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Quick link to Winter 2005/6 report: [1]
[2] [3]
[4]
End Dec
SNOW AND CHALET REPORTS
Tignes (report by Zoe)
Mid December: Snow and Chalet Reports: A Girlie's View
of the Start of the Season
The season here in Tignes kicked off to
a great start with a reasonable amount of snow already
here and waiting for us. Unfortunately I was stuck at
work for a whole week back in England whilst hearing
reports of all the fun and frolics on (and off..) the
slopes, as my future housemates acquainted themselves
over red wine, cheap beer and the infamous "night
of a thousand shots" (check out www.tcsbar.com
plus attached photos).
By the time I arrived, the 8 males and 1 female in the
house had already formed a pretty close bond, mainly
through the art of wrestling, drinking, battling away
on the PS2, losing items of huge sentimental value in
the honour of alcoholism, burping/farting and generally
showing each other their full 'manhood' (or do i mean
'Mangina' Mal...?!!). I'm not sure if Abi was quite
as involved in the former activities (although looking
at the photos I'm not so sure..!! see for yourself),
but she did seem pretty pleased to have another female
in the place "Ahhh, GIRL!!! Thank You God!!",
although then had to give up her sole occupancy of the
biggest (and least smelly) room in the apartment (Sorry...!).
The next few days (mid-December) brought pretty harsh
winds and a blistering cold front, to the point where
Nile's beard turned white with icicles hanging from
his cheekbones to his chin! His poetic way of describing
how "AGH this ****ing feels like someone's throwing
daggers at my ****ing FACE!!" made me feel quite
smug for remembering to bring my trusty old-yet-slightly-snot-ridden
snood!(note to future seasonaires - snoods are a wise
investment, even if you do have a hugely hairy face...!).
The pain was well worth though, as it brought a much
appreciated dusting of snow with it - 9am the next day
we were heading off to Les Brevieres to make fresh tracks
in the powder. Although I was caught up in the excitement
of things, the lift ride up brought back the reality
that a) I had never actually been off piste before;
b) I had a 150 board to ride in fresh powder: c) I was
hanging out with guys (and a girl) who were quite a
bit better than me; and to top it all I then fell off
the lift. Good start. Despite this, it turned out to
be one of my best and favourite days up to that point
- and one that was soon to be repeated because right
at the end of December we had 3 days of solid snowfall
and the best week of powder so far. Check out the photos
of us making the first tracks up to the eye, and Oz
having the glory of getting the very first tracks of
the day. It was actually a 4/5 avalanche risk one the
first day of snow after reasonably warm weather....(see
www.Henrysavalanchtalk.com for a full risk assessment)
So, trying to quash my female-stylee panic attack at
the top of the Eye, I was quite happy to let him go
down first before attempting it myself.~
So there you go,I have survived my first fortnight of
the season. I must say, in addition to the obvious perks
(but glaring hygienic downfalls) of having very few
girls and lots of men in a relatively small area; spending
a season riding with guys is a sure way to dramatically
improve your riding. However it would still be great
to have some more inspiration out here from 'having
it' girl boarders, who are (suprisingly) still quite
few and far between.
Chamonix (report by Julene)
No thanks to Stelios and the boys and
girls at Easyjet, Lisa made it back to Argentiere from
her holiday in Barcelona just in the nick of time for
New Year's Eve. Just as well really, not least because
she came bearing gifts in the form of tequila and a
special Norwegian secret (secret only because we couldn't
decipher the label) ingredient for mulled wine. Fuelled
by the above, among other things, New Year's Eve was
a fantastic but fairly surreal affair here: before going
to the pub at the very last minute (we have already
adopted a totally Scandinavian approach to nights out)
we oohed and aahed at ancient soggy fireworks, kickstarted
a reluctant bonfire with our desiccated Christmas tree
(which went up like a firebomb by the way) and built
a miniature replica of Mont Blanc from snow, complete
with a tunnel that everyone had to crawl through.
Hot on the heels of New Year's Eve came James's birthday
celebrations. (He's totally in denial about close he
is to thirty so we won't labour the point.) However,
with that done and all genuine excuses for piss-ups
temporarily exhausted, we were just settling into some
kind of new mountain-life normality when the Chamonix
housemates began to turn up all bright-eyed, bushy-tailed
and keen.
PS0 Chamonix is a total blokefest this year (until
March when Katherine arrives - brace yourself girl!).
This year we have a satisfyingly random assortment of
suspected layabouts including sax players, doctors,
scuba divers and track racers. They wasted no time in
establishing a healthy rivalry with the Argentiere house
by issuing a challenge to a drink off. Chamonix (Rob
in particular) have really funny ideas about how to
chase tequila (Bacardi Breezers through a straw?!) so
I reckon Argentiere can have them…
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