What the heck?!

Woke up this morning to Wardo knocking on my bedroom door telling me to look outside. Duly rolled over and glanced out from my balcony and falling endlessly from the skies above - huge flakes of snow! And it's nearly June! So it's dumped down massively and everything looks Chrismassy again. Very pretty.


The balcony this morning


We knew there was a bit of snow forecast but it's dropped several inches of the white stuff last night between coming home from dinner at Caroline's (wicked tartiflette and apple pie - thanks Caroline!) and carrying on until around 2pm this afternoon. It's just started up again a bit now and there's more on the way. At this rate it's not going to be long before we get fully snowed in up on our snowy perch in the mountains.


The views from the farm




This screwing up global weather thing is really obvious up here in the mountains. We really need to get our act together and do something about it. Not the small steps some people are currently taking but large sweeping reforms to try to get the planet back on track.

On a totally different tack Zinzan Brooke, the ex All-Black suffered a head injury falling from a taxi and is in for brain surgery. He was a favourite player of mine in the 90's and I hope he gets better soon.

On another different tack, I found a lizard shivering in our pile of wood whilst stocking up this morning ready for this cold spell and so I brought him in and he's now living in a biscuit tin with some leaves and stones in our lounge. I'll let him go when it heats up a bit outside.

Liz the Lizard in the biscuit tin.

Leg power

Wardo and I decided to go mountain biking today. So duly got togged up in appropriately cool looking gear (baggy jeans, cap, reinforced funky gloves, black t-shirt) and have a roam around exploring.

We're using downhill mountain bikes - fast, powerful, stable going down the slopes. Really cool and feels nice and solid whistling downhill. Going along the flat's not too bad either, very fun - jumping over kerbs and speed bumps and little lumps and jumps. The gears are good too, and it's very soft ride due to the enormous suspension. This suspension has a very interesting role as soon as you start going uphill. In that on your downstroke of the pedal, the suspension just compresses and the you start going v e r y   s l o w l y. Very hard work indeed, especially biking the mile up the steep hill where we live.

Still I wasn't too tired and really felt fit afterwards and have the smooth apres-exercise glow this afternoon. Awesome. Can't wait to carry on pushing the body and keep getting trimmer and healthier. Feels good.

Dead whale removal

So I was watching a bit of tv last night and came across this short clip of some official looking people in the states trying to remove a 45 tonne dead whale from a beach.

Essentially they decide on using dynamite to blow it up into small enough chunks so the beach scavengers can remove it piece by piece. Whomever came up with that dickhead plan shouldn't be allowed explosives to be frank. That's just dangerous - sounds like the type of person that has to read the "Don't eat this product" on a tin of paint just to be sure you shouldn't.

So anyway, they put boxes and boxes underneath, then have a discussion and decide that they need a bit more. Well the outcome is pretty exactly how you'd think with a nice twist to it. Muppets. I'm still giggling each time I watch it though =)

Climbing today

We didn't climb at Argentiere today in the end, instead we went to the crag at Servoz. It was a beautiful day and we both climbed really well. Was awesome to be out in the fresh air and get some tanning in as well as a load of exercise.

Here's all the photos from the day's climbing.

The Aiguillette d'Argentiere

Going up to climb the Aiguillette d'Argentiere tomorrow with Chris. Better make sure to take plenty of fluids. It's a 1 hour hike to get to the base then we'll spend as much time as needs be to climb to the top. I worked a fair bit this weekend so this is going to be my day off in lieu. Should be interesting and I'll take the camera and post up about it tomorrow evening.

The Aiguille d'Argentiere (3900m, 12795 feet) and Aiguille du Chardonnet (3824m, 15546 feet)

The Winter Season

So here's some of the favourite photos from the winter season that finished last month. Funky stuff. Looking forward to the next one!

Photos from Le Tour
Ice crystals forming on a fence. These little bits of beautiful natural formations always blow me away. I always stop and look around at these things when riding and they never, ever lose their allure.


Jon using his cool photographer skills to get a shot of himself in my lens. He's actually holding the camera by his waist and I'm looking down. A fantastic day's riding with a really good mate in beautiful weather. It doesn't get much better.


A turn in a steep clearing in the woods in Le Tour backcountry. One of my favourite places to ride with really interesting terrain. I'd just come flying off a natural roller and stomped the landing perfectly about 200m farther up next to where a group of around 7 or 8 people were having a picnic. They gave us a whoop and a cheer and as always my face went bright red and I got a big embarrassed grin on my face.


