Going home

Only me and cammy made it back out after the après ski but it was only for a quiet hour or so , an early rise and packing to do plus we hadn't paid to get the apartment cleaned because it was €170 and we knew we could do it quickly and easily ourselves , so we had the apartment to clean before our inspection at 0945 , the inspection went ok and the 6adults and two babies bags and equipment were ferried to the lift to join the bundles of other people's stuff left along the hotel hallway looks like Saturday's change around day for the hotel ,Ali and Allison went along for some sandwiches for the road while we waited around with the cases, Bob went for his car and we helped him pack his stuff in and were just about to say our goodbyes when Alistair noticed his backpack was gone ! Bob never had it in his luggage and it wasn't with the main bundle still in the hotel hall , some other group must have lifted it ! It was his hand luggage bag and I was mostly concerned at first that it had his passport and the flight tickets , but I had the flight tickets and Ali had his passport in his pocket thankfully ,But unfortunately his tablet was in his bag though and unlocked so he is concerned about all his internet details , It was a 2hr bus journey to the airport and the worse part of it was Ali had our sandwiches in the lost bag !we were starving by the time we got to the airport , Ali had tried sending himself a message to his tablet so that whoever had it could open it in the off chance they may be at Grenoble airport and we tried lost property's with no joy , There was some cars with Slovakian plates loading theire luggage at the same time as bob and Ali's bag could be on its way to Slovakia , we had an airport restaurant dinner and a few hours sitting around before our flight, it's a tiny airport Grenoble and very busy for the ski season but thankfully no delays for us , untill we were on the flight because of baggage issues and the wings requiring a de-icing we were 25mins late taking off ,it's a two hour flight Grenoble to Edinburgh  we took off in the snow and it was snowing in Edinburgh when we landed , the baggage took ages but Brian macateer timed it perfectly at the drop off point in the big 8seater , when we dropped Ali off we got stuck at the end of his street trying to turn the van it's an automatic and doesn't drive well in the snow ,

A photo of grangemouth from polmont on our first night home , another great ski holiday unfortunately finished I am putting this update months later I forgot I had left it as a draught Alistair never ever got that bag back or his tablet I hope the thieves enjoyed our sandwiches NOT ,

    but the whole group are all excited already for next year, its June now and we are all starting to make plans looks like it could be val de ser this time stay tuned

ski hol 16

Last day on the slopes

     Alison has got into a habit of putting bread on the balcony for the alpine chouffs so this morning the balcony was filled with them and Calum was loving it , the sun was out it was a beautiful alpine Scene it would have been fantastic to have breakfast out in the balcony , but it's at least -10 down here it's -20 at the top of the slopes but lovely sunshine , 

    Speaking of sunshine we were out on the slopes sharp this morning knowing it was our last day on the slopes , and we headed to the sunny side of the valley which was perfect conditions and the boys skied well ,we ran all the runs that side of the valley well before lunch , it was a beautiful day we changed the side of valley and went to the highest point of the area at 3568mtr which was showing -15 at the chair lift not including the Poma distances or wind chill factor ,!what a great days skiing we had all the way back down to the village where we met the girls and babies for a lovely lunch ,All to go back up top and do it again ,because it was the lat day the boys let me use the selfie pole they have been moaning all week it's too uncool  ! I've been getting it tight for wanting to use the selfie pole ,but today I was allowed 😊

 the slopes of Les deux alpes are not extensive so we have skied the area in Our  week but we have had a fantastic time , what a shame we found the best après ski bar on the last night !the umbrella bar was absuletuly bouncing the music was fantastic , we celebrated the end of a great weeks skiing with some beers and jagermiester shots , then headed back to the apparent with some take away pizza , 

             The place is great we could have done with more snow and I would say we have been to better places but we have had a ball , next year will definitely be somewhere else but that's probably a bigger  reflection  on us than alpes deux , 

