La Formation

Most of the ski schools have a formation week at the start of the season.  For us it's a 9 day long training week, a chance to sharpen up our technique, share teaching ideas and get to know our colleagues.

Day 3 complete, with technique in the morning - shorts and longs, all on video so we can't deny any faults! and teaching in the afternoon - intro to snowplough turns today.  After the afternoon I can say that one of the things BASI do get right is the emphasis and time spent on the snowplough and early progression within your level 1 and 2 exams.

On to the snow conditions...

Throughout the morning the snow is grippy and good to ski on - if you stay above Ruinettes to avoid any small rocks in the piste.  At the moment it is not too busy, and most people are skiing in a formation or ski school training group, so you merely have to wait for them to pass and have the piste to yourself.

The afternoon, is a little different.  Lets just say that the piste turns into a mesh of rocks, moguls and ice! It's good training but I wouldn't choose to ski it!

Over the weekend we skied a few itineraries:

• Tortin-Chassoure - good snow, but pick your line carefully to avoid the rocks.
• Mont Fort - surprisingly good, nice sized moguls, quite soft snow and grippy.  This was a great run, and it enabled me to see the view behind to check out the off piste conditions - still lacking in snow, however there were a few tracks here and there, and some coming from the Rosablanche too.
• Tortin Gentianes remains closed, and you can definately see why from the Telecabine - it has very little snow cover.

Quite a few people have been booting up Mont Gele, and skiing lines off piste everywhere, but in general there is still limited snow coverage, so those that do either have rental skis, are lucky or know the lines well and have good reactions!

There have been lots of promising looking snow clouds in the sky, but, with more sun forecast and the temperatures set to increase, the pistes are only set to get worse.  Trail running here I come...

The annual snow commute

The annual snow commute went like so:
Day 0, fit winter tyres, after much debate, and can't wait to become a safer driver abroad (although last year the scariest moment was actually driving up the pass from Capel!)
Day 1, drive along the North Wales coast and begin packing
Day 2, drive to London, finish packing
Day 3, squeeze in a check up at the optician, drive to the Eurotunnel terminal, camp overnight at the services near Reims
Day 4, arrive in Verbier, woohoo, to snow in the village and powder on the slopes.
Day 5, admin and unpack - moving house for the 2nd time in as many weeks!

And so far the main difference between driving here and back home... here everyone is in a shiny shiny car that they insist upon driving right up your backside!  Not that I'm bitter about owning an old white french van.

Cake first, climbing second

There's only so much climbing you can do at Almscliffe in the wind and rain, so, once the leeward sides of the boulders were soaked through we were overdue with a date at Betty's and the Harrogate Climbing Centre.

Betty's - an institution, homemade, locally produced, mouth watering food, and that's not including the bakery!  Best visited the day after you receive your pay check, we ventured into the restaurant downstairs for a much needed treat.  I can recommend the treacle tart.

http://www.bettys.co.uk/

Next up was a visit to the Harrogate Climbing Centre for some bouldering.  Although a relatively small bouldering wall, there were plenty of problems at my grade and above to try of all angles and hold types.  The staff were super friendly, the cafe was good and there was a shower!  Our only small gripe was the sheer quantity of rockovers in the wall - not good if you have a dodgy knee.  The circuit board was ace and gave me a final pump before heading back out under the grey skies.

http://www.harrogateclimbingcentre.com/