Winter 09/10 has started in the Ice Break chalet!

Awesome stuff, since setting up Ice Break (our classic alpine chalet in the Chamonix valley doing group and individual skiing holiday accommodation) things have been going pretty well. We've still got space left for this season around March and early January. In fact just give me a yell by having a look at the website linked above and make us an offer on the weeks! You can find the prices & booking stuff dead easily.

Anyways, lots and lots to do - getting the chalet ready for the first guests arriving. We've been out on the Grands Montets skiing and snowboarding already this year which was great. The Les Houches ski area opens this weekend which might tempt me into having a quick trip down there with a mate or two. Let's see if there's any powder about!

Seasonnaire holidays in Chamonix

So we've set up a company called Ice Break that offers awesome weekly to full season seasonnaire and sabbatical skiing and snowboarding holidays in Chamonix.

The website is at http://www.ice-break.co.uk.

The chalet is fully catered with Abi (currently working as a chef in Le Delice in Les Houches) and cleaning and keeping the place homely. I'll be taking people out on the mountain and we'll be doing loads of snowboarding and skiing - powder, pistes, backcountry, hiking and more. We'll be rock climbing and ice climbing when conditions are good and generally having an amazing time.

Give us a shout through the website on the contact page if you're interested in coming out and staying with us!

Bringing it all up to date

I've been away in the UK for the past 5 days with Tinks meeting and greeting and getting in a general pre-season family reunion. It was really good - tiring but lots of fun with every night an event and every day filled with something to do. I was really, really pleased to see my Mum and Dad and Tink's family and have such a great time before jumping into the winter.

Before we left I managed to squeeze in a quick day up the mountain with Rosco and Emile, part of the riding fraternity who will be performing synchronized falling this season in our corner of the Alps. Again as before, the snow was good for this time of year. Most of the available powder had been tracked out but there was still only one lift open. Besides we're still finding our feet and it's not surprising that we'd probably butcher it anyway.

The good news is that it's dumping it down here. Like seriously dumping. I had to ease off Merv's snowy covering this morning before whacking his de-misters on full blast. Chris is back in the valley looking fit and well and ready for the rigours of the season. Everyone's beaming and frantically getting ready for the arrival of the tourists and generally stocking up and preparing for the already-arriving winter.

I moved Tinks and Katy this morning from their place in Houches to Servoz a little down the valley. It's an amazing, beautiful place they've got there - part of an old wooden converted barn in picturesque Old Servoz. They've leased it for a year and as it's full of mod cons and they're the first people in since it was done, I know it's going to be an awesome home.

So I'm in a meeting this afternoon, I'm moving house shortly as well and need to get ready for that. I'll stay over with Tinks for a night or two while I get prepared then it's time to call on Merv's carrying skills again.

I've picked up my season ski pass from the Montenvers station today as well and my winter boots are now a permanent fixture on my feet. The heady atmosphere of snow and excitement permeates the air and the mountains grow heavy with the ever-present precipitation. What we've all been waiting for is now arriving.

The Love

After Friday Frenzy - the traditional end of week gathering of the various boys and girls - of last night, I woke up this morning with a peacefully dozing Tinks. I got up and popped the kettle on for the first fruit tea of the day and sat myself in front of the computer to check up on breaking world events, the latest project developments, if someone had overtaken my iSketch and most importantly, the weather and snow conditions of the mountains in the valley.

The resulting information was good, very good - no natural disasters around the world, no panic emails reporting broken code, sitting atop the iSketch hi-score table and a solid half metre of snow topped with a beautiful layer of fresh on the Grands Montets. Things were shaping up well.

A few texts and phone calls around to the boys resulted in being picked up by Mark from the center of Chamonix and meeting up with various boys and girls up the mountain. We duly set off with Mark a little worse for wear as a result of the exertions the previous night and arrived at Argentiere as hyped up as if we'd consumed a heady cocktail of Red Bull and sugar cubes the entire journey.

No queues at the bottom cable car and small pockets of friends meant that an impromptu meet & greet session followed and with everyone beaming from ear to ear we jumped on the lift and headed up to Lognan. The only open higher lift from there was the Martmottons chairlift so up we went struck dumb by the incredible snow and shifting cloud dominating the passage upwards. There was pretty much full coverage of the mountain - thin off-piste but some really good windblown sections.

We ripped the thicker off-piste to the left-hand side of the piste initially from the top of the Marmottons lift before rejoining the route and riding on some really good soft snow back to the mid-station and then joined a late-arriving Crampons for another few blasts down the same route. It was really good - we all skied like shit, but hey - first full day back, what do you expect? The beauty was that for every bad turn, bad trick, bad jump, there were two great ones. And some of the powder to the side of the piste was really, really good. The summer drought of fresh snow was seized and broken in two and everyone helped themselves again and again.