Backside ollie 180 on the path down to Vallorcine. After a while, you spend the entire time on paths doing flatland tricks to pass the time. I like this photo because it just looks so strange mid-air. Jon and Kev and I had just been riding some gullies and chutes on the back side of Le Tour and we were heading home via the Vallorcine gondola.



Photos from Les Houches
Kev's board and my board in a snowstorm at the top of Les Houches waiting for the girls to arrive after a great day cutting first tracks all over the mountain. Kev came out with some great quotes that day putting forward the opinion that riding powder is a privelege and you shouldn't ever waste it.


Looking down the valley in a brief moment of clear skies. It's me riding down in the foreground feeling like I'm dropping straight into the valley floor. It's not actually that steep but it looks proper gnarly.


Trying to pick out a line in low visibility. The whole valley was whited out this day but Kev and I found masses of untracked powder amongst the beginners at Les Houches blasting through everything we could see. I remember people cheering me from a draglift as I put in a couple of powder turns then dropped a little ridge covered with snow-covered bushes. Awesome memories of that day.



Photos from Les Grands Montets
The sun dropping below the ridge casting grooved shadows on the piste. This is the start of the run from the top of the freestyle park to the middle station.


First lines dropping in from Le Petit Vert. I hiked up with Mark from All Mountain Performance to catch the first lines down. We spent the vast majority of the time looking around at the view and then trying to catch our breath with the altitude stripping the air of oxygen. It was the last bit of riding I did for the season. The last run - fresh tracks down the mountain. Perfect.


Monkeying about in deep powder on one of the best days of the season. It just was binning it down with snow for a few days previously and on that day. I think the previous day the whole mountain was closed with avalanche risk 5 out of 5. This photo was just taken just next to the cat track that runs through the Dream Forest. It was the best tree riding all season with huge powder pillows and endless small drops. We kept meeting people we knew and ended up riding in groups around the mountain before all going for a beer in the FuBar in Argentiere. One of the highlights of the season was this day.


Stopping to listen to an awesome tune - headphones are built into the hat. I've posted before on listening to music but I just love it for easy piste riding. It's like having a soundtrack playing to your own personal snowboarding film. I've even got different playlists on my iPod for different riding like pistes, parks and rails, hiking and clear and low light. Unfortunately I cracked the screen on my iPod after a slight mishap with a quarterpipe but it still plays so it's all good.


Blasting down the glacier from the top cable car. This was taken by Kev a bit further down from when we hiked up Le Petit Vert on the last day of the season. It reminds me of how massive the mountains really are. I remember riding really well for this section - fast and powerful.


Dan and Jules on a chairlift in a snowstorm. We had some incredible days riding all together and Dan ripped up most of the mountains he set foot on. One of the best skiers I've ever ridden with. Jules is Kev's wife and has an amazingly fluid style that far outclasses most of the boys!


Some days were so cold and low visibility. This was one of them - but the powder was incredible. When I was little we used to have a 1.5k single person chairlift to get up the Wiedersbergerhorn mountain at Alpbach, when it gets cold and the weather closes in I always think back to then and remember how much fun it is just to be in the snowy mountains. I still get the same feeling of excitement on the way up a mountain on a chairlift. I guess when that's no longer there it's time to turn the snowboards into shelves.


The Boss des Bosses moguls competition. I rode for the Chamonix team against Zermatt, Val d'Isrere, Meribel, Courchevel and Verbier. We ended up a very creditable second. Two things stick in my mind - the sheer size of the moguls. I'd never ridden anything that size and I doubt I ever will again. It was incredibly daunting dropping into moguls waist to chest high with a kicker at the end. They were pretty dangerous and one of the competitors had a bit of a tumble and ended up getting choppered off the mountain. The other thing that stuck in my mind was the after-partying. It was really weird to have people I didn't know come up and say hello and buy me drinks. I was out with two friends so I stuck with them most of the evening, but it was a strange feeling nonetheless. Funky for a day I guess.


One day Kev and I saw there was a boardercross comp on so we decided to go to the Grands Monetets for a ride and have a look at it. It was very nicely put together and it's always interesting to watch really talented riders in any snowboarding discipline. I remember this day too because I caned myself trying to ride away a switch 360 and bounced and ragdolled down a slope for what felt like ages. Luckily I didn't injure myself but I remember sitting at home afterwards thinking that I was lucky the snow was soft - these guys were falling on hard packed at full speed.