lazy day

     It was a very long hard day for us all yesterday and by the time we got home from dinner with the kids it was nearly 10pm, Calum was so tired he had a poop in his bath ! (bob had to deal with that thankfully) cammy went straight to bed and refused to go out me bob and ali went for a few beers at polar bear and the red frog , we went out at around 23:30 and the bars close around 01:30 ,the weather report for tomorrow was bad in the morning anyway so we
decided to have a longer sleep in the next day and give our legs some rest,
       10am rise on a ski holiday is a bit lazy even if you were out until 2am i always make the slopes but the weather was bad anyway it was thick cloud and snow outside, so we all lazed around i started looking at my go-pro footage off the record attempt and decided to edit a wee video , this ate up a few hours i'm not the fastest with gadgets and computers so its no 5minuet job making a video suitable to upload ,So it was 2pm by the time i had completed that and had lunch ,bob was the only one willing to go for a ski at that time with the weather how it was .cammy and ali wanted a rest day and to visit the sauna steam room and hot tubs . so with very little persuasion and a little guilt, because for the first time in my life of ski holidays i spent the whole day without strapping my skis on ,the sauna and steam room were great but the hot tubs had been overfilled with some sort of bleach the whole area was like a toxic gas causing your eyes to nip and your lungs to cough so NO hot tub i would have came out of it a dyed blonde !
              we never realised the avalanche tragedy here had reached international news and cammy and ali had people text them checking they were ok ! and then i also got a message of concern  its very nice to know people are thinking of you at home, so that came as a welcome surprise and i felt a bit guilty for not messaging more often
      3 people died in the avalanche yesterday two school children a boy and girl aged 16&14 and a man from the Ukraine, we first witnessed the search from above as the bubble car we were in went straight over it . we could clearly see all the rescuers and the size of the avalanche zone,around two hours later we skied past it in the dark as part of our torchlight ski run the ongoing search was by then all flood lit but people were still  digging and prodding with poles ,we all knew you cannot survive that long in an avalanche .

Ive made a video of last night with the Avalanche search etc it's a rough copy so don't judge the video 😉 http://youtu.be/ROLZQljAg-A

record breakers

Joyce and alison made a great job of dinner again and i was shattered after diner snooze was required , so we ended up not going out until after 10pm bob was doing fatherly duties and joyce and alison were already out when me ali and Cammy left bob to man the fort, a swift beer in polar bear revealed where joyce and alison were spending their night ,but we left them there and went for the long walk up to the windsor me and ali dressed for the winter Cammy in his ten bob sliders and a trackie top ,of course he slipped and fell but no way was that going to stop him wearing cool clothes instead of winter gear !! and he never he never even had a hat on (it would ruin his hair ) the lovely hair had a layer of snow on it like a christmas pudding !
    the windsor was dead only the bar staff in and they didn't really need us hanging around , so we swiftly moved on and went to visit big pete at secret bar which was also quiet ,we opted for the red frog wich was mobbed full of students we ordered beer and snacks but left around midnight we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow ! me and ali already have a world record but we could become double world record holders all going to plan tomorrow
       we got up at a reasonable time and headed to the sunny side of the valley , its a learning curve in every resort the sun hits some slopes in the morning and some in the afternoon better than others bandits a big deal for me , ski in the sun with good vision is the dream the nearest chair lift to our hotel takes us to the glacier area which is much bigger but in cloud and shadow in the mornings , we had great mornings ski, but done all the runs just in time top see the cloud level rise and sun start to hit the glacier side of the valley so we headed over and skied our way to the bubble cars to get up to the 3200mtr area were it was in perfect sun with fantastic views and good snow , BUT (not wanting to sound like a weather moan ) it was -12degrees a young couple asked if i would take a photo of them i took of my its and liner gloves to oblige and my hands never warmed up again until lunch time , even with all our layers and creams and lip salve it was still cold standing in the sun when we stopped ,but the snow was lovely and the views fantastic we had a good time , and stopped for lunch at 2pm ,
   bob had taken the day of skiing to join his family hopefully do some sledging with calum and go see the ice caves in the glaciers as a group with alison and joyce he bought them day passes for the bubble car but when he got there they wouldn't allow baby logan up something to do with new born's and altitude, so bob stayed in the village with logan and tried to organise us meeting at the glacier for lunch which didn't happen ,
        the big talk of the day for us was the world record attempt though ! and each of us at some stage or another was either up for it or not ! as I've already said me and ali have a world record so another would be great but it was a big task , the resort has just opened up a whole new piste which is a big deal for them and to mark the occasion there was going to be ariel fly pasts balloon take offs fireworks and the downhill world record attempt for the most skiers in line doing a torchlit decent obviously at night , this is so much harder than it sounds the decent was from the 3200mtr station in the dark no ski poles 10km of descent at minus 12degrees minimum in single file ,when cammy first felt the cold he was not up for it all, ali was worried about the conditions there was lots of icy patches (not good in the dark with no poles )and the level of endurance its a lot of descent and distance with no rests , bob in the morning had said categorically he would not be doing it , but we had all registered for it and all secretly wanted to be part of this event , me cammy and ali made our mind up we were in but we should get more layers it was going to be cold , we phoned bob could he bring us some layers from the hotel to the bar at the bottom of the bubble cars before we set off ? better than that he said I'm in and will join you soon with layers and my skis , it was on
        the four of us set off up the mountain in the bubble car at 16:40ish the start time for the event was 18:00, as the cable car got nearer the top station we could see a very large crowd had formed in an area way below us , and it was easy to see there was a large well organised search party going on there was a line of people proding the snow piles with poles. this meant only one thing there had been an avalanche and they were searching for survivers we could see the rescue dogs and the shape and size of the avalanche , we had skied past the area earlier in the day and heard the off piste boarders and skiers whooping , but now right below us as we headed to the top of the mountain we could see that great fun for some had turned to tragedy for others , when we arrived at the top we collected our bibs and lights and received some instructions and waited ,there was a brief announcement about the avalanche and the ongoing rescue , but we would still be going ahead with the torchlight ski , once we eventually got on our way we had to ski past the search area and i would like to say more about how great it was to ski that beautifull run just after a perfect alpine mountain top sunset it still feels bad to say how great  a time we had while people were being dug from the snow dead ,we all know the risks we had heard the snow cannons all day and the high risk of avalanche flags were out , but in fairness the off piste conditions were perfect and i will not be judgemental about the adults that got lost i will say it was no place for children
           the bottom sections were like glass and there was a few tumbles not me but others in my group !! bobs family were waiting for us at the bottom calum looking cute in his sledge and winter woolies and wee logan in his monkey suit we had a vin chaude and headed to crepes a gogo for our celebration dinner bob and cammy were o holders of a world record me and ali were double world record holders . the rest of the celebrations were cancelled because of the avalanche  

