Sunday, April 30, 2006

Back Home

After a long, long journey I've made it home. It's been a great month, and if the snow hadn't been about to melt, I'd have been tempted to stay out there. I need to start looking for a well paid job in the Alps!!

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Best Of The Week

Most of the snowHeads left this morning...just as the sun came out. The remaining few of us headed off to ski Mont Vallon, which was in great condition. The lifts in that sector all seemed to be closing at around 1pm, so we headed back over to Plain Sud for lunch.

Doing the last run is always sad....but all good things must come to an end - until next season!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

SnowHeads Race Day

The second snowHeads SNAFU cup race was held today. I had a fall on the training run, so took it steady and posted an okay time, but not one that would challenge for the title. Several of the guys were very up tight about it all, and seemed to forget that it was supposed to be "fun"!!

After the race we went and skied some off piste over in the fourth valley (they market it as the three valleys, but there are actually four!).

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

More Of The Same

The weather forecast doesn't show too much improvement for the next few days. Visibility is poor, and occasionally it improves for a bit, and then closes in again. The snow condition is quite good though.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

White Out

Visibility was virtually zero today. There had been a small amount of snow overnight, so conditions "under ski" weren't too bad, but it was definiely a day for a long lunch. One of the great things about being part of a large group, is that you can always find someone in a mountain restaurant.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Courchevel

Skied across to Courchevel 1850 today. They have kept all the main link lifts open, but much of the terrain is shut off. I think that Meribel and Courchevel officially closed at the weekend. I wanted to ski the Grand Couloir, but it was closed due to avalanche risk :-(

After yesterday's lesson, I now can't ski. I'm too aware of what I'm doing wrong to continue that way, but not able to get it right yet.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

EOSB

After an early start, I made it to Val Thorens, and met up with some of the snowHeads who had already arrived. We got out on the slopes around 11am, and had a fun day exploring the runs close to the resort. The snow isn't in as good condition as it was in Zermatt, but there are various forecasts for snow, so hopefully we'll get a top up soon.

The rest of the bunch arrived on the "Lardy Bus" from Geneva at around 9pm. I know quite a few from previous trips, but there are still quite a few unknown faces.

Managed to watch most of the Liverpool v Chelsea match....come on you Reds!!

Friday, April 21, 2006

Day Off

Well, not quite. But a slower day. I woke up feeling a bit rough, and when I saw breakfast for the second time, I decided to take it easy.

One of the great things about Swiss skiing, is that a lot of resorts have trains as part of their lift system. These usually go at a slow/steady pace, but you get to sit down and relax! I got the train up to Gornergrat, and went up to the hotel, where there were 100s of Japanese tourists getting very excited at being 3100m above sea level. I pottered around the slopes for a bit, and then went for a long lunch - sat in the sun, admiring the Matterhorn.

I'm due in Val Thorens early tomorrow morning, so I'm staying in Moutiers tonight. The hotel is a bit of a comedown from the standards that I'm used to...and is more expensive!!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Ski Safari

Zermatt has a "ski safari" where you can ski 10,000 vertical metres in a day - or go for the big one and ski 12,500 (includes more mileage/slow lifts in Italy). I set off 1/2 hour after the lifts opened and bombed it around. I couldn't ski right the way down into Valtournenche, as the piste was shut, so I had to make up that distance on another lift. It is certainly a full day exercise...I didn't even have time to stop for lunch!! But it was good fun.

It was another sunny day, but cold up top. This is keeping the snow in good condition...although lower down, it is hard work in the afternoon when it has softened up. I think I'll have an easy day tomorrow!!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Just Like Sydney



When we went to New Zealand, we stopped off for two days in Sydney. I wanted to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. When I was there, I took 100s of photos...all the same! I seem to be doing the same thing here. The Matterhorn is so impressive, that it just has to be photographed....every time you look at it! Fortunately, I now own a digital camera.

