We woke up and got out early, taking the taxi shuttle option from outside the campsite up to the Zermatt parking station at a cost of 7 CHF each. The main lift area is around around 10 minutes walk from the drop off point.

When we arrived at the ticket office there was an array of red LEDs that lit up the piste/lift information board next to the entrance, a large crowd staring directly at it as if a sermon was being delivered. The report from the top of the mountain was 90km/h gusting winds. After 10 minutes of deliberating whether it was ‘worth it’, we decided to bite the bullet and purchase lift passes in the hope that the wind would die down and more lifts would open. We purchased our tickets and made our way to the funicular queue to be met with a mass of people coming in our direction spouting “Kaputt”. Having the feeling that it was going to be ‘one of those days’, Jess blagged a full refund which required much persuasive conversation with the Kasse staff and the management, as the mountain was technically open to ski albeit impractical due to the, now, volume of people making a dash to alternative lifts to ski the hand full of runs that were open.

Computer said “no”

Zermatt is pretty out there when it comes to lift pass cost, the highest we’ve had so far at a wallet emptying 168 CHF for 2 adult passes for the day. Clearly we felt bad about taking income away from the local resort, so we decided to use the cash for an early lunch and several drinks chilling in local bars on our route back to the taxi rank.

Taxi for two

Even though we didn’t ski Zermatt, there was plenty to do in the town. The main street through the centre has a great Alpine feel and bars and restaurants cater for most budgets, but you will have to search if you’re looking for a cheap and easy lunch. The top of the main street near the church seems to be the cheapest area for food and drink.

Zermatt main street

Being in the best possible form arriving back at our basecamp, it was decided that it was the perfect time to find a suitable gradient to get on the bum boards. 15 minutes of wading/falling in thigh deep white stuff, we found what looked like the perfect slope for fun time bum boarding. What resulted was a technique that resembled two dogs dragging themselves across a carpet in order illuminate an ‘itch’. The gradient wasn’t sufficient, and the snow was  too deep. Slightly disappointed, Jess started to make her way back to Maggie, but not before telling Mark to come down from a shed rooftop, where he was attempting to find a steeper launching platform. Freezing cold and soaking wet, we called it a night and spent the evening warming up in the van.

As with the previous day, the weather made for difficult skiing conditions in which it was likely that the majority of Zermatt would be closed for another day. After a lazy hangover morning we checked the weather reports in search for better conditions to travel towards. Davos and Klosters looked like a viable option as there was heavy snow then sunshine forecast for in a couple of days. We set out for Andermatt to catch the car train which would take us almost directly onto the other side of the mountain cutting out a few hours of driving. We arrived at the terminal to find that the train only runs three times a day and must be booked over the phone before boarding.

That night we found a good parking area next to the town ice rink and close to town (5 CHF for 24 hours of parking). While searching for a spot to settle, we drove the circuit of the town a couple of times where we were met with the locals all dressed up in various costumes and fancy dress and all in high spirits and mainly shouting and waving at us as we passed through. As tempting as it was to venture out and see what the local festival was all about, we decided to have an early night to guarantee making the car train the next morning.

The next morning we called the car train company to book our crossing to be told that Maggie was too big and they could only take vehicles up to 2.5 metres high. Conscience of Maggie’s feelings at being told that she is too large, we confronted her and assured yet that we would all have a lovely drive and take in the countryside taking the long route round to Davos. On our way out of Andermatt we decided to drop into the local tourism office to ensure we take the right route, as the route we were planning to take was one of two mountain passes over the top of the Andermatt range. Lucky we checked, as one pass was closed and the other would have been doable but a serious risk if we were to be met with bad weather or a slide of snow onto the road, so instead we chose the 200km-ish box around the mountains in order to arrive safely. During the summer months and when it is not closed, the Oberpass is less than 10km, but these type of pass road closures are quite common during the winter months for good reason. On a previous trip out to the Alps we remember arriving at a pass that had just been closed and the locals had to rescue people from stranded cars where the weather had suddenly closed in.