It's a great feeling to ride on a really quiet mountain where you keep bumping into friends and laughing and smiling and seeing everyone beaming ear-to-ear, all enjoying the situation regardless of any external factors - very pure riding. It's great to be there with your friends who just love to be there. Conversations on chairlifts always conducted with a smile tugging at the corners of the mouth, laughing commiserations for those falling over underneath the lift, cheers ringing out for people on the piste really ripping it up or landing a slick trick. Just awesome.

Crampons and I joined up with another group of friends after a quick coffee at Longnan then had a few more runs before a final run down the Pierre a Ric home run right down to the mountain and onwards for an apres-ski beer in the Elevation bar. Just a perfect day. I'll admit the really low visibility that drifted in and out was like being in a horror film sometimes, some pistes were as lumpy as the mid-Atlantic and there were patches of seriously icy snow ready to catch the edge of the unwary skier. But I had an absolute blast. And all the guys we rode with had a blast too.

We're all going back out tomorrow with snowshoes to get some untracked powder. I can't wait.

Enough! It's time!

Got up, quick blog post before whacking on the snowboarding gear then head up to the Grands Montets with Mark to meet up with the MountainGoat, Sarah, Crampons, and many more of the local dignitaries and idiots for some communal sliding fun.

Made sure not to get too pissed last night, cup of tea this morning and a check of the interweb this morning (find out what's going on in the world in order to have conversational topics on chairlifts and checking the latest weather reports for the mountains) and we're just about ready to go.

Bring it baby, I'm revved up like a kid with attention deficit disorder. Shame about the unreal low visibility. Time to polish the yellow lenses.

4am and waiting

I said I'd take Fred to Geneva airport this morning at 5am for his flight to Morocco and his pre-season holiday. I got up at 4am and had a bath and something to eat, struggled into various random items of clothing then set off to pick him up from a centrally agreed point in Les Houches.

I was kicking myself actually, feeling really tired even though I'd gone to bed really early the night before. Anyway I sat in our designated meeting place at 4.50am rubbing the sleep from my eyes. At 5.15am I made my first call to his mobile but no luck. It just rang out. I tried every 10 minutes for the next hour but each time it just went to voicemail. Dangit. By 6am I was starting to get really worried. I'd driven around Houches in the hope of spotting him if his car had broken down on the way in or something. Still no luck.

I ended up driving the long way round to Vaudagne, the small mountain village where he lives - 20 minutes of narrow, winding, snowy mountain road. All the time keeping an eye out for signs of an accident - in case he'd slipped off the road or something. The easy route to his place was roadworked and so had to detour around. I've got to say I was pretty nervous - being tired and with scarily difficult driving conditions all the while worried in case Fred had had an accident. I pitched up to his place but there were no lights on and his car was in the driveway, but there was still no response on his phone and the front door was locked.

By this stage I was shattered. I'd been driving and waiting around for over an hour and a half and I figured that I'd done all I really could have short of breaking into his house. Besides, I'd tried ringing everyone up (his housemates, etc) with no success either. It was at the stage where he'd have missed his flight if we left together and maybe he'd grabbed a lift with someone else or something and put his phone in his hold luggage?

Well I eventually slid back under the sheets at 7am and woke up at 9 with a sleepy, annoyed Fred saying that his phone alarm hadn't woken him up and neither had all the missed calls! At least he was safe and well though! He managed to book another flight for Thursday so I guess we'll go through it all again then!

The boy owes me now though. Big time!

Seriously snowing

It's booting it down with snow at the moment. 15cm forecast today and 15 tommorow. The forecasters have got it wrong though, there's way more than that.

Crampons, Mark and I went for a beer at Chambre Neuf this evening chewing the fat about the snow, winter adventures past and enjoying being in a bar of people smiling infused with the most natural high in the world. Sitting there talking with Mark and watching the snow fall will rest in my mind for a long time. A really long time.

I snapped a quick photo of the snow falling in my garden.

Le Petit Balcon Sud

On Sunday Tinks and I decided to have a wander through the forest and up to the Petit Balcon Sud (the small southern balcony). It's an area that sits on the southern side of the Aiguilles Rouges - the chain of peaks that rises up as the northern wall of the Chamonix valley but higher up the valley than Chamonix itself.

It was beautiful - snow in the forest and clouds hanging in the valley. It was a spectacular walk meandering through the trees and looking around at the trails of wildlife in the new snow and looking down at the valley. Luckily the clouds cleared as we approached the highest point of the walk and we saw all the way up to the highest peaks of the Mont Blanc Massif on the southern side of the valley.

