Friday morning there were no classes. The Salibas and our crew were down for Highlife's long Red Guide. This is an all day guide by Highlife staff which tries to cover as much ground as possible. Their record is 84 kilometres. You can cover a lot of ground on skis. We would probably do 20 km without thinking about it - but 84 km between 9.30 and 4.30 is a lot of skiing. The route is set up to give people lots of opt out locations so that just the fittest, fastest skiers survive!
Mags and I left them to it. We all had our phones so meeting up later is always an option. We had a loose arrangement to meet back at the Chaudanne at 12.00. We did what we always do and took the cable car up to Rhodos. We did the usual warm-up runs, they are easy, fast enough and good to build confidence. Today I was feeling pretty good. My left hand turn was working!
We headed for the Loze chairlift as we planned to visit the Courchevel valley again. Today I was hoping we might hit the 3 valleys. From Col de la Loze we skied down to Courchevel. It is a lovely route down. We followed the same runs as yesterday, finishing up at Les Coqs chairlift which brought us back up to the little 2 lift back to the top. We took the "Boulevard de la Loze" back down and then skied all the way down to the Chaudanne by twelve o'clock. That was 2 valleys done before noon!
We called the others but they were a long way behind us so we got the cabin and chairlift to the top of Tougnete. It was beautiful up there with clear blue sky. We were now ready to hit the third valley. We took the top route along "Cretes" and onto the easy start of "Jerusalem". We were looking for the long blue Road "Chat Frere" which joins up with the Blue "Pelozet". That continues to the St Martin Chairlift where it runs into the long Blue "Biolley" It is a lovely blue which brings is all the way down to St Martin de Belleville. I was skiing with great confidence that morning and when we found the turn off of Jerusalem we were all alone on "Chat Frere", one of those narrow runs along the side of the mountain. I was skiing quite quickly and after going around one turn my skis touched and I fell over. I was up again by the time Mags caught up! On we went crossing over another Red, being careful to look up the slope as we did. Then on until we reached "Pelozet".
It was a lovely wide blue with very little traffic. It's a long ski down to St Martin de Belleville probably 7 or 8 kilometres. Just as were approaching the outskirts of the village, the run divided in 2. I wasn't sure we were on the right part so I saw a little path connecting the two. I was travelling at speed and there appeared to be a small hump of which I thought "OK I can manage this". But it was followed immediately by a second sharper and bigger hump - it actually was the built up side of the piste. Well I didn't have the skill to deal with that and I went up in the air out of control and came down whacking my forehead on the snow. Mags had taken the simple straight-forward route. I was a little dazed but able to get up with a little help. My head was fine but my left-hand thumb was sore. We carried on down, a little more slowly and I was glad to arrive in the village. There were 3 restaurants with lunch in full flow and lots of skiers. The cable car which brought us half way back up the hill was just beside us.
We had a lovely lunch. We both had a great big Savoyarde salad. My thumb was quite swollen. But with plenty of ice and snow around I was able to relieve the swelling. After lunch we got the cable car from across the road back up the slope. We got a call from Lisa Katy Senan and the Salibas to say that they had left the Red guide and they were heading up Tougnete. The cable car goes half way up the slope and then there is a chairlift to the top. We got a second call as we were in the queue for the chairlift to say that they were now at the top of Tougnete waiting for us. The queue for the chairlift was long and slow and it was more than 20 minutes before we reached the top. I thought we might ski home at that stage - but they were up for a trip to the snow park. Since we had kept them waiting so long and it was still early that seemed fair enough.
Waiting for us at Tougnete, Uploaded by M+MD.
I didn't enjoy the blue run "Faon" down to the snow park. It was a little narrow and steep in places. But we got down ok. However we had lost Roisin on the way. She had wandered off the blue and fell over onto the black slope beside it and lost one ski in the process! She then managed to ski down to the bottom of the Black slope on just one ski! She is fearless and amazing on the snow. Chris and Katie found her at the ski lift just a little distressed. He brought them into the restaurant nearby to settle Roisin's nerves with a hot chocolate. In the meantime Lisa, Katy, Mags, Senan and Deirdre had skied around to the drag lift to do the snow park run. I was to wait in the snow with the video ready to catch the action.
The comedy of errors continued. While I was standing in the cold, waiting for the run to begin, Mags was hanging onto to the drag lift instead of sitting on it. Not really the best idea! She hung on for about five minutes until she was near what she thought was the top. Despite her determination the arms were just too tired and she let go and slid down the hill past the others. Lisa got off her lift to help her and eventually so did Deirdre. Katy and Senan carried on up to the top. In the meantime Chris was heading up the Tougnete 2 chair lift, with a ranger to look for the missing ski. Katy and Senan put me out of my misery and did the jumps. I'm afraid they are just dots in the crowd as you can see.
They decided to do the run home and went for the Tougnete 2 lift. I had enough and decided to get the cabin down to the Chaudanne. As they were getting on the chairlift Katy saw Roisin's ski - someone had found it and carried it down. Katy rang me and I rang Chris to tell him the good news. Chris' line was busy so I rang Deirdre to tell her (and to say are you in the Chaudanne). Deirdre rang Chris who rang me back to let me know!
Vodafone profits take a major jump!
As I went down the Tougnete cable car I was talking on the phone to Mags. I could also hear them below me at the lift. "look up" I waved! They has an icy Blue "Lievre" to get back, it was hard work after a tiring day. Chris, Katie and Roisin weren't too long behind us. After the last stressful hour we were all ready for home. Highlife gave us a lift to the chalet. By the time we got there, Katy and Senan had arrived by ski just before us. The cup of tea and freshly baked cake soothed the nerves! The de-tox routine followed and we were nearly human again!
Friday Evening, Meribel 2009, Uploaded by M+MD.
Dinner was superb, again. We never had enough energy to play charades this year and tonight was no exception. Instead, Chris and I set about planning our final day's ski. The idea was to explore Val Thorens without travelling on any Reds or Blacks. It is a slightly tricky problem but Chris was able to design a solution. So with our plans all made and wine all drunk it was time for bed to get plenty of rest for the final onslaught on the slopes.
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