After a what seemed like an endless drive with a couple of safety stops due to wind (outside, not inside the Maggie) we arrived in Davos. Driving up to and through the town is stunning during the evening, the buildings and lights make the place seem grand and give of an impression of a busy and lively area to be in. Unfortunately for us, and as we saw the lights and fun disappear behind us, we were forced to stay in what was the closest camping ground to Davos, which was a few Kilometres away in Rinerhorn. As it was late in the evening we set up for the evening a did some well needed washing before the wash bag walked itself to the washing machines.

The weather was looking quite reasonable the next morning so we skied the Jakobshorn area after catching a short bus journey away from our camp. It was still incredibly windy so we kept in the trees and shaded areas as to avoid the worst of it. After our first Goulash soup of the trip, we decided not to ski the afternoon as the weather was closing in and it had begun to snow heavily.

After propping up the bar for the afternoon, we made our way back to Rinerhorn for an early dinner. We jumped on the train back rather than take the hike through the slightly confusing bus system. When we arrived back in Rinerhorn the pistes were lit up and the main cable car was running, night skiing was on our doorstep! Slightly inebriated, we agreed that night skiing was the best option and we could skip dinner and celebrate in the conveniently placed bar at the bottom of the slope afterwards. Needless to say it was the best and fastest we’d ever skied, or so we believed. The great thing about night skiing here, which is different to most resorts, is that the run down is one long and winding run that takes you all the way down, rather than the standard wide and straight runs you see at some of the larger resorts. It is also open until 23:00 which a lot later than most we’ve seen so far. There is also a dedicated sledge run, separated from the ski run, which we didn’t get the chance to try out but it looked like fun from the faces and screams we heard.

Nightskiing!!!

You can just make out Maggie on the left

Blue sky’s!!!

The next morning we jumped on the bus to Davos Bahnof, where we caught the train to Klosters. This train journey couldn’t be more different than the normal daily commute into London, the scenery is amazing as it winds through the 15 minute journey into the main skiing area, and not one delay or ‘unexplained by the driver’ random stop in the middle of nowhere for failing signals, despite the cold weather conditions and leaves on the tracks.

We arrived at Klosters Platz just in time to pick up the slightly cheaper 11.30 ski pass, where we boarded the gondola up the mountain. Being a clear day we didn’t make a defined choice to ski a route, instead we just skied and got on lifts as and when we felt like we wanted to go in a different direction. One of the ways that we most enjoy skiing is by not even carrying a piste map and just seeing where we end up. These days are usually a combination of on and off-piste skiing, which have sometimes left us with a difficult couloir, road or brook/river to negotiate.

After lunch we hopped onto the Schiferbahn bubble back to the top to ski onwards.

Lunch with a view

‘Man’ portions cost more

Although the sun was shining the afternoon was bitterly cold with a windchill of around -15C, so not long afterwards we grabbed a hot chocolate and warmed up before heading back to Maggie to via the train to watch newly downloaded film ‘Straight outta Compton’, where Mark reminisced his teenage years of watching Boys in the Hood and playing basketball in oversized clothing.

The night train home

After a lively week with ski friends, we packed up shop and got back on the road. Resuming our ethos of following the weather and snow we chose Argentiere – Chamonix, as reports showed a pending 100cm + of snow on its way to the legendary world renowned skiing Mecca. From there we would then choose Switzerland or Italy as the next country to ski.

En-route we decided to drop by Montchavin to ski a day with one of Mark’s old school friend from Germany. Since visiting the area (Paradiski) at the beginning of the trip, we were relieved to see that the number of open lifts and piste conditions had improved. We also found a decent ‘Caravaneige’ at the bottom of Montchavin village, which we would recommend as a base rather than the overpriced Aire in La Plagne. Click here for previous blog on La Plagne. Although slightly more expensive, Montchavin has all the facilities you’d expect and the WC is only 20 metres from the camping area – well worth the extra euros.