The most incredible views shifted in and out of view of the clouds and happily I had my camera to snap a couple of photos. One of the most incredible things was to stand there with Tinks and point at and name the various peaks that stood proud and majestic out of the clouds. We were both speechless at points though and just stood there together in the snow looking at the mountains with the awe-inspiring, amazing views sink in. To top it all off, there was high wind at altitude creating spiralling vortices of cloud on the lee side of the peaks.

The Aiguille Vert (left) and Les Drus (right)


The Aiguille d'Argentiere

Snow!

It's snowing! Wahey! Not heavily but there's flakes in the air and the snow line has dropped down to around 1600m. The boys and girls are getting increasingly animated and there's big love in the air due to the falling white goodness.



Mark from All Mountain Performance has just managed to get a new equipment deal from Völkl with skis, poles, bindings, boots, jackets, fleeces, trousers - for all his instructors too. It's a great deal with lots of goodies and so he's now got loads of unusable gear his previous sponsors. I'm going to take a pair of skis off his hands to use this season methinks.

Tis Cold!

It's cold, like really cold. England lost the World Cup last night and walking back from the game there was a very very crisp feel to the air feeling like the anhydrous clean smell of an imminent snowfall. I had to scrape ice off the car on Friday night as well - apparently it was -3°C. We've not had any precipitation for a few weeks now, it's almost like the mountains and clouds are saving it all up for one massive dump pre-season. Get the base layer really deep and thick before the lifts open.

Right now I just want the pre-season to end and we can all get involved in the winter. There's loads to do and loads to look forward to. Chamonix town center is dead with the town taking a collective deep breath before the tourists come back with skis and poles in tow. The boys are getting fidgety and there's a sort of nervous tension amongst the locals waiting for the fun to kick off again.

I've even started looking at all my gear, wiping it down and getting it sorted out and fixing small things. I've spoken to Shaun about when we're opening up the transfer business full-time and put together some riding playlists to listen to on the mountain.

I can't believe how nervous I am, at least we're all in the same boat out here!

Beautiful day

The mountains just look amazing today - clear blue skies and some high turbulent cloud around the peaks like an unruly mop of hair in the wind. It's days like this where I'm working away and feeling content that I really, really love my life.



I'm really looking to give one of my old boards its first wax ready for the season and I'm even thinking to bring out an old board, the silver dart (Burton Special 57 tricks board) and give it a bit of a slide at Tignes. Awesome.

Nose to the grindstone

Got so much work on it's untrue. It's great to be a busy little squirrel hoarding nuts for the winter, this is exactly the position I want and need to be in. I've written a list of things that I need for this winter season and am ticking items off as I earn the money to buy them.

Essentials
Year's lift pass

The big one - just under €700 this time round. Expensive isn't even the word. Still unless I suddenly turn into a combination of Spiderman and Superman we're going to need one.

Avalanche transceiver

A fairly necessary bit of kit, my one's not looking very healthy at all and it's nice to have one to stay alive. I have a feeling it blips when it should blap and vice-versa. This isn't good.

Avalanche shovel/probe

Important for keeping mates alive. My shovel is cracked and I don't really want to be finding out it's not up to the task whilst digging out one of the lads. Better get one in advance. My probe is wonky (it bends to the left by about 8", vicar) and so this requires attention as all the riding buddies are stick thin and this would miss 'em.

Goggles

After having gone through 4 pairs last year (well technically 3 but the last pair have a cracked lens) these need replacing. Also I remember swearing a lot when they fogged up. We'll be trying to avoid hitting trees, dogs, other skiiers, chairlift supports this year with a pair of crystal-clear goggles.

Gimme gimme gimme
iPod nano

After an unfortunate incident slamming into a quarterpipe at the end of last season, my long-loved iPod screen got cracked. It still works but only plays tracks in artist alphabet order. I listen to A LOT of AC/DC and Aerosmith and The Animals these days. It's not essential to have a new one, but I'm going to miss listening to music whilst riding. I've got a backup plan for this tho which involves going to Carrefour and buying a cheapy mp3 player.

Riding trousers

It's generally acknowledged that I have a pair of the coolest snowboarding trousers in the whole of the Alps but unfortunately they're starting to be built of more gaffer tape than material these days. I do have a spare pair, but they're old. Hmmm, I can get another half-season out of the pair of them I reckon. Just wear an extra pair of long johns and deal with the frostbite on my giblets by soaking in a nice warm bath at the end of the day.