Photos from Brévent/Flégère
This day stood out for me this season. Deep powder everywhere and Kev and I by ourselves ripping the mountain putting down fresh lines everywhere. This was one of the rare times going through chop but there was so much snow it was still awesome. You can see on the trees how deep the snow was and we just tore it apart until my goggles broke after a bit of a tumble. Definately a standout day. Taken at Flégère.


Firstly - how deep is this!! Taken on the same day as the photo above this was possibly the best run of the season. Deep, deep untracked powder - really solid technique all day and hardly anyone on the mountain. I'd dropped into a chute and was putting slash turns in the whole way down - like a kilometre of thigh-deep powder that was as flat as an artists canvas. I can still remember riding the whole day with my ears pounding and adrenaline pumping through the veins. Taken at Flégère.


This is just Dan at his best styling away on a windlip. I know we all had a go at doing this but Dan just caught it perfectly and Kev snapped a great shot. This was one of the few bluebird powder days we had and the Chalet Le Courtil crew was out in force riding together. We had some great long runs on this day hitting The Tit (a natural kicker) and spending the whole day grinning at each other. Taken at Flégère.


Shortly after the above photo was taken we rode into the Charlanon bowl and dropped one of the big cornices that had built up in the wind. I got the oppertunity to drop in first and my hand's reaching down for a little tweaked indy grab to try and style a little more. I love jumping in powder because the landings are so soft. Joe and I ended having to hike out of a terrain trap soon after this. Taken at Flégère.


The mountains are so high in the valley that you often get the cloud layer miles below. In Chamonix itself it was nasty weather - sleet and 100% overcast. Where we were it was glorious and the views were dramatic. I love it when the climate produces things like this. You just don't get to see it in England and I never tire of it. Taken at Brévent.


A wicked shot of the Aiguilles from Brévent showing some cool cloud formations.


Joe on the way up Brévent in the gondola for a days riding. On the way up the gondola was always full of laughter and energy. On the way down it was also full of laughter but at the start of the season everyone was shattered. As it went on everyone had more and more energy as we got fitter. Towards the end we could ride all day and still have enough energy to go climbing in the evening! I was surprised just how fit I got this season.


Photos from going out
Aaah, dancing on the tables at Chambre Neuf with the band playing. I loved this place - a proper apres-ski atmosphere with everyone drunk after one beer and singing and dancing everywhere. I can't wait to go there next season. The boys from the chalet (plus some random on the left) showing how it's supposed to be done. Left to right - Random dude, Dan, Chopper, Al, Jim.


Jon came out for a week with Godfrey and unsurprisingly got plenty of snowboarding and drinking in. We'd cleverly been on the Jagermeister test tubes and were in the process of turning into naughty mode. It was really great to see him out here and he's coming back for a bit of climbing this summer. Looking forward to it immensely.


Aaah, the end of season party. Everyone up the mountain for fun, games, drinking and general monkey activity. Nice switch water ride from this chap.


For the end of season party at Le Delice Andy and I decided to pitch up in drag. Katy's help and clothes were hired and she did us proud. Rather worryingly Andy's still got his lipstick at home. We spent many evenings in Le Delice having a beer and talking to friends. Everyone really misses it when it's closed as it's such a hub for all the friends to congregate in.


Joe, myself and a rather worried looking girl in Chambre Neuf towards the start of the season. For some reason in this photo Joe and I have swapped hats. It was my favourite beanie but someone pilfered it (or rather I lost it!) after a particularly agreeable night out many months ago.


There's some people to thank for being there this season and letting me steal their photos:
GoodJon
Kevin
Chamonix-Valley
Listingslab
Dan
Jim

This shaving thing

I can count on one hand the number of times I've had a wet shave in the past 6 months (sister's wedding, dressing in drag for Delice end of season party, going down the yacht club to name them). My super-duper set of clippers cover my every need in that department. I've also in the past few months taken it to my head on a weekly basis. It's not that I think it looks particularly cool but it's really a pretty functional haircut. I'm not trying to impress, intimidate or dress up or down - it's just damn easy to deal with and looks just fine.

As I've had this same head shorn look for 5 months now so last month I decided to grow it out a bit and see what it looked like. Pretty shocking as it turns out. It's not as thick as it used to be and to be honest I didn't have the inclination to start visiting barbers and monkeying about buying hair gel to spike it up, bleaching it blonde or perform on the unruly mop any of the other misdemeanours I have done over the years.