Conditions were much better

The walk into town is pretty tough in full ski gear and the location of the lift pass office isn’t obvious or near any access lifts. It is located on the main road in the village street to the right of the bars and restaurants, not near the piste/lifts as you would expect.

We met with Matt, Fran and Harvey who were all boarding and made our ascent. Even though the conditions had improved significantly, skiing was tricky and within 30 minutes Mark ventured off-piste resulting in a full face plant and an audible clicking from a twisted knee. Roars of laugher were all that could be heard from a very pleased Matt after seeing his old friend give it the ‘big-un’ and become royally undone in the process. After 10 minutes of searching Mark was reunited with his buried skis.

Mark is down there somewhere, look for the take off and landing!

Diddums

Needless to say the rest of the ski day was completed with caution, but not before ruining ourselves getting down a couple of mogul heavy black runs – Great fun but totally exhausting.

We all finished the day, without further injury, at the 3 Glaciers hotel back in Montchavin where we stumbled upon a pair of signed Candide Thovex Faction skis on display, unfortunately they were secured to the wall!

Candide’s

Our skis being waxed in Maggie

Sitting it out

On the way to Chamonix, Maggie received her first well earned wash! The next few days were spent relaxing in the town centre and enjoying the Freeride World Tour, sitting out the weather until conditions improved. The first night we arrived in Chamonix we held camp at the free ‘Aire de la Fontaine’ on the Les Houches side of the town, 10 minutes drive from Chamonix centre. This Aire simply has parking and toilets and is very secluded from the main carriage road into the centre.

Having laid low for a couple of days, we were starting to get cabin fever so we decided to venture up to Argentiere and make use of the free camper parking behind the main car park at the foot of the Grands Montets ski area. The conditions were overcast and the piste conditions were of average quality which made for difficult skiing, but we persevered. In addition to the standard lift pass for this area, there is a second access lift that needs to be purchased if you want to get all the way to the glacier. We’re not sure why this confusing separation is not made more clear when purchasing the standard lift pass before ascending, but we were definitely caught out after queuing for about 20 minutes! As it was a flat light day we decided not to spend the extra 14 Euro to make this lift journey, and it was the right decision as shortly after the lift closed due to high winds.

Blue skies and POWder…

We drove back to the Chamonix main road to park up so that we were closer to the Apres action for the weekend. But not before Mark headed out for a few hours ‘lone ski’ and apparently had the ‘BEST DAY EVER’ bouncing off-piste. He got some good footage which resulted in a short film of his morning, and he was over the moon when he returned to Maggie.

Jess had a productive  morning tidying the van and washing up (pink jobs), managing to drop a sharp knife on her foot and break a bowl. The sun was out in full force today so we took a walk down to to the town and stopped for wine at the outdoor bar opposite ‘Irish Coffee’. Wanting to spam the family while we are away with another avenue of media and contact, we setup a ‘WhatsApp’ group and proceeded to chat and bombard them with photos using the Wifi we jumped on.

DCIM100GOPROG0010196.

Realising the adult competition of the Freeride Tour was actually today, and not as we had previously thought of it being the following day, we watched the award ceremony quite disappointed that we’d missed the actual event on the mountain. After a couple more drinks, half of which Jess managed to throw down an American mans jacket, we found somewhere for dinner where Jess her the first Tartiflette of the season! The restaurant seemed to sit all English people upstairs and out of the way in the same area, but we all ended up laughing amongst ourselves about the portion size of the Raclettes and whether they would be able to ask for a doggy bag.

On leaving the restaurant we found Jess a new backpack which we had to abandon as it was too large to fit in Maggie…

Even though there are campsites in the Chamonix area, we preferred to make use of the free carparks and road lay-bys without any issues or being moved on by the police. There is a large community of ‘long stayers’ and an abundance of motorhomes visible throughout the area –  Maybe this is why the local police don’t hassle people to move on, as it would be a full time job doing so.

Moving on

Having missed the adult freeride competition we decided to move on to Zermatt in Switzerland, rather than heading to Italy next. The nearest campsite to our chosen destination was in Randa, which originally seemed a long way off from being able to ski Zermatt.

