the general silence of long term marriage!! ...I should hopefully make some progress.

4/ I love European villages. The view from our apartment window.
A horse stabled next door being fed for the evening.

A Striptease, A Lesson and A Delicious Dinner in Livigno

1/ An uninspiring Strip-tease!!

The La Skieda crew of telemark skiers (all 1,300 of 'em) are an eclectic bunch. Racers, jibbers, old hippies, the young & the old from all corners of the globe.
And today we were treated to a wonderfully extroverted group of telemarkers from Sweden (where else?) who liked to get naked in public. Standing on their tables during the peak lunch hour at the Refuge Carosella, they put on a fine show. It's always a time consuming process to rid oneself of all your ski gear. Personally, it was taking so long, I lost interest and went for coffee. I think from the few photos Graeme took, he wasn't that impressed either. I mean to say, looking at the photo, we are not talking prime beef cake here..are we??? Nevertheless the crowd, egged on by the band, went suitably wild.

We confess to a late start to the day this morning. We didn't get to bed until midnight (very very late for us) after seeing some of the award winning films from the most recent Banff Mountain Film Festival. All manner of extreme mountain sports were featured, climbing, skiing, paragliding, speed skiing, skydiving and base jumping. The main feature film was about 3 Base Jumpers (An Australian, American and Norwegian) who travel to the heart of China to freefall 2km into a gigantic cave. An interesting armchair glimpse into the psyche of men with a serious death wish!!

2/ Andy : "You want me to do what? On Telemark Skis - you gotta be kidding?"

After lunch we joined John Falkiner again for a Telemark Clinic called "Balance before Power". His theory is that, if you are balanced, then you use much less "power/energy" to drive the telemark skis. Sounds great in theory. I'm keen to learn any technique that will reduce the excrutiating thigh burn I experience every time I don the "Misery Sticks".

The afternoon consisted of some hilarious exercises : - handclapping, buddhist chanting (Om Bar Cha, Cha, Cha) and arm waving. Most of the exercises had to be done with our boots completely undone, in "walk" mode and without our poles. Other routines included skiing on one ski while lifting the uphill ski and placing it down as gently as possible during your turn - The "Cat Step". Lastly John had the whole class hurtle down a mogul field yelling "Ding Dong" over each bump like a bunch of crazed Avon sales ladies! By this stage I'm starting to get suspicious that we are secretly being filmed for the "candid camera" segment of the La Skieda festival?

I still have a long way to go before I am truly efficient at this telemarking caper, but Graeme enjoyed the clinic and found a number of the exercises really useful. But the best thing about the afternoon was meeting up with a lovely Italian couple from the Aosta valley (near Chamonix). Daniela is a psychologist and Luciano a ski instructor. Interesting combination to be sure. But they were delightful. Daniela spoke perfect english and Luciano spoke perfect "ski english" as he called it. Just don't ask him to explain Italian politics in English!!

We had plenty of time to get to know each other as part of the lesson also included stopping for a beer at a mountain top restaurant. Typical La Skieda fashion!! Needless to say the last lesson on the run down the mountain was fairly challenging with loose boots, no poles and a beer in our bellies!!

2/Andy, Daniela and John & others on the "beer stop" part of John's Clinic!!

And finally after a good cup of tea and a lie down, we frocked up for a special mountain top dinner. Graeme and I, are constantly in awe of the organisation of this huge event, but it was entirely due to some lucky connections that we managed to get into this dinner. Let me explain.

We are staying in the home of the Zini Family- a 3 story old fashioned apartment complex which, apart from our flat, is occupied entirely by Zini's. Aunts, Uncles, daughters & son-in-laws. Truly the European way. The Zini family, as we have been learning, are quite famous in the Livigno Valley. Everyone in the village seems to know Genni, who manages our apartment for her family. Genni's sister, now retired, was a famous speed skater and won a bronze medal in the last winter olympics.

As it happens, Genni is a telemark skier too, and she has taken the week off work to go to join the party that is La Skieda Festival. We keep running into her at various events and have enjoyed snippets of conversation with her. On the night of the special mountain top dinner, we realised that although we had booked the dinner when we registered, the flustered receptionist had failed to give us the tickets we needed to gain entry. We were with Genni when we realised this. We were so lucky that she was able to explain what had happened to the door attendants and plead our case for us...in Italian! We would have been lost without her help and doomed to have missed an incredible experience in the mountains. What luck to have been staying with her!!

As I have mentioned before.. these Italians really know how to cater. I guess I always knew this having grown up in Melbourne with many Italian friends, but this mountain top dinner for 200 or so people was really something. 4 courses, with wine and coffee all included in the price of our festival ticket. What a bargain!

