Val D'Isere

I just returned from a snowboarding holiday in France, and after not being on a board for almost three years I think I made some real progress while I was away. Dispite throwing myself down some blue runs on the first couple of days, after we had a nice dump of snow on Thursday I spent a very cold Thursday and a beautiful Friday practicing my technique on the green "Madelaine" run at the top of the Solaise peak and some of the greens and blues on Olympique finishing up with accidentally taking the tail of a red run down into La Daille before drinking far too many "seriouse" Leffe on Friday night.

We also did a trip over the mountains and down into Tignes on Monday although I didn't make it down to the actual village, rather staying slightly higher up at the bottom of the main lift back to Val. We did a nice blue coming back down to the bottom of the lift, and attempted to visit the Ice Grotto at the top of Tignes but got put off by the choice of walking back uphill to the fernicular or skiing down part of a red to get a lift back.

I have mixed feelings about the resort of Val D'Isere, all the bars make no bones about being English orientated, which I find a little odd, and lack of a bakers for early morning croissant is annoying. On the plus side as quoted from one of this weeks papers the French apparently love the English "unrelenting dedication to binge drinking" so the apres-ski was good! Resolution for next season is definitely to buy my own boots so I can get some which fit properly and get my calves used to the feeling before the first day.