Checked out the "wellness centre" in the hotel. There is a big gym, but I have no intention of doing any hard exercise after a day's skiing. More to my liking was the whirlpool, sauna and steam room. I could get used to these sorts of things.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Two Countries

Decided to stay in Tasch, as it is about 1/3 price of Zermatt. (Tasch is a giant car park, with a couple of hotels). It is the place where you have to leave your car and get the train up to Zermatt, as it is a "car free" resort. In practice, the roads are really busy up there, it's just milk floats not cars!

One of the great things about Zermatt, is that you can ski across the border into Italy. I had intended to have lunch in Cervinia, but all they seemed to serve was burger and chips. I found a restaurant higher up that did bacon, eggs and cheese...but didn't use their toilets as they were the "hole-in-the-floor" type!

Had a wander round Zermatt this evening. It's quite a nice town, and there are loads of tourist shops to look at. I finally got a "proper" view of the Matterhorn. This morning, it was totally covered in cloud, and although I got good views from Cervinia, it was of the "wrong" side.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Family Skiing

One of Susan's friends who used to work for Oak Hall joined us skiing today. She wanted to do some "family skiing". For that, read really slow cruising blue runs. Jeanette and Mark had slightly different ideas, heading straight for a mogul field, and then doing lots of videoing.

We ate lunch in the revolving restaurant at Allalin (one of three in Switzerland - can you name the other two?), and then visited the ice grotto under the glacier.

I skied down to Saas (the others went down in the gondola), and it was a bit slushy at the bottom, but still not bad for the time of year. I think they're quite jealous that as they go home tomorrow, I'll still be skiing!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Easter Day

It's really strange being away at Easter...It's sort of passed me by. The hotel left some mini eggs on the breakfast table, and the lift company had a big bucket of mini snickers. At least I'm not going short of chocolate!!

Am bored of Saas Fee now. It's a nice enough resort, but I've skied it all several times, so am ready to move on. Still, one more day and then I'm off to Zermatt, although I've not got any further with sorting out accommodation there...it's all really expensive.

Made the most of the hotel facilities, swimming, whirlpool, Sauna and a strange thing that involves walking across stones in ice cold water (it's meant to be good for your feet!!). Just been back to the Roby for dinner...their pizza was 100 times better than last weeks (but still not a patch on Nibbles!!)

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Snowboarding

Decided to give the board another run out. It's such a slow process compared to skiing, but the only way I'll improve is to keep tryng. Susan was giving me expert instruction,which resulted in many bumps and bruises as I tried to correct my bad habits. I had one particularly nasty fall that will leave me with a nice bruise on my stomach. Back to skiing tomorrow I think!

Came down fairly early from the slopes as it was snowing and visibility was poor. Am enjoying having a relaxing evening watching the snooker from the Crucible (complete with German commentary).

Friday, April 14, 2006

Posh Hotel

The Roby, where I've stayed the past two nights, is fully booked, so I've had to go upmarket. The tourist office gave me a few options, the cheapest being a single room with basin. I was about to go for that when I noticed that one of the others (£3.50 more expensive) had a swimming pool, sauna, gym and en-suite. So I'm now in the Hotel Touring, enjoying all the facilities.

The sun was out today. After the last few days being snowy, I'd forgotten how hot it can get at this time of year. I now have a nice "glove mark" on my arm, where I'd rolled my sleeves up and the sun had got at them.

Just been out for dinner with S, J & M. Had a Rosti with bacon, egg and cheese. Very nice, but not quite as good as at Winteregg or Brandegg.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Small World

Met up with Susan, Jeanette and Mark this morning, who are here with Oak Hall. As we were eating lunch, someone walked past who I recognised, but couldn't place (turned out to be Lisa who I used to play football with). The next minute, up walked Val (who I'd bumped into in Wengen a few weeks ago!!). It turns out that there are several from St Toms on the trip, and a big group from Fulwood. Sheffield rules!!

I didn't ski much last time I was in Saas, due to being horribly ill. However, I'm not sure I missed too much! The ski area is dominated by T-bars (the downside of glacier skiing), and is fairly limited. It's certainly not somewhere I would choose to ski, but it does have the advantage of altitude. It also has one of three Swiss revolving restaurants (the other two being at Leysin and Murren).