4 days 2hrs and 15mins

I bought a weeks wifi pass for the hotel which is necessary ( we would be lost without the net )but a bit of a pain in the ass because each time you log on( and you have to re log on everytime !) it tells you how much time left you have paid for , which is actually how much time we've got left off our holiday so TODAY as i logged on it says 4days 2hrs and 15mins that's depressing enough but as I'm logging on over the next few days it will get me down ,
        Last night we did make it out after our snooze bob also ,so it was the 4 boys that headed out in the night , we went to the windsor bar which had a good write up on trip adviser , its a small bar with only one small toilet at the back but loads of good junk around the walls to keep your eyes busy and a fair selection of beers ,the music was a fair bit of david bowie which we had just found out had sadly died yesterday Cammy hardly knew any off his music but we raised our glasses and lamented his passing ,we moved on from the windsor and went to our usual polar bear bar stop and from there to secret bar where we have now befriended big pete from ayrshire the barman , it was a late night we got in at 2am the time just flew past
             Obviously it wasn't the freshest group getting up to head to the slopes this morning ,but ali got us all shifted early enough after a half hearted breakfast for some of us ! there had been a slight snowfall through the night and the wind had died down so we got up the diable chair lift to 2400meters for the first time and the snow was ok ,we done a few of the runs there and decide to take the superdiable chairlift to 2813mts just when the cloud height had dropped and the wind picked up it was freezing with virtually no visibility and very difficult ski conditions .we all wanted to drop down below the clouds as quick as possible and get some lunch and a heat , the mountain restaurant was packed and we were left with a seat near the door so we never got the heat ! my beef bourgeon got cold almost as soon as i had my second forkful but it was tasty we were glad to get going again and get warmed up ,we took a very long green route to the far side of the pistes so we could make our way over to the other side of the valley which looked a bit sunnier , no idea how they could rate that a green it was a long narrow bumpy route which would have murdered the legs of any ski beginner and just became a bit dull for us ,once over the other side of the valley it did seem a bit sunnier and the slopes were empty so we had some good skiing there ,we had a fair bit of distance to cover to get to the other side of these slopes so we could get the chance to ski down as close as possible  to the back of our hotel as we could ,when we got closer the route we wanted to take was closed we had to make a choice , ski the open piste to the middle of the village and carry our skis back maybe catch the ski bus bound the village ,OR nip through the poles and head off piste for our last run of the day down to the back of our hotel which we could now see through the trees we opted for the off piste route and enjoyed it ,bob text joyce to tell her to watch out the hotel window and she should see us coming down it was a great run to finish the day on
               once we got back to the hotel we had another choice to make( theres always choices when in a group ) but we put our skies away and had a quick chat about apre's ski beers or sauna ,Ali had stiff legs and opted for the sauna me and mammy joined him , the hotel sauna steam room and two hot tubs were a pleasant surprise and afterward Cammy and Ali went to their beds to snooze while i went to write this blog 

Weather Windows !