When I was younger I shaved my head and tried to grow stubble and it looked terrible. But this time it's immeasurably better. I must be getting old - awesome =) Plus a choice from the extensive hat collection slips on the head nice and easily.

Addendum: After seeing my nose in that photo and it's a bit wonky from a few snowboarding tumbles, it's made me think I should really get it fixed at some point.

Thunderstorm and a log fire

A summer thunderstorm came rolling into our end of the valley just after I'd lit the log fire a few minutes ago. A few deep peals of thunder complimented by the staccato crackling of the burning wood. Nature's own symphony and very cool.

We get lots of thunderstorms here because of the sun heating the rocky mountains during the day. I'm really looking forward to the summer and all the extreme weather it's going to bring.

Empty Ferme and the FA Cup

Andy's gone back to Blighty this weekend, Crampons is out in the Med somewhere and so I'm all alone at home looking after the dogs. Luckily the weather's really brightened up so tis beautiful. This along with the snow of last week (when it was raining heavily it was snowing on the upper reaches of the mountains) is making the valley look really cool. I've got the doors and windows open and Dirty Harry by Gorillaz pumping out filling our little corner of the Alps with music.

Yesterday I was planning on watching the FA Cup final downstairs on Crampon's sky box but got a call from Christophe asking if I fancied going down to Vaudagne to watch the match down there with him. He's house and dog sitting for Corin and Claire while they're back in the UK. We ended up having a couple of beers watching the footy and then taking the dogs out for just the most incredible walk up into the upper meadows and a staggeringly beautiful little hamlet of old chalets high up. Total knickerdropper walk. I got a shout from Hannah (my Czech companion) who's coming back out this summer to see me and live out here a bit longer. We'll definitely be going up there walking through the woods up to the hamlet and the meadows with the best views I've seen in the valley. Totally cool.

So today it's a tidy-up day. Have done the kitchen, brought in some logs and I'll hoover and clean the living room. Andy's back tomorrow evening so I'll chip up to Geneva and pick him up and return to a nice clean house.

I've even downloaded season 3 of Top Gear to watch this evening along with dinner. Funky Sunday!

Proof

I wasn't kidding yesterday about the weather raining and raining. I don't mind though, got lots of work to do.

Layered cloud outside the office.

Still raining!

Had a quick look at the weather forecast today on Cham valley and I've got to say, it's not terribly inspiring for outdoor pursuits. I don't mind at all - I've got loads of work to do, but it feels a bit claustrophobic in the valley with dense cloud half-way up the mountains above and the thick green vegetation growing up on each side. It feels a bit like living in the Eden Project!

The weather report:


Even the Arve river's got a brown tinge to it as the water endlessly runs off the mountain. The valley has it's own very unique weather patterns governed by the high peaks all around, and I've been reading quite a bit about meteorological conditions in mountains so I'm more informed for climbing, backcountry snowboarding, hiking or really in case anything should go wrong. Plus it's interesting. I've experienced many Föhn winds over the past months and seen some really whacky lenticular clouds around the various mountains but especially Mont Blanc.

Anyways back to work. Got SQL to write.

The Lost Valley

It's been raining with very minimal pauses for breath pretty much since the ski lifts closed a few weeks ago. The valley looks very cool with clouds rising from the forested mountain sides all around like some sort of primeval rain forest. It's making the whole place have a slightly surreal ambience - probably down to the stark contrast in view to what we've been looking at for the past 5 or 6 months. It really does feel like some valley lost in time Jurassic Park style though.

So woke up this morning and got into work early. It was pretty nippy and the clouds shifted for a moment and looking up the mountain saw that freezing level had dropped so much overnight there's been a dusting of snow above around 1800m! Unreal.

The view from the office this morning.


I've also officially started my new contract today and it feels really good to get into geek mode. There's some really technical problems to solve with compressing databases which need to be done first and foremost. It's also programming in ASP, an older language that I'm intimately familiar with. I've been programming in PHP recently and it feels a lot newer and trendier. But I've got to say it's really nice to write in a language that flows naturally, albeit with its own "quirks" and some horrific syntaxing. It's very cool though, and the bonus is I can write large swathes of it and it just works with no bugs.

In other news, I'm looking after Ava and Digby - two dogs that belong to a friend. I know them dead well and it's nice to come home to wagging tails. Been giving them plenty of pats and tickles and they're very chirpy. I'd sort of like to get a dog but with those two so close it's a wicked substitute, plus it means I just get cool time with them and not have to deal with them chewing my slippers. I've seen a few geckos roaming around on the stone outside the house and have been thinking about catching one and keeping it as a pet - feeding him the flies we catch. I'll release him after a bit back into the garden but would be a fun pet for the summer.

