Ep 46 Champions, music and jewels.

Happy Monday Val d’Isere !

Let’s put a positive spin on it

Rain in town

Snow on the summit……….

Heavy rain in town

Heavy snow on the mountain…..

We love our local athletes

Twenty year old Flavio Vitale

took Giant Slalom Gold

In the

FIS Alpine Junior Champion !

He is part Tignes

Part Italian

Both close enough to Val to be

OUR local hero !

A date for your diary

If you like both skiing and

Music..

Snowboxx 20 26 is in Avoriaz

From fourteenth to twenty first of March.

The Evening Standard

Described it as a

Snowstorm of DJs

Parties and pistes

DJs include Fatboy Slim Wilkinson

And Arielle Free

There are deals

Including payment plans……..

On Saturday

A lady in her 30s was walking

Along a steep path

in the hills above Perrignier

Near Evian

she slipped on some leaves

slid More than thirty metres

down a steep slope

Then

Over some sticky out rocks

Then

Another FAST twenty metres

THEN

SOMEHOW she managed to grab

A branch of a tree……….

Just two metres above

A very  long rocky surface

No idea how she had the courage

To release one hand to

Get out her mobile phone….

Let alone dial with her
trembling finger tips

Even rescuing her from the tree

Was dangerous

With the worry that the wind

From the helicopter

Along the steep slope….

A Mountain Gendarme was lowered onto the tree

Threw a rope to the lady

Then both were pulled

Up and OUT

Completely uninjured

Shaken but not stirred…….

She drove herself home………

THANKS

ONCE AGAIN

To our amazing rescue services….

This years Trends in ski holidays …

Solo skiers

Preloved gear

Early booking

All of which save money…..

Why drag your partner along if they

Hate snow, ice, skis and cheese !

Have mused before how it must be

SO DIFFICULT

For athletes to decide when it is right to

Retire ….

Let alone

Unretire…..

Already we have Linsday Vonn….

And Marcel Hirscher

who

Can’t RESIST the lure of an Italian Olympics….

Let alone

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen who during his

Short lived retirement

Also changed his flag

Now

Michael Milton

Australia’s most decorated Winter Paralympian

Is focused on Cortina

At the age of

Fifty two….

Why not ?

A seventh Olympic gold would be nice…

And top up his Olympic collection to a round twelve..

In his second Olympics in

nineteen ninety two he gave Australia

Their first ever Winter Paralympic gold medal

Oesophageal cancer changed things…

he cycled in the SUMMER paralympics in china.

More recently

He broke his hip while preparing to ski the seven day Haute Route…….

Can’t wait to cheer him on in February !

More Everest News

Jim Morrison

The climber

Rather than the Doors Musician

Achieved a first

By linking the

Hornbein and Japanese Couloirs

And

Skiing down the North Face

Not easy…. His third attempt

over three expeditions….

His original plan

Years back

Was to ski this with his wife

Sadly she was killed

Skiing down Manaslu

In 20 22.

Still very much in his thoughts

He scattered her ashes on the summit

Before

Skiing

The three thousand three hundred metres

From peak to camp one

In just

Four hours.

I love an  understatement

I did  laugh

When a spokesman was asked about

The theft of France’s Crown Jewels ….

In seven minutes

In broad daylight

From one of the world’s most secure museums..

‘It wasn’t done by an amateur jewellery lover!”

Too true

So wise

The Chalet  Company Consensio

Has a beautiful new chalet

For up to twelve guests

Chalet des Légendes…

At the base of the Face

The name coming from Val’s

Legends including

Henri Oreiller and Jean Claude Killy

Peak weeks cost  nearly

Eight thousand euros

Which includes food….

Quieter weeks you can save

Forty thousand….

Does make me laugh

Reading the blurb from

Travel journalists.

The Atelier d’Edmond is

STILL mentioned as

A go to place for a fab lunch…….

Two years after

Benoit closed up and moved to Annecy !

Lots for ME to celebrate today….

Local radio…… chefs……..coffee……..

Am off out

With the doodles in the Rain….

At least THEY like getting wet……..

See you tomorrow.