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Davos

Hmm. Not too sure what I think of Davos. The skiing was great, but I'm not impressed by the place. Arrived at 8pm, to find that tourist office was shut (not a surprise), and there was no trace of any vacancies board, or accommodation phone numbers. I had the name & number of one place, and saw a sign for it...but couldn't find it. I tried phoning, and it was an answerphone! Fortunately, I knew that PGL had a group in Davos last week, so I dug out the details of that, and they'd stayed at the youth hostel (which had space!). It cost more for a night in a dorm than it had for a private roon in Saalbach!

I went up Parsann (got given a mini snickers bar when I bought my lift pass!!), and the skiing was awesome. I headed right for the top, and skied down a black run that hadn't been pisted. The powder was almost up to my knees, and only a couple of people had been down it. I went back after lunch and it was still in great condition. The snow was good right the way down into Klosters, and I'd have loved to stay a few more days.

Finally decided to go to Saas via Zurich and the Loetschberg rail link. If I'd have realised how long this was going to take, I'd have stopped off in Adelboden (or Wengen), but after last night's fiasco, I'd booked a room in Saas Grund for tonight.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Kitzbuhel

The rain that was falling last night when I went to bed, at some point turned into snow! When I woke up this morning there had been several inches of fresh snow in Saalbach. Fortunately they keep the roads clear, so I was able to start the journey in the direction of Saas Fee.

It was a toss up between Kitzbuhel or Zell am Ziller for the final day of the Super Salzburg Pass. I decided on Kitzbuhel...with the intention of skiing the Hannenkahm race route. Unfortunately, visibility was virtually non-existant (and it isn't a piste), so I wimped out and skied the red run that runs alongside. Snow conditions were great, and there was some deep powder on several black runs :-)

Kitzbuhel has a couple of fun gondolas. The Hannenkahm one has a bubble named after each winner of the race, and one of the other gondolas has a different country's flag on each one. I looked out for the England one, but I heard a rumour that they'd kept it inside as it had a habit of grinding to a halt in snow!!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Going Round In Circles

Today I planned to do the Saalbach Circuit. The way the resort is laid out, you can ski a complete circuit, crossing the valley twice. I thought that as snow conditions weren't great, this would be a fun challenge. After the 2nd lift, I took a wrong turn, and bumped into Katherine (one of the PGL reps who travelled down to the training with me) and Jim (the dad of one of the ski instructors). They were heading down to Leogang, so I joined them. It was fun skiing with them, and after they had to leave to meet up with their group, I managed to complete the circuit before the lifts closed!

After last night's food, I've just been to the supermarket and bought several ready meals that just need hot water adding!

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Leogang

Saalbach has ski slopes on both sides of the valley. The North facing ones have snow right down to the valley floor, the South facing ones are heavily reliant on artificial snow. I started off on the North ones, but as the two runs I wanted to do were both shut, I headed over the other side, and skied down to Leogang (also North facing). Conditions weren't too bad, but the ski back into the village was hard work.

After last night's lack of success in Saalbach, tonight I headed to Hinterglemm in search of a pizza. I went into the pizzeria next to the swimming pool, only to be told that they don't do pizza!!! I was so shocked I didn't ask what they did do. I eventually found somewhere that was open, but the food was very disappointing. It's a rare occasion that I leave pepperoni pizza!

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Saalbach

Arrived in Saalbach around 5pm, and am settling nicely into Pension Aigner. I've booked in for 2 nights, but will probably stay 3. The plan is to ski locally the next two days, and then try somewhere else for the 4th day of the Salzburg Area Pass that I've bought.

The town seems to be dead - a lot of the hotels/restaurants have already closed for the season. I've only spotted one English speaking family...they've been here a day and don't seem too impressed with the locals!

Austrian TV isn't up to much...the only English speaking station that you can get here is CNN. At least the TV has teletext in English on that channel, so I can keep in touch with football results.
Skiing wise, on the North slopes, the snow looks to be in good condition, and there is coverage right down to the town. On the South side, there is far more green than white :-( This was pretty much what I expected, and there are some good black runs on the North slopes....so I should be okay for a couple of days.

