Skiing Holidays in 2002

Christmas and New Year

At Christmas we went to Val'd Isere (as normal) and skied with Christophe Moser, our guide from Evolution 2.
The snow was poor this year and we were challenged to find any good off-piste skiing.
We made the mistake of staying in a Crystal chalet. The service and quality was so poor, I doubt if we will ever go with them again.
At the end of the Christmas week we transfered to Tignes. Of course it would choose that day to snow, so we almost ended up in Val but with no where to stay. Still the French got their act together and cleared the road in time.
In Tignes we stayed at a nice little 4* hotel in the middle of Tignes Val Claret, the Ski d'Or, which is next to the lifts for the Grand Motte mountain.
Again we skied with Christophe, at least the snow that fell on the transfer day gave us something!
With the lack of snow, Bill managed to break the edge on his old, but well loved, Salomon X-Mountain skis, on the rocks. So he hired a pair on the last day and took them home for a "Scurry DIY repair".

Flaine

A week in February found us in Flaine, which is in France not far from Geneva. We went with our friends Martin & Jayne Lee and their two kids Katie & Ollie. Yes we thought we were brave sharing a self-catering appartment, but it all worked very well. Although Martin had skied as a lad in Sweden, Jayne and the kids were beginners. Most mornings we would go off-piste with our guide and then meet the Lees for lunch. Afternoon was gentle skiing (for us) and more challenging for Jayne and the kids.

This is Katie coming towards me snowploughing at great speed

Bill's repaired skis couldn't take the pace in Flaine and on the last but one day a big bit fell off the side. So the skis went in a bin and he bought a pair of Stockli Stormriders, which are advertised as extreme skis (extremely difficult in Bill's view!).

Chamonix - for a long week-end

Ann and one of her Deloitte Partners, Andrew, organised a long week-end for 22 or so in Chamonix.
We had a mixed ability group, from beginners up. The weather was great

The view from the top are stunning

Lots of beer drinking too

Gressoney

Yet agin this year we went to the Italian Alps to ski with Carlo in the small vilage of Gressoney in the Aosta valley.
Carlo own a small hotel which his wife runs with his mum. The food is excellent and the skiing is out of this world. Carlo also like to take us on a bit of ski mountaineering. Getting roped down a couloir is nothing special or unusual here.
So what did Carlo have in mind for us to do this trip?

This is the helicoptor coming in to pick up three skiers	Then we are dropped off near the top of a mountain and rope up, putting our skis on our rucksacks
And this is Ann and Carlo walking up a giant ice cube with crampons. I'm on the end of the rope!	Here Ann and Carlo are at the top at 4,215m
Here Carlo putting a rope down a steep couloir, which we then side slipped down	And this is Ann skiing down the powder below the couloir