Typical early January

With the festive period and the Russian Christmas behind us, Méribel is a quiet and more peaceful place compared to recent weeks. January is one of my favourite months with empty slopes, cold temperatures and very often sunny days. The first photo shows the view from my bathroom window, which was taken early this morning before going to work. It may explain why I start each day very happy and relaxed. There has been a trend recently of cold, clear blue sky days much like today, typical for January. I understand that the UK has been colder than normal this week, unusually getting almost close to alpine figures. The second photo was taken yesterday morning down at Chaudanne confirms this, please note the temperature reading of -10 degrees.

However, a few days ago we again received some light snowfalls just like last week. Even though it wasn't a heavy snowfall, every little helps. With the cold temperatures keeping the new snow light, and the excellent piste grooming every night, we are still enjoying good conditions.

This week has been fun catching up with some of my regulars, Dan and Kay earlier in the week, then Jim and Geraldine today and later on again this weekend. I also took Harriet back to Geneva airport at daft o'clock on Tuesday morning. This afternoon was my first spare time in several weeks, so I asked if I could telemark with Jim, Geraldine, Rick and Lisa for company. So after the morning lesson and lunch, I quickly changed into my telemarking kit, and off we all went over to St Martin de Belleville. It was great fun sliding downhill together, looking at the views and generally enjoying ourselves.

Next week looks very quiet for me work wise, so I will take this opportunity to recharge my batteries, and then go for a slide. I can't think of a nicer place to be.

Martin

PS. New Year resolutions need adjusting, three pizzas and one tartiflette have somehow popped into my diet in the last seven days !?! How are you doing?