Happy Christmas 2012

Updated: this pic comes from the ski trip to Flaine earlier this year and was taken about half way down les cascades.

Closed for business

This snow covered building two thirds of the way down les cascades raised hopes of refreshment, but alas it was closed.

Just as well Buff didn't join me - he'd have been so disappointed!

The les cascades run from Flaine to Sixt

The 14km long les cascades ski run from Flaine to Sixt is according to Wikipedia "a classic". I didn't know that at the time, just that it was a very, very long blue line that went all the way across the piste map, seemingly on and on forever.

The weather being bright but very, very cold I decided to give it a go, taking the gondola from Flaine up to Les Grandes Plateires, then down serpentine until I reached the start (above) before heading off into the wilds (below).

But is les cascades right for you? First lets consider its strong points:

• Its great scenery, from Alpine peaks to deserted valleys, then down to wiggle through wild forests
• It's less busy than the main slopes: for about two thirds of the way I was completely on my own, seeing no one at all. When I stopped all I could hear was a solitary bird singing and sometimes the sound of snow falling from a tree hidden in the wood
• You get all types of runs in one, from cross-country, to green, blue and even a little bit of red
• At the end you zoom along a track between trees, across narrow bridges and around the sort of corners that would make Jeremy Clarkson go "orch, orch, orch!"
• You get a real sense of achievement by completing it
• You can reward yourself at the end can get a chocolate chaud for €2.50 rather than the €3.90 at the bar at the top of Les Grandes Platiers
• Afterwards you get to explore the rest of the Grand Massif by heading from Samoens over the top via Grands Vans back to Flaine

However:

• There are four or five very flat bits where you have to walk
• There are no opportunities to stop and escape the cold in a restaurant, you just have to keep going
• The snow at the Sixt end isn't quite as good as in Flaine - a bit icy even, with chunks of ice scattered across the run
• That bit of the run is also narrow with no edges and if you slide off you'd fall down a steep edge
• You will have get a bus from Sixt to Samoens: it's pretty simple and regular (and free!) but that's 20 minutes you're not skiing
• You need to buy a more expensive ski pass to cover both Massif and Flaine

In the end it took me about three and half hours from starting at the top of mountain to finally returning to Flaine the long way round, but that included half an hour or so for lunch.

All in all I'd certainly recommend it: it allows you to ski through amazing scenery along near empty runs and feel you've achieved something.

Les cascades is certainly not your average run: it is indeed a classic.

-25C skiing

A cold snap has hit Europe and it is currently -12C (that's 10.4F) on the streets of Geneva.

Luckily for me I've spend the day skiing in -25C conditions (that's -13F) so have to a degree (ho ho) become acclimatised.

I'm pretty sure those exposed ski lifts were even colder - maybe down to -27 or -28C (-18.4F) with wind chill so had to rely on that old reliable to warm up:

More to come as feeling returns to the fingers......

Restricted visibility

This is the view from the upper slopes of Flaine down towards the resort.

It is there, honest, somewhere under the clouds which caused a bit of a navigational hazard in the afternoon:

The solution that worked for most of the time was to stick to the higher ground but of course at some point its necessary to head down through this right pea-souper.

I was thinking about the sound's that ships must make when sailing in fog and for a brief moment wondered what the skiing equivalent was, until it became clear - and I'm sure skiers out there can guess what it was!

Skiing in Flaine

The weekend's ski trip was to the resort of Flaine, about an hour and a half's bus journey from Geneva.

It is not an attractive resort, a relic from the 1970's school of concrete brutalism. But the setting is great - a "natural amphitheatre" like bowl surrounded by ice capped mountains, and spectacular views from the top.

Skiing is a water sport - right?

So yesterday I went skiing and today I'm pondering what to post. But surely skiing counts as a suitable topic for a boating blog as technically there is a fine layer of water under the skies on which the skier moves.

Hence skiing is a water sport too.