Ep 57 Happy Halloween.

Good Morning Val d’Isère

Val is looking PARTICULARLY beautiful

At the moment with the

Sun

Snow

And

Autumnal trees………

If you are driving

Don’t forget that the winter tyre and chain rules

Start tomorrow.

And continue until the end of March

Remember

Only the tyres marked 3PMSF

Three peak mountain snow flake

Are allowed without chains.

Don’t forget to check Savoie-routes.fr

Next week due to maintenance work
Chambery’s Tunnel des Monts

Will be closed every night from eight pm until 6 am

The Tignes Mairie

Have put out a warning for anyone tempted to ski tour on the Grand Motte glacier.

Recent snow and strong wind at altitude have made a high avalanche risk

They are preparing the pistes,

Don’t get tangle in a grooming machine or its cable

Crevasses are only partially covered

The cables of the cablecar are defrosting….. large blocks of ice may suddenly fall ……….don’t be under they land…..

This Sunday

The first ski resort in France

 opens for the winter

The cross country heaven of

Bessans in the Haute Maurienne

How do they manage to be the first

Year after year ?

Le snowfarming…..

Yes that really is a French word

I didn’t make it up

They Cover last seasons snow

With A thick layer of sawdust

To minimise melting

Mornings are reserved for

Serious athletes

In particular the French Team

But it is free

No money no forfeit free

For everyone

From one to five

This weekend you can also try out

The latest kit

moonbiking

Or dog sledging….

Not long until the World Cup in Val …

The 70^th Criterium

If you haven’t got tickets yet

There are three choices

10, thirty or one hundred and fifty six euros.

The most expensive

Includes a bar and parking !

There are places to see the race

Without buying a ticket

And

You could OF COURSE

Watch from your cosy couch

Another of our Olympic hopefuls

Is 30 year old

Snowboard Cross Champion

Charlotte Banks

Her family moved from Hemel Hempstead

To French Alps when she was just four

Her first Olympics were in South Korea

Under the French Flag

When she was fifteen.

in 20 18 

She chose to go back to her roots

And join Team GB

She had a VERY DISAPPOINTING time in Beijing…

As World Champion, she had hoped for a medal

Last season was going very well

Until it ended with a crash

And broken collarbone

Surgery

physio

And many months later

She is focused on Cortina……

I have mentioned the Three Carrick-Smiths

Freddy and his younger twin brothers….

Now I want to introduce

the Skiing Triplets

Hoping to Make Olympic History

Eighteen-year-old

Helaina, Henniyah, and Henri IV Rivers

From Long Island, New York

Will represent Jamaica

Encouraged by

Their ski instructor parents

By 5 The trio were racing 

And their mother even raced with the three in utero.

In 20 24

Two thirds of the triples competed

at the Winter Youth Olympic Games

in South Korea.

Jamaica had a skier

For first time

In the last Olympics.

The Rivers team are hoping

That

More Caribbean athletes

Will follow their example.

We love dogs……….

Two were playing near a coastal cliff in San Franciso

One slipped…….

Over the cliff……..

Landed on a ledge twelve metres down….

He was lucky ….

He could have fallen more than sixty metres

To the beach below

and

A police drone operator HAPPENED to be in the area

A rescuer rappelled down

Put 18 kilo fido in a harness.

Rescuers were covered in doggie kisses !

Top Tip

On the edge of a cliff

Stick to the paths

And keep your dogs on a lead.

That well known ski magazine…

House & Garden

Have given Val  top marks.

Recommending

Champagne at Cocorico

And

suggesting that the Experimental Chalet Hotel

That opened last year in the Old Village

May be the most stylish new hotel in the French Alps

The Experimental was also mentioned in the

World Ski Awards 20 25

If you didn’t get there last season

Put it on your To Do List to visit ………..

You don’t have to STAY there

Drink

Dinner….

Spa….

Do you travel between

Britain and Bourg

In the interseason ? 

Join the new

Bourg-Britain connection Facebook group

Share journeys

And costs

Do your bit for the planet……

Have put the link in the episode description.

Today’s celebration

No surprise

for those with small children

Or anyone heading to the party at the Hibou

Halloween…….

I have always assumed it started in the US

But in fact

It started

More than a thousand years ago………

in Ireland

First a Celtic Festival……. Samhain (Sow in)

Meaning Summer’s End

Essentially a harvest festival

Making sacrifices to the dead

In exchange for supernatural support

to get through the winter

In the 18^th Century

November 1^st was called All Hallows Day

So

31^st October

Became All Hallows Eve……..Shortened to Halloween.

In the nineteenth century

Irish immigrants took the tradition across the pond

The dressing up

Trick or treat

and

Wild Sugar rush Children

Came later…

Must dress up the doodles

So they at least LOOK scary

See you in

NOVEMBER……