22 April 2002
WEEKS 14 & 15
SNOW AND CHALET REPORT
End of season - Party hard, play
hard ...
The final couple of weeks of the season
have flown by. Last week saw the official last nights
of most of the resort's bars, with plenty of free booze
flowing as we drunk the bars dry ...
Wednesday was typically messy in the bowling
alley, Friday was the Mont Blanc's beach party (got
to be impressed with the outfits), and Saturday started
off as a quiet one, but ended up in round after round
of lethal shots - mostly courtesy of Toby - ending in
ninja frisby, one broken slate table (clearly nothing
to do with Daddy), and one very very drunk Tony.
There's been no stopping everyone from
making the most of the final few slope days, and with
a dusting of snow (as well as some random Saharan dust
to turn everything brown), we've even tasted powder.
Damion (the man who came out for a week
and ended up staying more than a month) definitely gets
most improved rider after only 5 weeks on the slopes.
He's been hammering down the offpiste faster than most
of the others, and in one day in the park managed to
get the hang of grabs and 180s off the kicker. Don't
you just hate co-ordinated people!?
We finished off with a massive meal and
party in the chalet on Thursday ... And then it was
nearly time to go home. The past few days have been
last everythings ... last run under the 69, last off
piste, last kicker, last pint, last steak hache and
chips, last meal in the chalet ... as one by one everyone's
packed up their bags for the summer and bid sad farewells
to the mountains and their friends.
  
Sarah, Toby, Dez, Rob, Katie and Colin
have all headed home to face the inevitable job hunt
(and start saving for next season), Scotty boy's landed
back in Jersey ready to face the suited, booted world
of investment banking, and Dec and Rhod - never ones
to do anything by halves - have headed back to their
respective isles via Amsterdam for a spot of 'culture'
with the Nancroix posse ...
With the lifts in Vallandry now closed,
we've been tidying up the debris, handing back the keys
to the chalet, and feeling very melancholy. It still
amazes me that a group of people who had never met each
other before could get on so well ... our mission is
definitely accomplished. We've sown a seed and given
them a bug that no doctor will ever find a cure for!
Have a look at the 'why do a season'
section of this site
for reviews of the season from the guys who were out
here.
Snow news ...
We finished off last weekend with about
20cms of fresh snow, giving enough of a dusting for
some proper powder turns. With a mixture of cold cloudy
days and warm sunny ones, Vallandry's looking more like
a summer pasture than a ski resort, but up high we've
been making the most of the empty slopes and renewed
determination to do all those 'final' things to end
the season in style.
The lifts in Vallandry closed on Sunday
(21st), but Arcs 1800 and 2000 remain open until next
weekend (28th). The hardcore hangers on (Tony, Steph,
Rick, Jola, and Dom and Marcia) will be making the most
of it.
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