After two nights of not much sleep, I'm suffering. All my muscles have seized up, and I'm looking forward to an early night :-) I'm currently trying to decide if my need for food is greater than my need to not leave my room!!

Kaprun (attempt 2)

The conditions were absolutely perfect at Kitzsteinhorn today. The recent snow has improved the whole of the Zell area, but due to it's altitude, the glacier has had the best of it. The pistes were beautifully prepared, and it was definitely a day for high speed carving.

Lack of sleep led me to finish slightly early (I could easily have fallen asleep in the sun...it's surprising how comfy your skis can be as a bed!), and it was really hot down in Zell. Spring has definitely arrived...2 days after heavy snowfall in the town. We've watched the lake go from completely frozen at the start of the week, to having boats out on it today.

Despite my best efforts with suncream, I'm fairly high on the oompa lumpa scale. I've definitely caught the sun today...you could fry an egg on my forehead!!

Friday, April 07, 2006

They've Gone!!

It was touch and go for a while, but the coach finally left. They were an hour behind schedule, due to a last minute dash to the hospital (suspected broken leg turned out to be stretched ligaments), but should be able to make up the time. This was a new record, as we told the doctors that we were in a rush, and she was in, treated and out in 35 mins.

Part of me was sorry to see them go, as it's been a great week, but I'm looking forward to being able to relax. It's hard work skiing all day and then working all evening. At least this group made things as easy as possible for me. They bought me a couple of boxes of chocolates as a thank you, which was really nice as they had obviously picked up that I wouldn't appreciate a bottle of wine (which was what they bought for the instructors).

I skied with the advanced group today (most have only done 1 week previously) and they've improved so much. We skied down an icy black run and none of them fell over. They also like bombing around, so I had fun. The sun has come out, and conditions are good. However the forecast is 15 degrees Celcius for tomorrow, so I'm not sure how long they'll stay good.

I'm planning on buying a 4 day Super Salzburg Pass, which allows me to ski at 20 resorts. The plan at the moment is to ski Kitzsteinhorn tomorrow and then head to Saalbach for a day or two.

I'm really tired after last night. I was home by 1.30am, but didn't get too much sleep. We started off at Greens (the bar where a lot of residents go), but it was dead, so we headed to Crazy Daisy's. It's just one of those places that you have to go to if in Zell. They had a band playing, who were really good, otherwise I'd have left a bit earlier.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Race Day

If there's one thing kids like, it's a ski race. Even the complete beginners get to have a go down the slalom course (although they have an easier one than the better skiers). Some of ours hadn't quite grasped the concept of having to cross the finish line, and stopped at the last gate!! Another group all thought that they had to go through the poles rather than round them.

The ski classes were filmed by a chap who maked DVDs, and for €10 each they could have a copy. They all bought one...it's a great momento to take home with them. Unfortunately, it was snowing most of the day, so visibility wasn't great, although the snow was.

One of the great things about the Zell ski school, is that all the instructors come along to the presentation evening. The kids love this, and they all got a ski school race certificate, a medal, a PGL certificate and a special award that had been thought up by the teachers (with a little help from me!!).

The last night, they have a disco in the hotel for all the groups. This was really good, except the German groups wanted some of their music playing! All the ski instructors stayed for the disco, and are about to take us out to Zell for the evening.

Fortunately the snow that was falling heavily in town this morning has stopped and all the roads are clear of snow. I really don't want to have to play around with snowchains at this time of year.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Glazier

Owns Man Utd or fits windows....certainly not something you can ski on. However, at least one of the teachers and several of the kids seemed convinced that this was the name of what they were skiing on. I hope none of them are doing Geography!

The glacier (Kitzsteinhorn) was open and looking good when we set off, but by the time we got up to the top, they were shutting all the lifts due to high winds. All the groups managed to ski one run, before we took the decision to abandon the plan and go back to Zell for the afternoon. I didn't even manage one run as I decided that a meeting with my boss was more important (okay...it included hot chocolate!!

