That's it folks for another year in England. A sailing across the Channel is booked for tomorrow morning, with an overnight stop at a Logis in Burgundy also reserved. Then for the final push on Tuesday, arriving in Méribel that evening. It's weird seeing the snow falling outside now as I type this post, a kind of taster for the rest of the winter. Fingers crossed I'll be able to find internet connection in a few days time, hoping to post some photos to give you an idea of what pre season looks like in resort.

Martin

Packing up and goodbyes

In the last few days the process of packing up for the winter and saying goodbyes has been building up momentum. Last weekend included visits to various parts of London, with this week a trip up to Cheshire to say goodbye to my parents for another six months. On one of the motorway coffee stops this weekend, I was able to flick through the sports pages of the Sunday newspapers. In the many pages of sport news, footie, rugby and cricket featured strongly, but hidden in a corner I spotted a couple of Skiing World Cup Slalom results from Finland. Fantastic, does that mean the winter has officially started?

I can't deny that I've already been surfing the net for the first signs of the snow. I remember feeling like this all those years ago when I was a holiday maker, trying to get my first fix of excitement before heading to the airport for that precious skiing holiday. In those days, I remember patiently waiting for the teletext pages to slowly scroll through to give the information of snow depths, or waiting for the Sunday newspapers to publish the 'Ski Club of Great Britain' reports. These days it's even easier and I love checking the weather myself on webcams. Try http://www.merinet.com/ for a selection of webcams dotted around the Méribel valley, my favourite being the Panoramic view from the top of Tougnete. But also with the weather forecast, try a free forecast from http://www.snow-forecast.com/.

So, the views and snowy mountains look great at the moment on the webcams, plus the weather forecast looks fantastic with very cold and snowy weather expected at the end of this week and weekend. Although I will hand back 'Noddy', the BSM driving school car, on Thursday, it's nice knowing that the hard work now with packing up, running around and the emotional goodbyes will be well worth it. In a week's time I shall set off from England for the long drive down back to the Alps, in anticipation of the good times ahead. I'll sign off with a photo taken last April, of Gary enjoying the powder off of La Masse in Les Menuires, accompanied by myself and Rick.


Martin

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

Summer Visits

This summer I was lucky enough to visit Méribel twice, both in July and again in August. Both times I drove down in my Noddy car, the BSM company Corsa. So although a comfortable drive in Noddy, it still takes a while to get used to umpteen stares from those not used to seeing a bright orange logo'd driving school car in the mountains. However, what a treat, every year I forget how stunning the mountains are. After the 610 miles trip from Calais, I wake up in Méribel to the amazing views, a real contrast to the ring road in Coventry.



Weather on both trips was fantastic, hot, dry and sunny. Great compared to the slightly damp British weather, but my bald patch took a pounding though. The Méribel valley was busy, with the lift company working hard operating the summer schedule, landscaping several pistes, and with the refurb of the Tougnete Telecabine.

The wild flowers were plentiful, marmottes scurrying all over the place, and even the odd heron was spotted. I mostly mountain-biked in each of the three valleys, but also enjoyed the odd walk. It was great to be out with Harriet in August, and also to meet up with friends, The Joneses (thanks for the Blanchot meal), and also Pete, Jane, Mike, Nick, Gary, Rachel and Amelie.


So, without wishing the next few months away, here's looking forward to the winter.

Martin

Starting up.

Hello everybody and welcome to the very first post on my new blog. I'm really excited and nervous about this new project that I've decided to embark upon. My goal is to try to share my passion for skiing, Méribel and the mountains as a whole. Hopefully this will help encourage the reader to come and visit the French Alps, or to remind others of wonderfull memories from previous visits.

I shall try to keep you all up-to-date when the winter starts in December of conditions in resort, my experiences during that week and news of expected events the following week. Another goal is to show some photos when time allows me.

We are off to Méribel in a couple of days time for a short summer holiday with our mountain bikes and walking boots, so I'll update the blog when I return.

So, enjoy the end of the summer. And thank you for reading this very first post.

Martin