Favourite things

During a lesson the other day with Hazel, we were on a chairlift when she asked me 'What is your favourite type of skiing?'.

What a great question. We continued the discussion for some time, and went through our own lists individually. Hazel's list included bouncing around on bumps, plus powder skiing. How lucky were we because it had snowed a little the previous evening. I woke up earlier that morning only to find a centimetre or two of fresh snow in the resort, but higher up the mountain there was plenty of the fresh stuff to play around in.

Our first route was off piste down to Saint Martin de Belleville. Although we found some lovely powder, there were also many turns where let's just say it was a little challenging. Half way down I encouraged Hazel to be a little more patient when turning the skis. It's very easy to try to rush the turn in powder, which can easily lead to losing balance ending in a tumble.

Let's face it though, how many times does it snow during your holiday in order for you to practice this technique in the deep stuff? Hazel made some great adjustments to her powder skiing during the afternoon, especially with making smoother, rounded turns which assisted rhythm and flow.

We were able to find a different pitch with better snow, which we went back to for a second time, trying to avoid other sneaky skiers following in our tracks. Hazel had taken her first of many Ski Instructor training courses last winter which had clearly helped her understanding of better technique.

After our last powder run, we headed back to the Méribel valley for the final ski home. Skiing on piste after being in the powder took some adjusting. The perfectly groomed pistes that you get first thing in the morning, one of my many (long list of) favourite things of skiing, was a distant memory.

Yesterday lunchtime after work I met up with friends, we went free skiing and took several photographs. It was a fun afternoon with us pretending to be professional photographers and models on skis. Here are just a couple of shots that we were taken of me. More to follow on the next post.

Martin

P.S. Have you made your list of favourite skiing things recently?