When we arrived we soon realised that access to Zermatt was only possible by taxi, train or bus, and  it would be impossible to take Maggie into the village area. The transport systems in Switzerland are generally reliable and the Swiss train network is especially good and in abundance. Before settling in for the evening we drove to a local shop to top up on supplies before heading back to the campsite to plan our route up to ski Zermatt in the morning.

Now, there are certain foods that should be avoided in close proximity living quarters, the foodstuff at the top of this list is fish. The pungent nature of this food, coupled with the inability to leave windows and doors open in subzero temperatures for prolonged periods of time, means that the odour will linger for many hours and eventually make you feel sick. Top tip – don’t eat fish unless its warm outside!

#skiclubphotos #inthesnow #powder #motorhomeski #skilife #frozenintheinside

Three Valleys – 23/01 – 30/01

We mooched around Aix-Les-Bain for around 60 minutes before deciding on settling in the car park of a closed holiday camp, a quick check around the car park with the trusty mag light ensured we were in a safe and secluded location. Mark returned from the reccie looking quite shocked as our arrival had awoken some ducks in a neighbouring stream to the location-  Mark: “that scared the sh*t out of me, I thought I was getting jumped”. Needless to say the ducks didn’t take further offence and left us to a peaceful sleep for the evening.

The next morning we arrived at Grenoble to meet our next instalment of ‘Ski Friends’, Jess’ cousin Kirsty and Mark’s friends Dean, Tom, Tom, Rob and Christian.

Jess taking full advantage of a girlie session with Kirsty

Now, due to a pre-booking earlier in the year before this trip was planned, and not to shy away from the motorhome ski experience, Mark would be spending the week in a chalet with the boys  and Jess + Kirsty would be parked nearby staying in Maggie (Mark is writing this blog!).

Mark agreed to continue his blue job duties with regular visits to Maggie. Despite a Flot Bleu being advertised as being available at our next parking spot of La Tania, the option of any amenities were in the shape of toilets and showers located in the municipal building next to the bubble lift at the base of La Tania. NO BLUE JOBS THIS WEEK, YAY. We got chatting to some long stay campers who told us that this year the local authorities had moved the location of the motorhome parking from La Praz (just down the road) to the main coach and carpark in La Tania. This made it difficult for everybody staying there to dispose of waste as this now involved a drive, which by the state of the sardine parked-in parking, these motorhomes were staying put until everything thawed out at the end of the season.

The La Tania lift with a ‘kill’ setting. Use the stairs if you don’t want to risk getting stuck or random door closures causing injury

The newly sectioned off area of this carpark is tight for space and has room for around 10 motorhomes, it was full. We parked Maggie behind some barriers at the rear of the coach area to avoid obstructing any coaches from going about their business. At 9am the next morning the police knocked on the door and told Jess that Maggie would have to leave La Tania, but after some convincing they agreed to let us stay on the condition that we moved out of the coach park. Mark was summoned to come and complete this blue job- after even more convincing on Jess’ part. On the turn of the ignition key all that could be heard was the ticking of what was clearly the effect of a dead battery. The girls, within one night, had managed to floor Maggie. Luckily, with thanks to Jess and Kirsty’s efforts and therefore redeeming themselves, they managed to enlist the help of a passing car with jump leads! It turned out, that the driver was also here in a motorhome, so was more than willing to take time out of his morning to get us going again- Thanks Jake! It took 5 of us at full strength to push Maggie slightly uphill so we could connect the leads, and then within minutes we were back in business.

Poor Maggie

Having spoken to some other residents of the motorhome fish bowl, we thought it would be fine to block them in as they were not moving again until the end of the season- problem solved!? Yet the following morning, Jess and Kirsty came to an abrupt wakening by another knock on the door. We were told to move again, this time we were told it would be fine to park in the main carpark until our departure in 5 days, oh the drama. Subsequently, each day for the rest of that week, more and more motorhomes trickled into the main car park.