Gecko.

Damn Flies!

We have a problem at home. Flies. Loads of the little buggers. Because we live "Sound of Music" style up on the mountain there's loads of those wicked cool alpine cows around us with the bells around their necks chinking and tinkling merrily.

Unfortunately these cows poo lots and flies love poo.

It's only right now, they go away soon but for the moment Andy and I are fly hunters extraordinaire. Stealthy technique is required. We also need our anti-fly armoury updating so I'm going to pick up some super-sticky fly paper on the way home in le supermarche and if I see one of those tacky 1970's beaded doorway curtains I'm sure it'll also be finding its way into the shopping basket.

Alpine evening

Was a really nice evening last night, so took some photos of what we can see fromt he farm. Andy and I sat outside and had a look around. The snow's pretty much gone except for on the higher peaks where it remains all year round.

Looking down into Les Houches


Aiguillette des Houches (not very high - only around 2000m)


Looking up to the Aiguille du Midi (3842m, 12,605 feet)


Looking up the valley

Democracy and Email

Slightly misleading title for the post but what the heck.

Firstly, looks like the Taiwanese government has been doing their thing. I remember seeing a bit of video of their legislative body having a ruck over some bill or another a few years ago with chairs and punches being thrown. Seems like they've not learnt their lesson from the last time and decided to go for round 2 fighting over a budget. Awesome.

Jab, jab, left hook, vote!


I tell you this is the way to get kids interested in politics. I reckon that more youngsters would be interested in the current Labour leadership battle if all the candidates were set up in inflatable sumo suits and ordered to smack the crap out of each other on the lawn outside the Houses of Parliament. It's a real leveller wearing one of those things. To be honest I'd like my leader to be dextrous, problem solve quickly and been physically fit. It's a cracking idea and I might just email Tony Blair. I'm actually pretty sure he'd like to see Gordon Brown in a sumo suit anyway.

ROAR!


Secondly (and totally on a tangent) I've been getting loads of emails from friends recently. In fact a large proportion of the day has been spent writing responses and catching up today. It's been really nice to say hi to old school friends and work colleagues and people who I've bumped into over the years.

Email interweb thingy. Teknolojee iz wickid.


Really quality to hear how everyone's lives are coming along in which directions. A mate is going travelling to Africa, another has moved back from America to near where I used to live and one of my favourite people ever to work with has got a new house with their partner. It's minty cool and making me feel very happy that there's talk of people coming out for a holiday to say hello and do some climbing or walking around the mountains (and a few drinks!).

It might be from getting the emails from friends and family or the fact that the weather today has been beautiful blue skies with tufts of cloud around the mountain (it's been very rainy here for several days) or it could just be that the seratonin levels in my brain have risen again after a recent minor drop. But I feel really good today. Really happy.

Peace y'all.

Politicians lie!

Came into work this morning to get on with stuff and Cham was like the beginning of Vanilla Sky where Tom Cruise wanders about New York but there's no-one there. Was very weird.

So anyways, Chris pitched up a wee bit later and told me that it was a french national holiday. He rather humourously pointed out that Nicolas Sarkozy (new French President) had based a lot of his campaign on getting people back into work and working more than the 35 hours maximum they do here. Ironic I guess that his first day after victory in the elections happened to be a national holiday. Still, it's to be expected most likely.

I rightly had a look about to see what was the cause of this lack of activity and general siesta-ness and it's VE Day. Awesome stuff! So in true style have been reading up about WWII and the Battle of Britain. It's amazing how much cool stuff is out there in the ether available from one's own arm chair and I had a trippy few minutes digging around archives and finding bits of black and white video and photographs and articles and web pages. It's incredible what's gone online and the wealth and depth of information available.

(Housemate) Andy's just downloaded the recent "Have I Got News For You" and it's kind of getting me into this whole "keeping up with current affairs" thing. I always look over various news websites and subscribe to loads of news RSS feeds but now I'm kind of craving a newspaper morning every once in a while. Maybe I should just print out the Telegraph website every day and read that? Still I guess it's good enough to keep on the internet for a while and save the planet the the extra trees for my newspapers.

Rather funkily I also found out the word "news" originates from the Middle English "newes" as the plural of "new". I always used to think it was an acronym for "north, east, west, south" but apparently that's incorrect. Learn something new every day eh? =) I love words, me.

German bomber over London in WW2