Ours was a truly multi-cultural table. To our left were 3 young french couples from Geneva, and to the right, an older (60's) immaculately dressed Swiss mountain guide (Fritz..yes seriously), and then a team of wild french/spanish boys from the Pyrenes and La Grave who produce hand-made wooden skis. [I still didn't find out which one was Vincent!! ]. Across from us was a German chemistry professor, a mountain guide from Conneticut and his aircraft engineer wife. I told you that telemarkers are an eclectic bunch!! Needless to say the conversation was wonderfully interesting.

"Guess the German?"

To top off the night we caught the cable car down with Genni's father, Guido, who unfortunately does not speak a word of English. But also sharing our cabin was another lovely local couple who were also friends of Genni's. They had been to NZ and Australia and we enjoyed a lively conversation about their experiences on the long ride down the mountain.

What a day, what a night? How are we going to be up at the crack of dawn for the next ski tour??

Italians Know How to Party!!

1/ Festa Trepallina - One Huge Party!!

We learned today that there are over 1300 telemarkers registered for this La Skieda festival. Yes, folks...that's 1300 telemark skiers in this one valley. I'd be fairly sure that there's not 1300 telemark skiers in the whole of NZ or Australia for that matter.

And today, after reaching the valley floor, we skied to "Festa Trepallina", a free luncheon for all the festival attendees and half the Livigno township. We can't even begin to estimate the number of people all sitting in the sun enjoying in a deserted valley at the back of the ski resort. Words fail me when I try to capture the fantastic organisation and party atmosphere of this event. Best view the film footage!!

The food was amazing, great vats of polenta, spare ribs, ragout, salad, cheese, bread and a beer! I suspect, every Mama in Livigno had been cooking for a week in preparation for this event.

Above us, the freeride Skieda competition was being held. The experts showed us how it's done! Tearing down the slope, they launched themselves off rocks and used the trees as race poles. An incredibly daunting display!! The DJ, was playing all the classic tunes - Rolling Stones, George Thorogood, Zee-zee Top, all the hippy classics, mixed with some good latin salsas, bossanova and topped off with Pavarotti and Julie Andrews!! Classic!!

These Italians truly know how to throw a party!!

2/ The whole village was manning the food assembly lines!

3/ The Dance Party

4/ The Fancy Dress!

Ski Touring with an old Aussie Bloke

1/ Ski Touring out from Livigno this morning.

Each morning of the La Skieda Telemark Festival, there is an excursion led by professional guides to one of the surrounding peaks or valleys. With the bright sunshine and the hope that there was still some powder to be found on the north facing aspects, we organised to go out for a ski tour with John Falkiner. John, originally from Geelong, Melbourne, now lives in Verbier, Switzerland.


John is most famous for the stunt skiing in James Bond films but his involvement in the ski industry over the last 30 years is legendery. He knows a lot of the guides in Wanaka, but the funniest coincidence is that Graeme remembers taking a ski lesson from him way back in the 70's at Mt Buller! Graeme wore his Mt Buller beanie and giggle sun-hat (donated by his patroller brother) today especially for John!

2/ Graeme putting in some nice turns!

I was very relieved that our tri-lingual group (3 English speakers, one Italian and 2 French) were intermediate skiers and we were going to take an easier line down the mountain. I had elected to use the "misery sticks" (telemark skis), figuring that, after all, it was a telemark festival and it would've been rude to turn up for the tour with alpine gear!! A bit like arriving at an AA meeting with a bottle of wine!

As expected, John had a good eye for the easiest skin line and where to find the best snow. But I can't say I excelled in the telemark department, I think I managed 3 telemark turns for the whole morning! But the snow was too good to waste with ugly tele-turns and in the end I just wanted to put in a nice set of parallel turns. This telemark skiing thing is going to take some serious persistence and leg endurance on my part!

3/ John & my tracks! Hardly "figure of 8" are they?

Graeme was easily the best skier of the group. The french and italian women were very tentative. This excursion was obviously one of their first ventures skiing off-piste or away from the comfort of the resort. As a consequence, there were many stops and breaks in the journey while skis were collected, sunglasses cleared of snow and confidence restored. As a credit to our guide, we all managed to make it down in one piece!! But there was no pressure. We assured John that we were more than happy with the pace. We enjoy just getting out in the mountains and the weather was glorious!

4/ John Falkiner -"Probably wondering why he had been stuck
with a bunch of beginners this morning!!?"

Joining us on the tour, was Andy, from Edinburgh who was learning to telemark. John and his partner, Kathy, have been to the last three La Skieda festivals and we can see why they keep coming back. Where else do you get free ski guiding and lessons everyday from some of the top professionals in the business?

There was some serious incentive to get down the hill. Below us in the valley, a fantastic La Skieda luncheon awaited us!