With all the minor distractions out of the way, we spent the next few days enjoying the break in the weather from cloud and snow, to absolute sunshine.

Family friends back home advised us that some of their friends had recently taken over Supreme Ski, ski instruction located in the Courchevel area. Through this recommendation Mark decided to book up a ski lesson to iron out some issues he was having, as well as to pick up some new skills and pointers. Mark’s previous instructed lessons have ended in pain- 1 x dislocated knee with ESF in La Tania and 1 x broken ankle at Hemel Hempstead snow dome, yes, HEMEL HEMPSTEAD SNOW DOME!!! So naturally he was quite anxious. The 2 hours spent with Nick (Supreme Ski) were more than worth it! Within this time, Nick had managed to correct the issues Mark was concerned with and dispel previously learnt bad habits.

Nick’s instructing style was natural and within minutes it felt like skiing with a friend who actually wanted Mark to do well and improve, rather than previous instruction he’s had where it felt like a mere inconvenience to the instructor, who seemed to be just following the motions until the session was over. Huge thanks to Nick, and also to Olly who set the session up, as thanks to you guys Mark has been improving daily through your advice – We hope to share a drink with you on our way back through France!

Board game night

bored of board game night

No trip to the Three Valleys would be complete without popping into La Folie Douce…

We arrived late to catch the end of the party (due to a lost phone, don’t ask!) But in good enough time to watch all the leaving revellers attempting to ski down to the Rond Point (next bar) with skis and boards making it down the hill independently from their owners. After a trying run down in the dark, we all made it safely home, including our 2 beginners Kirsty and Tom, who we must mention did incredibly well this week!!

The Three Valleys area has something for everyone from complete beginners to more advanced skiers, and families alike. La Tania is a great base with perfect access to all of it, it has the added bonus of being more affordable than the likes of Courchevel, and with a less lively and more intimate atmosphere than Meribel. Having said this, there is still great apres to be had in Le Ski Lodge, that often goes well into the night. (We are slightly biased as Jess did a ski season here in 2012/13, and subsequently met Mark.)

If you’re looking for instruction in the Three Valleys area then get in touch with these guys. You won’t regret it…

Supreme Ski & Snowboard School Office:

L’Amoise

Rue de la Culaz

Le Praz, Courchevel, 73120

France

FR +33 (0)479 08 27 87

UK +44 (0)20 3744 1655

email info@supremeski.com

With all the best intentions of blogging on a more regular basis, other than regular check-in’s and posts on the Facebook site, it’s invariably difficult to find the essential combination for the posting of text, image and video… power and wifi! Since we last spoke we’ve covered a fair distance in desperate search of good skiing conditions. This years conditions are odd, as we keep seeing massive dumps of snow preceded by rain and warm conditions, which is making for very difficult on and off-piste skiing. It’s also making for some dangerous back country skiing which has put us off being too adventurous on decent powder days. This, coupled with the number of avalanche reports across the whole of the Alps, has prompted us to take avalanche equipment almost every time we’ve skied, even for presumed safe on-piste skiing.

After leaving the expensive Aire in La Plagne, we made our way to our next destination of La Rosiere. As we didn’t want to drive a long distance, La Rosiere seemed like a perfect choice. Although the SatNav insisted on informing us that the D1090 was closed (this will become a recurring theme) we took a risk and ignored her, hoping that it would only be the Col De Petit St Bernard that was closed, as it is most winters, which was beyond were we needed to get to anyway. After about an hour of driving up the mountain with our fingers crossed, we made it to La Rosiere without incident.

Parking is limited and is restricted for motorhomes in the town between 23:00 and 08:00, but we took a risk and parked up in the town anyway (the signposts were covered in snow, wink!).

