The Build Up

We've got some great weekends away organised for the next few weeks in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and The Lake District. Last weekend we stayed in a lakeside hostel in Snowdonia, see my sunrise photo. There are some big mountains over there in Wales, commanding respect and a test of fitness. Which nicely links me to my main focus in the next few weeks before heading out to France, increasing strength and stamina. I find that every winter I really benefit from a decent base level of fitness, not only for teaching but for my own fun time on the skis. Granted, it's sometimes very hard to go for a run at daft o'clock in the morning before work, or squeeze in a few hill sprints on the bike after work. But without this effort now, fun time would be limited.

One such time was last March, an epic ski touring trip with a colleague and good friend of mine, Ian Saunders. Ian had been scheming for months with a route that went between the Les Avals valley to the side of Courchevel and over into another ski resort called Pralognan. So, after juggling teaching commitments, coordinating our days off, and striking lucky with the weather, we went for it.

The route began with a couple of lifts, then it was on with the skins attached to the bottom of our skis for the slog. We had over three hours of skinning uphill, and close to another hour booting up with skis on shoulders. It was knackering. We stopped close to the top for a picnic of bread, ham and local beaufort cheese followed by some of Ian's hearty strong sweet coffee. All of this with an amazing view, miles away from humans and surrounded by virgin powder.

It was tough to leave this secret spot, but some powder skiing was between us and the safety of Pralognan, all 1,000 metres vertical drop of it. The first 20 minutes were spent playing down a very narrow steep couloir which eventually fanned out to a massive open expanse. Oh, my goodness, powder skiing at its best. We took it in turns leaving our squiggles, firstly for safety reasons, but also to extend the enjoyment by watching each other with massive grins on our faces.

Needless to say, the number of turns on each section got lower and lower due to fatigue. But, boy oh boy, what a buzz, culminating in getting tangled up in trees right at the end before staggering into the village. Fortunately I had pre-arranged for Harriet to drive around from Méribel to pick us up from a bar!?! What an epic day, one that I will never forget. I remember turning up to work the next morning feeling pleasently tired, only to see Ian putting his boots on at the school, looking up with his cheeky smile and a twinkle in his eye. We didn't need to say anything to each other that morning, we just nodded and went out to meet our clients even more motivated than normal.

So that's why for me it's worth putting in the hard fitness work now, even though it's tough sometimes when feeling tired and it's dark outside. Whether the fitness will help those who aspire to go ski touring, bashing the bumps, cruising the blues and reds all over the three valleys, or even if it's for those who aim to complete the green Altiport piste for the first time.

Martin