Calling all Woodwork Enthusiasts

1/ Vincent's beautiful wooden roof box!

The La Skieda Telemark Festival is full of quirky characters. One of these is the mad french man, Vincent from the Pyrenees in South-West France, who makes and sells handmade wooden skis. Due to language difficulties, I haven't been able to ascertain exactly which one he is. I'd like to think he is the tall scruffy crusty looking fellow in the photo below, but I couldn't be certain.

Vincent brands his skis AME and he will custom make a ski to your specifications. They had these skis available for testing during the first few days of the festiva. Graeme tried a pair but they were too short for him. Unfortunately all their longer skis were out being tested. He wasn't that impressed, but couldn't say whether it was the inappropriate length or the ski itself.

But aside from all this, Vincent is a supreme wood craftsman. He even carries his skis in a custom made wooden roof box. Absolutely a wonder to behold. Aaah how I wish I was able to converse fluently in French so I could learn more about Vincent and his magical skis.

2/ More detail...for the enthusiast!

3/ The skis and sales pitch on the side of the combi!! How hippy!
Tragically, we don't know if the guy in the yellow is Vincent or not.

Livigno, La Skieda and Finding our Feet.

1/ Livigno Village - spread out in a narrow strip along the valley floor

Livigno, is a township of about 5000 permanent residents. Situated at 1800m, Livigno is one of Italy's highest habitations. The town runs north-south along a narrow strip in the middle of the valley floor. It has obviously developed this way due to the constant threat of avalanches which can pour down from the 3000+ m peaks on either side.

Starting life as a small & struggling agricultural community, Livigno is now a major tourist destination. Through some quirk in history, Livigno enjoys a tax-free status. This means, petrol, alcohol, cigarettes and luxury goods are all cheaper here than in Europe. Add to this, reliable skiing in the winter, beautiful summer hiking and the fabulous Italian food and hospitality and you have all the ingredients for a wicked tourist destination.

2/ The wonderful old wooden houses

Most of the buildings in the village are brick and stone, but a few of the ancient wooden cabins have been restored to their former glory.

The ski resort has 2 parts. East of the village is Carosello 3000, the larger more developed area and to the west, Motollino. Both sides are connected by a free bus, servicing the whole of the village. But both areas are big enough that you can easily spend the whole day without having to cross the valley.

It was still snowing lightly this morning with low cloud obscuring the mountain tops. Despite the weather we were excited to get out amongst it and be part of this La Skieda Festival.

The La Skieda Telemark Festival first started in 1993 with 53 attendees. This year there were over 1200 telemark skiers registered, such is the popularity of this festival. The organisation is massive. Part festival, sales conference, film festival, huge party and sporting event, La Skieda has something for everyone. If you want to see a really neat website about the event - click here. Every year there is a theme and in 2009 it was a "Fairytale" theme with an emphasis on reducing the impact on the environment.

The township of Livigno, on its own, has a strong history of telemark skiing and everyone seems to embrace and passionately support the La Skieda festival. Even our landlady Genni is a keen telemark skier. She and her boyfriend Fabio have taken the week off work just so they can attend the festival!

To get our bearings, we spend the morning testing the greatest selection of Telemark equipment you could possibly wish to see on the Mottolino side of the hill. All the latest boots, bindings and brands of telemark skis! Graeme was in seventh heaven, tearing up and down the slopes trying all sorts of the latest telemark gear. Meanwhile I was coming to grips with the concept of 7 days on the "misery sticks" as I call affectionately call them!

Today's La Skieda events included a ski tour (which unfortunately was cancelled due to avalanche danger & weather), a classic ski race hampered more than a little by the poor visibility and ski testing. This evening is the opening of the Livigno Film Festival, followed finally by a "Fire Party" with free food and drink in a forest venue up the valley.

Confessing to a "Nana Nap" after the trauma of my first day on tele's, we made the opening film of the Livigno Film Festival late afternoon. The opening film was the "The Fine Line" an interesting film with great photography and ski footage, but also some rather sobering images and commentary about the increasing number of deaths and injuries from avalanches.

Back to the apartment for a quick bite to eat then off in the car (sorry environmentalists!) to find the Fire Party. Located at the southern end of the village, a magical pathway, lit by laterns led us deep into the forest. Arriving at the bonfire, the party was well underway. But at this early stage, getting to know people is proving tricky due to the language barrier. So many of the people are from Livigno and neighbouring villages. They all know each other. We are very much the newcomers! We have our ears tuned to pick up on any native english speakers. But so far, no luck.

It has snowed on & off today and the snow is still coming down even more heavily tonight....looks like another powder day. Can we really take anymore of this??