The weather the next day was overcast and cold so we decided to do some sightseeing around the village and grab some food and drinks in the afternoon. After buying a postcard and sticker for Mark’s collection, we went for pizza and wine at a local restaurant. After dropping off the leftovers of the half eaten pizza back at Maggie, we made our way to Le Comptoir bar on the promise of wifi where we compiled the most recent blog. On the journey down to the bar Jess noticed brown skids with every step that Mark was taking, it turned out that hiding under a thin layer of snow a dog turd was lying in wait and ready to snuggle into every groove of Mark’s left snow boot. After a five minute moonwalk in deep powder, Mark managed to clear an acceptable amount of said dog turd to make it into the bar unnoticed, there was no wifi.

After our second night of sleeping in La Rosiere, we awoke to a ‘tap, tap, tap’ on the door and were greeted by a local policewoman. She informed us that as of the 2015/16 season, it was forbidden for Camping Cars to park up in the town overnight, saying that we should use the local campsite that was only about 200m down the mountain road. This didn’t really affect us as we were planning to move on after skiing anyway! We left for skiing at about 10am, bought our lift passes and walked up to the nearest chair lift. Just as Jess clicked into her ski’s, Mark laid his onto the piste and one starting sliding away- one of the brakes had fallen off!

After retracing our steps for about 20 mins, we realised it must have fallen off shortly after getting our skis out the back of Maggie, as we found the brake to one side of the road where it had been placed to avoid being run over by passing traffic. After a quick stop in a local ski shop, the brake was re-attached with a larger screw as the thread had gone, and we were on our way once again. It was a fairly overcast day, however on our journey back from La Thuile to La Rosiere, we saw the most amazing cloud formation, that we could only describe as a cloud window!

In the absence of warmth, comfort and in serious need of a shower, we decided that we were well overdue our first campsite stopover. We arrived at Le Grand Bornand Camping 10 minutes after the reception closed, so we searched for a vacant spot and hooked up to the electric. After the much sought after shower in fairly decent facilities, we continued with our Game of Thrones marathon, realising how little we had left to watch!

January 21st- Our first bluebird! Due to the weather, we left the van in a hurry and headed towards the bus stop, in the hope of finding a rubbish disposal point en route. As luck would have it, 5 minutes later we were stood on a fairly crowded bus in full ski gear, with a large bag of rubbish in hand! After a fairly awkward and smelly journey for all on board, we arrived at the main ski lift and finally found somewhere suitable for the rubbish. Once there, we had a choice of 2 bubbles to take us to the top. Although neither were fully equipped for powder ski’s, we managed to choose the smaller of the two. Some shifting and fumbling later, with the help of the lift operator, we were sat very cramped in the miniature bubble with ski’s positioned around us at all angles.

In Le Grand Bornand, we found that most lifts and runs lead to or from the same area, but due to limited numbers of people skiing here, it felt more spacious than it could have done. The runs were fairly varied, but became quite icy in patches. Regardless of the recent snowfall, the resort still insisted on firing the snow canons, which left an irritating residue on your lenses each time you passed them, but at least they were focussed on prolonging the ski-ability of the resort. Wanting to take full advantage of not only the skiing but the sunshine too, we relaxed with a couple of Vin Chauds on deck chairs and a late lunch in the restaurant, before we made our way back down the mountain. The descent down was mainly off piste and almost under the first bubble we took up that morning. After avoiding many obstacles along the way, we also came across a couple of brooks that left us with no other option than to jump. Although it is usually ladies first, in situations such as these it is always safer to let the man take the lead- Mark of course obliged. Doing his best Road Runner impression, Mark attempted to make the gap, however was unfortunately faced with a backwards slide into the icy waters below. From observing his poor attempt, and doing almost the opposite, Jess executed a perfect landing on the other side of the brook. Fortunately for us, this particular campsite had a heated swimming pool, perfect to wind down in after a difficult run home. We relaxed in the pool for the evening, followed by a shower for the second day running (!) and completed our household chores of washing up and tidying Maggie to create the perfect environment to finish our Game of Thrones boxset.

The next day we began our journey towards Grenoble, deciding to stay somewhere nearer the airport as we were expecting the arrival of friends who were coming in on an early flight over from London.