H

Lying in bed trying to fall asleep while the wind is howling outside is not good , not because of my room it's perfect I love it ,not because of the noise I've got some ear plugs I can put in , but because I know if the wind doesn't die down there will be no lifts open to the higher slopes and one of the reasons we chose this resort was because we knew there was a glacier so even with little snow we would still get some skiing done , but not if its too windy for the chairlifts and bubble cars to operate , the condition of the lowers slopes is really bad , we need some snow we need the temperature to drop and we need the wind to stop ! A good nights sleep but the morning confirmed our fears there was no point in rushing to get on the slopes it was wet and windy outside , we checked the web and most of the lifts were shut ! So we took our time had a lovely breakfast Bob hurt his knee yesterday and didn't feel it was worth further injury to go out in those conditions , so he is taking the family out to the next village in his hire car and going to collect some supplies from the bigger supermarket , 

     It was 12:55 when me Ali and cammy got onto the slopes, it was a cold and wet chair lift up with plenty spin drift at the top ,but at least the slopes were quiet the snow conditions up the top on that side of the valley were OK ( we found the other side icy later ) but the lower slopes were very patchy with wet puddles in places , we stopped for lunch at the same restaurant and were given a free  ginepe today after lunch ( the local liquer ), we kept skiing until after 3pm and some of the runs were reasonable but it was hard work for very little reward so we called it a day , a decent run to the street not far along the road from the hotel meant a short walk to our ski lockers , but the hotel lift is out of order and we are on the 4th floor so it was a bit of a stomp up the stairs , the whole group were together again for a short while ,then me Ali cammy and Alison went to secret bar and  after a few games of pool in secret bar then the polar bear bar before heading back for the lovely dinner Joyce and Bob had sorted for us , Dinner was fantastic Joyce had done a fantastic job , we were all stuffed after 3excellent courses with beers and wine and all sneaked off to our rooms for a wee nap ! Will we make it out later ?! I'm going for my snooze SO we shall see 😉

High winds

Ali was a star as usual a chap at the door here's your coffee buddy ideal wake up call , we all had lots of stuff to organised and it was a pleasant start to the day entertaining Calum drinking coffee packing backpacks and organising the ski equipment , Ali had booked me him and cammy all terrain skis from the hire shops premier package ,which ali loves they are a bit heavier than normal carvers but you won't sink as much in deep snow and they still give a good level of control , by 11am all the equipment was sorted the girls were off for a walk with the babies (Alison and Joyce have never skied before ) the 4 amigos were good to hit the slopes together it was great to have the 4 of us back on the slopes again ,BUT there was a problem high winds had closed all the upper slopes none of the lifts to the higher slopes were open so we were stuck to the lower  slopes around the village ! and because of the rain that fell the previous two days these slopes were patchy with ice and a bit threadbare in places , we got about 4 runs done and decided to stop for lunch the mountain restaurant was very busy we got a seat and 4 beers , and ordered 2 tartaflets and 2 carbonara's which were delicious but when we left the restaurant they had closed the final high level chair lift ! it was only 2pm and there was no decent ski runs left to do !we skied the patchy brown icy slope down to the village and the circular transfer bus was full so we marched back to the ski hire shop with ski boots on and skis over shoulder , once we had collected our shoes we walked to the polar bear bar , the plan was to go back to the apart hotel and go into the sauna and hot tub but what actually happened was beers in the polar bear bar ,then a walk back to the hotel only to drop off our skies and boots in the very nice ski lockers ( the apartments are superb and we even have boot heaters in the locker ) bob checked on his babies and we went to the red frog for another two beers while Joyce and Allison finalised the curry they were making , the timing was perfect for dinner chick pea and lentil soup followed by chicken curry and rice ,