Snow booties

Need some footwear for the winter. Last year I missed out on purchasing a pair of insulated wellington boot type snow booties. This year we're gonna have 'em to keep the feet dry and the toes toastie. They don't look stylish but then neither do I, mind you I don't particularly care!

Snowboarding boots

Yeah mine are missing some essential bits. I'm going to try to fix them but to be honest they need replacing at some stage soon. Going to see if I can find a pair of last years model on sale. Something bling baby.

Snowboard

Rodney the Rocket (my main board) and I had a wee bit of an accident last year and we cracked his tail rail. This isn't good but I did ride him for a while after without any serious repercussions. He needs to man up and take the punishment for the first part of the season until I switch to my other board (which I've a feeling I'll snap as it's very spinney) or purchase a new one. I predict I'll be blogging about purchasing a new board 6 weeks into the new season!

That's pretty much it for the gear. Merv needs a service and some snow tires and whatnot but that's going to get done shortly.

Seasons Changing in the Chamonix Valley

Two days ago, overnight, the temperature dropped like a lead duck into a pond. Hats, gloves and some hideous neon 80's skiing jackets emerged from the various hotels and residences to be sported around town. The heat of summer is officially waving its last good bye and being replaced with the chillier climes of autumn.

Siberian winds pushing a giant cold-weather system from the north-east.


I'm bouncing off the fucking walls with excitement - snow's coming, I can smell it. Other members of the Narg household are not as enthusiastic and are starting to burn incense, chant melodic ancient parchments and sacrifice live chickens to try and lengthen the hot weather. These people are fighting nature and will not win (with or without my moral support)!

Cold and clear around Mont Blanc (latest webcam image)


There's still the sun and blue skies but instead of the deep azure lustre of recent months, it's a paler more powdery hue. Anyone venturing up high should be prepared with thermal undies and more than just a cheeky grin to fend of cold's frosty fingers. The boys have started talking about the upcoming winter, reminiscing about adventures past and stories of deep powder days are flowing like the house rose in Le Delice.

The frosted tips of the Aiguille du Midi (latest webcam image)


Chris is leaving today to go back to London to work on a contract and we had a bit of send-off last night. Fred and I texted everyone in our phones and the glorious man even put on a promotion of McCrampons - a favoured beverage amongst the Les Houches Royalty (fresh lime juice, ice, Jameson's whiskey and Canada Dry). Loads of friends turned up to send Chris off in style with a great blend of people chirpy and cheerful having a bite to eat and washing it down with plenty of booze. A really good night.

The recent madness of working on contracts when I've not been driving transfers recently is starting to get much easier. I've gotten into a good routine and there's regular additions to the company coffers which is very cool. Shaun (the guy who owns Transfer2TheAlps, whom I am driving for) is away at the moment so I'm doing everything and it's going very well. In fact I built his website and have built a very cool admin section which I've been adding to and generally tweaking. He's very pleased and so am I - the more work he gets the better it is for me!

So I'll pick Chris up from Les Houches late afternoon after grabbing some other clients from Cham then off to Geneva. Dinner and a video - a bit of Indiana Jones no less - will follow upon arrival back into the valley. Who knows, might even be able to squeeze in a bit more work this evening. Life's pretty full at the moment but it's great that it is. I'm enjoying it more and more these days and it always makes me smile to get a wave from a passing friend as I'm zipping around the valley in my magic blue bus. I've even managed to start whisking through iTunes and burning CD's to play in the van on the way back. I've even got a crap 80's collection CD for the tourists so they feel they're on a proper cheesy French holiday.

Untidy workspace

This is my current workspace looking extremely untidy. Note the Calvin & Hobbes desktop on the iMac and the Chamonix extreme skiing video enabling more focus during the evening's contract work.



I think I might just take 2 minutes out to tidy up a bit...

A bluebird transfer from Geneva

This was the view of Mont Blanc coming into the valley from Geneva the other day on a transfer. I love it - it's like the perfect start to a holiday and it makes me smile to hear the excited chattering and people asking the endless questions. I guess if I can make the start of their break as perfect as possible then hopefully it'll be something they remember for years to come and smile.

My New Home

Wahey! Sorted out somewhere to live. Chris is going back to the UK for a few months so going to live in the office - it's an apartment anyway so no need to do any work to it!

Looking forward to being in the middle of town, the tourists are dying away and there's amazing views of the Aiguille du Midi to wake up to every morning.

Turned out nice again.

Climbing delayed!

No Frison Roche the other day - put off by a combination of cloud and work. Stayed in the office last night to get more of this project finished - deadline is Monday and we will be ready! I'm just going to be pleased when all the manic rush is over.

