Knackered

Tues 7th: Lazy day. Crashed completely as knackered from all the fun / lack of sleep for the last two weeks. New skis arrived, sick. Spent all day working out what / how to mount them. Failed. Still in limbo sitting there. Went climbing with Flynn.

New on left, second hand on right

Busy, busy day

Mon 6th: Work at 5am, only 5h after getting back from pub quiz (no I didn’t drink). Que a strong, large coffee (first of season).

Back by 9am and headed straight over to Les Contamines with Jason, his brother Sean, other Big Rich, Charlie, Roberta and her brother Matt.

The snow definitely didn’t live up to our hopes due to the horrible temperature inversion. The thermometer at the midstation read 11 degrees when we left at 3:30pm. Still managed to get some good skiing in (and some utter shit of course).

We were pretty careful due to avalanche debris everywhere. Dropped off the back of the top chair (not from the very top as that was steeper and looked ready to go). Snow was awesome to start off with then became increasingly awful. Got to the bottom thoroughly demoralised.

Carried on though and found some decent-ish snow. Charlie and I hiked a few mini ridges but photos and video weren't great due to poor lighting. Highlight was Jason's front flip/forward roll into a snow drift.

Got home and left immediately for work again. Ouch. Got back, pub for many G+Ts with Jason, Sean and Charlie.

Might be getting old, but the views when driving...

Big Rich, Roberta, Jason and Sean

Hiking hills

Work on a powder day.....

Sun 5th: Up early for work on a powder day… SUCKS. But ran (fast walked) up to Brevent for the hour I had between shifts 10-11am. WORTH IT.

Met up with Liam. Did a lap below the slow chair through the trees then down to Cornu as it opened. Two full speed non stops runs. Straightlining and bouncing off everything. Sooooooo deep in places. Face shots galore. Amazing snow. Great fun.

Did my best to break Liam who was trying to keep up on his skinny skis (95mm is definitely skinny). My hands were a little cold as I forgot my gloves in my haste but oh well…

Ran home and made work just in time. Got back and won the pub quiz in the evening. Another great day although it would have been WAY better without work.

Sunrise in the van

Remnants of the powder 

Definitely have a crush on Le Tour

Fri 3rd: Didn’t sleep well. Up at 6am for work. Sucks. 

Managed to get 3 good runs of Tête de Balme in between shifts with Glen, Charlie and Dan. Snow was still excellent and lots of fresh lines to be had.

Lots of jokes, charging, fun drops and some exceptionally bad filming by Dan - see below.

Lots of crashes all round, Charlie was having a 'mare as he was very hung over but got a nice drop on film. Glen got to experience his first deeeeep powder and loved it despite a couple of nosedives.

Tête de Balme awesome as usual

Thurs 2nd: Lazyyyy morning. Grabbed a lift with Graham to Le Tour for the afternoon. On the slopes by 2:30. 

Managed 3 laps of the chair. Great snow. Lots of little drops and bouncing all down the pillows. So much fun. Looked like a tool as was skiing without poles but oh well. Powder without poles is hardddd, much harder than I expected. Really offputting and feel all off balance. Never again. 

Pub with Charlie, Jason etc. for a few pints. Impulse bought some new skis - Volkl Shiros - on the cheap. Got home to find Sherlock was out. GOOD DAY

New years laziness

1/1/2014: Woke up at like 9 with virtually no hang over. Riding my luck. Still drunk probably. Went to the shop with Charlie and bought 11Euros of pringles and coke. Good call. Watched Die hard 2. Watched the Matrix.

Went up Montenvers just to get out of the house. Wandred around looking at everything. Nice and relaxed. Munster for a few beers and football. Everyone was only too happy to laugh at my antics from the night before.

Part of what was consumed by 10:30

The Dru from Montenvers

Some weird exhibits up Montenvers...

Checking out the crystal caves

Standard NYE let down

31st Day: Met up with Sleigh and Tom Hunter up Brevent then over to Flegere. Lots of cut up off piste. Few little hits / drops following Sleigh. Tracked hard skiiers left of Index in search of some fresh tracks but temperature inversion had ruined the snow to a heavy goopy mess. Bit of a shame. Tom hit a shark fin rock and sacrificed his elbow to save his board (wasn’t so happy with his decision in hindsight).

Stopped and had a few beers I’d carried in backpack. First beers of NYE. Found out one had burst inside pack…. Great. Got home and had a nap (super hardcore) to make sure I was good for the night. Back on it by 6.


Night: Liam, his girlfriend Rachel, Scottish lasses Tanya and Jenna, Nick, Shay and their mate came over 7:30 for drinks. Played pyramid and Ring of Fire. Very drunk by 9. Lots of merriment, photos and loud music. Down to Munster for a cheeky drink before NY.

Town for 11:30 to celebrate NYE in the square. 6 of us had bottles of champagne which we sprayed and drank. Let off some fireworks. Danced. Chatted. Saw Glen from work, he was utterly SMASHED.

Lost people and went back to Munster. Jason and all that lot there. Chatted for a bit then spent 3 hours dancing on the bar top, slut dropping left right and centre with the staff serving drinks through my legs. Didn’t fall over or smash any glasses. No idea how. Was so obliviously happy up there dancing with randoms that I missed the massive fight right in front of me. Then spent 2 hours chatting to everyone I could. Blagged my way into Monkey for free - no idea how. Back to Munster which closed at 5am. Left at 5:30 after a cheeky jaegerbomb with Dave and the staff. Called it a night. Watched some TV and had some food. GREAT NIGHT

Drinks at ours

Town centre for NY countdown

View from the top of the bar