The afternoon at Zell was okay, until one of the lads decided to have an arguement with a tree. I saw the blood wagon go past, and then seconds later my mobile rang!! My second visit to the hospital took longer than the 1st, as they discovered he'd cracked a vertibrae and wanted to keep him in overnight. Fortunately the hotel are good at serving food at any time of the evening!
The school were bowling in the hotel, so I decided to opt out and start on all the paperwork I have to do everytime there is an accident.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Krankenhaus

Well, it was bound to happen at some point. One of the kids fell and fractured his thumb, so I made my first visit to Zell hospital. It looks more like an appartment block than a hospital, but they were very efficient and the whole thing (2 x-rays, diagnosis and plastering) took about an hour. And yes, it is a state hospital!!

I took the snowboard out today...I still don't like lifts (other than gondolas where you carry the board!), but was far better than I remembered being. Still, back to skis tomorrow.

Tonight's activity was ice skating. Some of the kids were good, but quite a few of them had never skated before. One lad didn't let go of the side all evening, despite doing a reasonable number of laps.

I decided against skating, as I don't want to risk injury more than I have to, so went into the bar at the ice rink to watch the Champions League. Austrian TV have an interesting way of showing the football - there were two games being played, so they showed 5 mins of one, then 5 mins of the other, and kept alternating. The result was, you had no idea what was happening in either match!. One day I'll find out who won!!

Monday, April 03, 2006

Snow!

Today it snowed. Okay, so it was rain on the bottom slopes, but it made the top far better than yesterday. Visibility was low, so I had a relaxing day, and skied a bit with the other two beginners groups that I hadn't yet seen.

After skiing, we went into Zell so that they could do some shopping. What actually happens is that they all go to McDonalds and then don't eat dinner! There are some local shops in Schuttdorf that they can get to on other days, as Zell is a 10 minute bus ride away. I'm not sure how many of them actually bought anything like postcards or presents!

We had a disco this evening. The kids love it...and one of the staff was keen to dj, so I had an easy evening. It was the 13th birthday of one of the girls in the group, so we all had cake. She seemed to enjoy herself :-)

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Ski Lessons

We have four instructors from the local ski school. Three of them are English (although one has a strong Kiwi accent) and the other one Dutch. One group has skied before, the other three have just done a dry slope lesson. The beginners have been split by age initially, but I think there will be a lot of movement between groups.

There was a mix up at lunchtime, with the staff going to one restaurant, and the instructors, kids and me going to a different one. The result is that the instructors are going to take them for 5 hours solid and include lunch in that. This means that I don't have to come back to meet them for lunch each day :-)

I spent the afternoon with the youngest group. They are all girls, and most of them have pink ski suits! The poor instructor was trying his best, but they were far more interested in throwing snowballs than they were in skiing. At least they seemed to enjoy themselves.

The snow was heavy, and by the end of the day, the lower slopes were very slushy. You can still ski down into Schuttdorf, but it's being kept open by using snow cannons. You can just see this thin line of white going across the green fields.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Arrival

The journey went quite well. I only got lost once, when I ended up in Brussels City Centre rather than on the ring road. I got about 4 hours rest at a service station in Germany, and made it to Zell for 11am. I went to the hotel, intening to "check in" and then go for lunch in Zell, but I bumped into one of the other reps, and before I knew it, a plate of food had been put in front of me. The Family Pecile do look after people well :-)

The school were about an hour late arriving, as the coach drivers had got lost. There must be something up with the directions, as we struggled in Feb, and 3 coaches got lost today!! It was straight into dinner, and then ski fit. Having PGL kit is harder work than going to a ski shop, but as it is in the hotel then that compensates slightly. The number of people who don't know how to undo a buckle on a ski boot is staggering!!

The group seem really nice...there are a lot of "girls in pink", and I'm sure some of them had suitcases bigger than themselves! I'm on the same corridor as them, so I hope that they are quiet.