The good news is that we can see the finishing line and it's pretty damn close. I'm driving a few airport transfers on Monday to get a bit of extra cash and then on Tuesday will go out and hopefully do this nemesis climb. The rest of the week I've got a few viewings set up for apartments - Taconnaz, Gaillands and Chamonix Centre are all on the cards.

Bring it on baby.

Driving in the Chamonix Valley

There appears to be a few unwritten rules for driving around Cham and the valley that I thought I'd jot down as a useful reference for anyone coming here and choosing to take to the road.



Headlights
These should be left on full beam all the time, day and night. You can't be too careful now can you. Some may argue that getting blinded by a set of halogen beams burning directly into your retina whilst negotiating narrow, winding mountain roads could be construed as dangerous. These people obviously do not take the appropriate measures of closing your eyes and driving by instinct until the oncoming dazzling array of light has passed. Yellow headlights are de rigour for any French car built pre 1988 and show that not only are you a local, but you are also hardcore in your choice of transport and not swayed by modern advertising encouraging the purchase of some nasty plastic car to motor around in.

Indicators
The use of these is purely optional. Sudden violent swerving of your car down a turn-off should serve as sufficient notice for all other road users of your intention of changing direction. Pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, motorbikers and invalid carriage drivers should retain a third eye for any sudden movement in their peripheral vision warning of this. Indicators can also be used to signify potential future intent of other activities - a shopping stop, flying into the bank quickly, handbrake turn, sliding on ice.

Roundabouts
These should be renamed "free-for-alls". Don't hesitate about stopping on them, and for god's sake don't indicate - that's a public sign of weakness. The general philosophy is to approach cautiously and then gun the motor aiming for a gap as wide as a midgets arse between two cars currently riding the concrete carousel. Screeching tires mean that you're really using the roundabout and not just mincing around it as part of some stupid traffic control system.

Tailgating
The ideal driving position you should be aiming for is sat somewhere on the rear seats of the car in front. Don't worry a jot about being so close that the other driver feels like you're a colonic parasite, go ahead and get your full beams on for the best effect. Bumpers are there to be used, not ignored.

Speed
Corners and narrow mountain roads should be attempted at warp factor 9. Straight pieces of road around 0.08 km/h. You should alternate between your highest and lowest speeds in the shortest amount of time. Whilst driving through town try to stop occasionally to peruse the latest sales in the shops and wave a casual hand at the trail of traffic behind to let them know you're only going to move when you're good and ready. Show them who's boss.

Parking
Should be attempted anywhere regardless of signage or road markings. The middle of the road is acceptable so long as you put your hazard warning lights on. With hazard lights on you are truly free to experiment with where you can leave your car. Pavements can be used at any time of the day or night for any length of time. No need for hazard lights as these are officially recognized slots. When approaching a potential car parking slot, make sure to look over and appraise the potential site extremely thoroughly. Parking is a an art form and should never be rushed.

I hope this helps with your road-goings in the valley.

White water rafting on the Arve

Splashy splashy


Saw some people white water rafting on the Arve between Chamonix and Les Bossons today when coming into work. Looked like quite a giggle and was thinking about getting a few people together to give it a crack. The trouble is that it's glacial water - you'd end up with testicles the size and texture of raisins after 5 minutes in that river. It's bloody cold. Still, looks like an entertaining way to spend an afternoon.

One of the cool things is that you get to go through Chamonix town centre itself.

Boshing through Cham past Le Terrasse

New Lease of Life

Good solid day of work done today and finishing up now - about 10pm. Will come in tomorrow and bosh out a load more but really humming along with this project now. Churned out a load of good stuff earlier and going to try and complete loads of it this weekend ready to jump into next week with a big cheesy grin. Chris has chipped off back to the Fatherland to see family this weekend so going to try and cream through the work while he's away so he can come back to something cool.

Feeling loads better after a real low point mid-week. Going to try and get out for a run this weekend too - might even run from the farm to work tomorrow. I'm becoming more and more of a fan of being fit and healthy making a difference mentally. Hopefully in my case even watching sport has the same effect but who knows - I'm not a scientist.

After the 24 festival that occurred when it was pissing it down with rain a few weekends ago, it looks like Sunday evening might promote a bit of a Lethal Weapon festival. Frankly the weather looks like it's going to be shocking. Saturday should be pretty nice though - I'll just slip on my green flash, skin-tight 1970's tennis shorts, headband and my ipod (it's at times like this I wish I had a cassette walkman) and go running around being generally healthy.

Oh! ... and it snowed this week! It's August for god's sake! There was a serious drop in temperature (one that made the log pile deplete in size) and it dumped above 1800m. Go figure - the weather here is weirder than a bucket of soapy frogs sometimes.