Christmas Day 2014

         It was  a bit later rise for Christmas Day after a late night out for xmas eve . james had made eggs benedict for breakfast as a matter of fact it was an excellent christmas breakfast , as usual james and mariana looking after us, as we all came in for breakfast one by one much slower than usual mornings ! it was only myself and gerry up to begin with then slowly but surely one by one everyone came down to breakfast and some went back up to bed ! after much talk and a delayed start  in the end only myself and gerry went out to the slopes in the morning .

                it was a beautifull day bright sun but unfortuneately still no fresh snow ,i was very hung over in the morning and to lazy to put my helmet on i decided it was too much effort to unclip my helmet from my backpack ,and as it was christmas i would ski the first few runs in my Santa hat ,there were plenty others around skiing in Santa hats and varios outfits,so i used this as an excuse not to go to the effort of puting on my helmet ,unfortunately at some point my helmet unclipped itself and my helmet was lost, that was a bit of a pest as it also had my gopro attachments on it ! but it was a good days ski`ing  we stopped for lunch in the centre of avoriaz for a change( a nice bowl of carbonarra but sadly without the usual raw egg in the middle ) and bumped into nick marina and James then we bumped into thelma tracey and mick , but the rest of the group never made the slopes untill later mat anna and dave only got out on the slopes from mid afternoon , gerry is in his 60`s now but he used to be a ski instructer in canada , so he was passing on some tips and it was a good day just practicing some techniques .the days skiing was finished off with a few beers at neige rock with the crew ,mick joined us all excited he had got his board signed by brittish snowboard gold medallist jenny jones 

        A quick sauna before a few beers and wine with snacks in front of the log fire awaiting the start of christmas dinner .what a superb job of traditional christmas dinner james and marina done, james even carving the turkey on the table for us an excellent dinner all round really , we were all as stuffed as the turkey afterward and decided to just stay in the chalet for the chatting around the lounge 

day 3 xmas eve

  you wouldnt believe it but i am the only one down for breakfast with a christmas t shirt and hat on ! maybe its because its mats birthday , as usual we had a great breakfast and were all ready for our 08;30 trip to the slopes ,gerry decided to have a days rest so just the 6 of us in the mini bus me mick dave matt anne and anna , usual quick chocolat in the que up the cable car an happy we missed the big ques too the lifts ! but once we were right at the top of the mountain preparing for out second big run of the day we rerally couldnt complain abot anything what a lucky binch crepes and beers for breakfast then some good go.pro footage done a ski//board over the swiss side a few drinks to celebrate matts birthday and a trip back down for cake coffee beer a meet up withe rest of the group 

after our excellent day out in the slopes we had a few beers in avoriaz at trappers bar , and then got picked up from the car park bar called  neige rock a quick spell in the hot tub 5 mins in the sauna an excellent dinner and we all gotready to goo out to ttown for beers for Christmas Eve it was a pleasant walk to the centre of town and memmories keep flooding back especially as we stopped at the irish bart which was our favourite 3 years ago , then we went on to a bar clled the cavern which was right next to tibet bar and had a excellent Christmas Eve night out and walked the uphill road home to chalet at 3 am 

first ive seen one of these credit card next to tap !! 

day 2 tuesd 23rd dec

already we are starting to get into a routine ! its a 0730 rise breakfast as a group after breakfast we leave for the slopes at 08:30 still no bloody snow but avoriaz is high enough to get the cannons on through the night so theres enough there to ski all day , to be fair its perhaps not such a bad thing as our group have not all exchanged telephone numbers etc so when we di get split up it was easy enough  to find each other again ,or at least know if we waited at certain areas one of the group would pass , and also to be fair beautifulll sunshine high up in the alps cloud free is a lovely place to be ! we had a good day , and once the days ski,ing was done and we were back at the chalet having cake an coffee nobody was upset about anything or missing he other slopes and apris ski 

     although a power nap before the 19;30 dinner then showered and changed for a night out would maybe have been the wise move ! what actually happened was coffe an cake followed by beer wine proseco good company a bit of hot tub under a nice night sky a bit of sauna before a shower and changed for dinner a lovely dinner more beer & wine and a night of pleasant conversation  and woops to late (22:30 ) for a night out in town

bed now 

day 1 on the slopes for christmas

       an 07:30 rise and a very  pleasant breakfast we were picked up for the short transfer to the slopes the ski hire company had came to the chalet yesterday so we were all kitted out fed and ready to go at 08:30 , two of our group tracy and thelma are beginners they had lessons booked , so they are leaving later the other 6 of us got in the mini bus and were in the rapidly growing Que for the cable car to avoriaz before 9am the good thing about the lack of snow is the weather it was absolutely fantastic sunshine all day .but one of the bad things is the huge que for the lifts tme it wrong its like rush hour traffic ! fortuneately we timed it ok the que although big  was ok , we had a complimentery hot chocolate while we waited 

      ive not skied in this area for a few years but from what i remembered it was a bit of a dark bowl of a resort ! i was wrong it has some excellent slopes and the group of us had a good day its strange ski`ing with a bunch of people you have only just met but before the end of the day we all got to know each other's levels and at least werent out skiing or snowboarding alone 

    dinner was at 19;30 and i have to say marina and james really looked after our bunch when we get in from the slopes theres nice home baked cake and fresh coffee the hot tub is on , the sauna is hot  the fridege is full of drinks , so how can you not be happy an excellent first day so much so that we never left the chalet and sat around all night chattin 

christmas in morzine

a late night out at the black bull is not the best start to an early morning flight from edinburgh to geneva  but hey im starting my holiday ! so an 04;00 rise after just over an hours sleep to get booked in for my 06;30 take off was a bit silly ! i slept the whole easy jet flight over and had some breakfast oin geneva airport then met some of my fellow holiday makers /ski buddies at the airport transfer desk only a 1.5 hr journey from the airport to morzine was so we were settled in the chalet having cake and coffee before midday , 

     the big problem was theres no snow ! its sunday the 21st of december and nearly all our area of the alps has no snow ,only avoriaz becaus e of its hight has snow .So the ticket office were restricting ski passes to people staying in avoriaz and morzine only ! which we should be gratefull as we were more fortunate than the skiers staying in le get because they werent being allowed ski passes !so no ski`in for them at all ,we got a two day pass for avoriaz ski area 

      the chalet was really nice though i was very fortunate and i have an excellent room with a fantastic view over the valley  theres aq hot tub and a sauna and we are getting well looked after . when i say we i should explain that as i was heading of to the alps alone for xmas i done a search through the web , and decided to book through a company called pistepals so there was 3 more people like myself on the airport transfer bus mick tracey and thelma and we were the first to arrive at the chalet next to arrive was anna then at dinner time dave matt and gerry then late on at night anne arrived , we have james and marina looking after us in the chalet and they are doing a fantastic job the food and cake service beers and wiine etc are excellent and we are all looked after for transfer to the slopes and local info 

     another problem is ive forgot my toilet bag left it out to put my toothbrush in it in the morning , but forgot to put it in my case another good reason not to have a big night out at the bull before going on holiday , but thanks jen for the lift to the airport as there was no way cammy was gettinng up at 04;00 to take his dad to the airport