    After dinner it was the plan to have a quick snooze after dinner and go back to the polar bear bar as there was live music in there at 10 , and that is what me and Ali done Cammy couldn't be roused from his bed and Bob Joyce and Alison were staying in , The bar was mobbed the singer was ok but there was just too many people squeezed in most of them drunk , when one drunk idiot knocked our pints over we had enough and left to go to a place called secret bar which had no live music but was bright and plenty comfortable seating , we just had one more beer then a sensible walk home , the end of our first full day in Les deux alpes 

polmont to les deux alpes

The alarm was not required ! even though there was a lot of beers last night and a late night i was wide awake and ready to go at 07:40 for our journey to edinburgh airport . i was all packed and brian macateer had borrowed polmont pub co's merc 8seater van so loads of room for the team and we were dropped off at the airport in good time for getting through , there's always gonna be at least one thing forgot and I've forgot my glasses 😔 brought all my prescription shades but not my normal daily glasses , as usual we had the extra ski bag booked in for the boots and helmets and it all went amazingly smoothly through check in and security and we had a pleasant spoons breakfast before dashing to board , somehow the easy jet flight had missed its slot so we sat on the runway for 25mins before take off ,not a problem though we had the leg room seats booked and once in the air got a few beers some toasted sandwiches and before we knew it we were in Grenoble , bens bus was ready as soon as we got off and the journey from Grenoble to Les deux alpes was just under two hrs cammy and Ali snored half of it , we found the apartment easily and it's a cracking apartment there is 5bedroooms one en suit one double room one room with bunk beds the others single beds we had a DILEMA ! Obviously we all wanted the en suite so there was only one fair thing to do , Bob was yet to arrive me cammy and Ali put 3pieces of paper one with winner written on it and shook them up cammy and Ali drew the blank papers and I've got the best room (yah dancer ) 😊 

    After unpacking we had a walk up the street and went into the polar bear bar 2pint of leffy one pint of kilkenny €19.50 !! Cheaper beers next time , we went to the shop for supplies and I cooked a big pot of chilli to eat when bob arrived in his hire car with aunt Allison not Lynne as I had thought , the timing was perfect by 10pm the whole group of 8 were fed glass of wine bottles of beer and making plans for the skiing 

  After dinner it wasn't easy rounding up the troops to get out , but. Apart from Bob Joyce and the Calum/Logan ( the babies ) we eventually got out for beers to the red frog 

the planning

Ali was the man for the plan this year he spotted cheap easy jet flights way back in june  so me him and cammy knew we were flying to grenoble months ago , once you know your flight destination you then need to choose your ski area and theres only really 3 big ski areas from grenoble and we were at one last year for val thorens ,so the original plan was to try val d'isere this year i messaged danny who  was off work and in the resort so we would have a friend and a guide on the slopes and bars when we arrived , And then i got talking to french franck at work who lives in grenoble and was an alpine chasseur in his army days, he asked why we weren't choosing les deux alpes as it was closer and cheaper a quick check on the net showed he was correct much cheeper hotels and beers the choice of destination was swiftly changed and ali found us a good hotel half board and booked it , at that point there was just the usual 3 ski buddies bob has two young babies now and ross is at uni again so the regular3 ski amigos were sorted flights hotel food ski passes sorted ! THEN hold the bus (bens bus) bob has a plan !! he will join the lads BUT take the family with him , bob got flights through ryanair he couldn't get his kids on bens bus they are too young! so he has booked a hire car for him wee calum 18month and logan 3 months joyce the mammy and auntie lynne , So our ski group has grew dramatically, hence the reason ali had to cancel our half board acommodation and we are now all booked into a 10sleeper apartment (space for ross if he wants it ) , We are now a group of 6 adults and two very young babies ,
         because i work away from home and was working away for christmas i was making the best of my time off and had booked bogmanay in inverness and went to stay in cromarty for the 1st and then 4 days in ullapool , SO not the best preparation for a weeks skiing to be off in the mountains with all your outdoor equipment already soaked  ! two days to wash all my base-layers and catch up with family and friends for new year and christmas is not a long time , but i managed (sort of ) theres always stuff you think i should have packed this and taken that , i went to visit sue at the log cabin to collect my laptop and get a catch up with sue and young ross ,while there drinking coffee chatting the snow came on ! big time i made my excuses as i knew the bongo would not cope with snow and i dashed off , but it was no good just outside limerig the van went sideways i was lucky i was driving slow or it would have toppled but the wee bongo hit a countryside field bush which burst my bumper , fortunately no real damage to the body and  metalwork the wee bongo was still driveable , it took way much longer to get the 10-13 mile home as i drove at 20mph with my nose virtually at the windscreen but i eventually got home to finalise my packing ,before the planned pre holiday night out with gary and andy , the claremont had the fire on the crack was good gary bought some halfs me and andrew headed to falkirk , I'm on my holidays and organised alls well i shall deal with the van when i get home