4/ The Fire Party

It's a Fondue & Telemark Fest

1/ Stir that Fondue, Mike! You know what happens to those who burn the Fondue!!

It's Fondue-arama! Friday night -venison fondue with Rick & Liz and last night - cheese fondue with the Teste Family. They have driven all the way from Lyon just to meet the Kiwi celebrities, Mike & Leanne and introduce them to the delights of the Cheese Fondue!!

Put aside memories of that last cholesterol test...you are about to enter the "Danger Zone!" The traditional Savoyarde cheese fondue is a 200g/ per person mixture of melted Comte savoyarde, emmental & beaufort cheeses combined with 100ml of dry white wine per person. Hubert has a "close relationship" with Christine from our local Haute Savoie fromagerie! She knows just how Hubert likes his cheese combination!! If my description is sounding a little risque...it is intended. The French have a sensuous and emotional attachment to their food. It is important to know all the vital statistics, source, melting temperature, fat content and the taste subtleties between varieties. I'm sure that the French would ask for the names of the cows who donated the milk if they could!! The thought of picking up some pre-packaged supermarket cheese is unthinkable!!

We had to procure "Hubert's special cheese mixture" from Christine on our way home from skiing yesterday. We hid the bag under our coats and locked the car doors ....this stuff was obviously like gold!"

2/ Not our best photo - missing Leanne and Graeme, but they were there!!

Hubert's fondue recipe is a little modified from the traditional recipe. He found that he ended up with very sleepy children with so much white wine! So now he uses beer instead. The procedure is relatively simple. First the fondue pot (a caquelon) is rubbed with garlic. Hubert reluctantly has to be gentle with the garlic. According to him, Marie is one of only two women in the whole of France who does not like garlic. (The other woman is her mother!!). Next comes the cheese and the beer. Nothing complicated there, but woe betide if you don't keep stirring and burn the cheese. Along with murder, this is a capital offence in the Haute Savoie. Mike was motivated to keep stirring!

The mixture is then served on a warmer and eaten with bread squares skewered on long forks and dipped into the cheese. Accompaniments can include pepper, mustard and a light salad. But beware: there are penalties for losing the bread off your fork and into the cheese. In the Teste household, if you lose your bread you have to sing. This rule was quickly changed after I launched into what I thought was a spectacularly tuneful version of "Once a Jolly Swagman". Very disappointing! I was less enthusiastic about the new rule - a lap around the house outside in your underwear!!

If the fondue mixture has been kept at the right temperature there will be a thin crust of toasted (not burnt) cheese left at the bottom of the caquelon. This is called "la religieuse". It more or less means - "the nun". Why? I have no idea?? La religieuse has the texture of a thin cracker and can be lifted out and eaten. Alternatively, an egg can be cracked into the bottom for cheesey scrambled eggs or sugar and more alcohol added for a caramalised treat. We had the caramalised version. Fortunately, Marie sensibily provided a delicious orange segment dessert to help with the "internal deglazing".

French Observation

I continue to wonder why the Haute Savoie or indeed the whole of France is not knee deep in people turning purple and clutching their chests! In addition to cholesterol loaded meals like fondue & raclette, the French consume copious quantities of butter, dairy products and pork. Why doesn't France lead the world in heart disease? Apparantly someone else has also given this some thought. See Wikipedia - The French Paradox

I like the "red wine" explanation myself. Consuming red wine is thought to cancel the cheese effect! Well thank goodness for that!!! Bottoms Up!!!

Teaching Marie to Telemark

Still digesting our fondue from last night, Graeme and I headed out on the slopes again this morning. We had promised to introduce Marie to the "Misery Sticks" ie. the delights of telemark skiing. Despite the glorious warm sunny weather, we were abandoned by the Bartons who wanted (read: needed) to have a break from skiing.

As we've come to expect from the multi-talented Teste family, Marie picked up telemark skiing very quickly. After one run on the beginners slope she was off down a Red piste. Click here to see today's footage and the marvellous example set by Marie's instructor! Way to go Andy!!

During the day we kept asking Marie if her legs were tired. She kept assuring us that her legs were fine! Hmmm...Graeme and I suspected that she was not trying hard enough!! We had to retire hurt at lunch time - our legs were killing us! Marie continued to ski on into the afternoon! We'll have her out on the moguls next time!!

We returned home for lunch with the Bartons and a relaxing walk around our village in the sunshine.

Another French Observation

Now I'm not saying that the French are short. We have only a small sample group here in the mountains from which to judge. But so far, I have yet to meet any tall Frenchies! The few tall men that I have seen on the slopes have had British or German accents. I will continue my search for "de grande taille" Frenchman!

3/ Graeme - a giant among french women!!

Marie and Geraldine from our local ski rental shop.