last day on the slopes for val T anyway !

           I left the blog last night in suspense because i now upload the bog at the burger bar , so heres what happened last night we left burger bar cammy took it easy on beers he was still not feeling 100% we took the elevator  and covered walkway through the two shopping centres and went to frog and roast beef , it was a good atmosphere and a band was setting up so we basically spent all night in there cammy took it easy on the beers ,ross was off on one of his talking adventures , the band kicked of and they were great all tunes to sing along with and a bloody good night it was , ross decided it was a good night to party and went to club summit alone ,not getting home until 3am , me cammy and ali walked home around 01;00 and had supper  a pleasant sensible evening for 3 of us !

          in the morning this time it was team carlin that were a man down with ross refusing to get out of bed ! in all fairness to ross he did join us at lunch time , linda was right about that boy lol , what a cracking last day on  the slopes,and we all had a great time we skied nearly all the runs of les menuires area in the sun , the go pro memory card is now full perfect timing really ,one problem was because we skied most of the slopes too quickly we ended up spending a huge portion of the day in chair lifts and bubble cars . we found a picnic table at an area called rockin bob !! ( the photos were taking for our missing man bob ) we ate a sandwich and had some juice there before our final journey on the slopes back to val thoren ,

       when we eventually got over to val thoren it was 15:40 and the young team had already decided it was going to be bar 360 for their last après ski party , the weather closed in when we arrived there cammy and ross bought there 5 euros bands to get in to the dance zone and started their first bottle of rose wine ,me and ali got some beers and we all shared a pizza before splitting !! me and ali had the usual parent stuff to do have you  got this do you need that remember be sensible you still need to ski home  and we have to pack ! moan moan moan ! so off they went and me and ali skied of to the irish bar for our après ski carrying their discarded helmets gloves goggles jackets ! oh to be young ,  but in all fairness to me and my buddy we skied back from the bar in the dark and the young team were waiting on us to get a key to the apartment ,    

     its been an absolutely fantastic week we have a new member for the team and everything worked out just great ,val thorens is a resort i wish i had been here 20year ago ,we all loved it there is a huge expanse of ski runs and the resort itself has everything you could ask for in a ski resort , if theres a complaint at all it can only be because of the altitude it can get cold but all in all its an absolutely fantastic corner of the world ,

     ok so its our last night now and we need to get up  to complete our packing and be at the bus station for 08;30 tomorow morn we are heading out for dinner and shall  toast a very happy successful week on the slopes , I've got a day/night out in Edinburgh tomorrow wetting young arias head so heres to a easy bus-airplane transfer back to bonnieScotland tomorrow  

    

penultimate day in the alps 1

          second last day on the slopes today and what a great day ,big bonus cammy was up with the rest of the team ! we had decided to make our way up the slopes to get a shot on the zipwire which is  apparently the biggest in the world ,which is probabbly more about the hight from sea level rather than distance of the wire , it was a few easy runs and a cable car a bubble car and a chair lift then we had to decend a tricky black run ,then another chair lift to get to the start of the zipwire at the 3200mtrs peak,  we were up there at 11am , and yep it was shut ! it was windy and in cloud to be fair so it would probbably have just been a rip off if it was open at 50 euros for a zipwire that lasts less than 2mins  ,visibillity was down to 100mtres max so you wouldnt even have noticed the exposure

   we had some excellent runs around that area and a coffee in the mountain cafe ,i switched on the go pro and i think i got some good footage today,  i tried to get a bit of footage of the very first female urinal i have ever seen ! but decided that was a bit silly we need to be adult about such things lol the group of four are moving well down the slopes now and we had a cracking midday ski all around that area it was surprisingly clearer at alltitude because we came above the worst of the clouds ,but when we skied lower down it was poor vissibillity ,the plan we made in  burger bar last night to go up to the zipwire then head back to bar 360 for apris ski ,and the plan went perfectly except the zipwire being shut (maybe next time )we even got an excellent picnic hut for a midday sandwich stop ,val thorens is certainly turning out to be a fantastic resort 

       when we eventually arrived at bar 360 at 15:30 the party was starting the young team were filling up the dance floor and ordering bottles and bottles of rose wine, the drink of choice in that bar is a bottle of rose and a pint glass then they head into the dance area , we opted for indoors and a couple of large beers  with a bannana chocolate and cream waffle ! a pleasant ski back to the appartment just before it got dark and a team made dinner we need to finish up all our food as we are going out for dinner on our last night tomorow ,so i made a big curry with everything we had in the fridge and cupboards and i dont mind saying it was excellent and enough left for supper ,

         its nearing the end of our ski holiday sadly , so we have to start making plans ( the captains not here this year ) todays plan went perfectly we now want to have our last good night out , because tomorow is our last day on the slopes and we want to plan our apris ski, we dont know if it will be la folie deuce or bar 360 ! but the most important thing is we are organised for our 08:00 bus to the airport on saturday morning, which means an early bed tomorow night  

             So here I am in the apartment block/apparthotel bar called burger bar using their wifi while enjoying a beer with the team , I've uploaded yesterday's blog and now just going to update today's before the nights ended for a change ,I shall add our nighttime adventures from tonight ! Our last big night out here tomorrow ! Highlights from today were watching the kids do go karting on a ice track ,the  group skiing well together. no lows it was all really good sad it's coming to a close ,the only bad thing to say would be the apartments

were noisy last night with youngsters partying ! I never heard a thing I sleep with ear plugs in but the other 3 are after my plugs lol , so what's going to happen tonight ? Will the young team go to Malaysia ? Will the auld team join them ? Let you know tomorrow  

The zip wires shut !!

man down

    in an ideal world the correct way would be to get up nice and early have a good healthy breakfast perhaps do a bit of yoga to strectch yourself pack all the equipment you left out prepared last night and head of to the slopes fresh from your good nights sleep ,

         what actually happened was after our late night out and the young teams nightclubbing adventures ,we woke late 09:30 and then had to gather all our abandoned equipment grab a bowl of cornflakes for sustenance for those that could face it , cammy refused point blank to move he said he would join us later , so we were a man down today when we set off , he totally missed out the morning weather was lovely and our first few runs around val thorens were the perfect start to our day. we had intended to go over to pointe du buchete where there is a zip wire slung between two mountains , we took the wrong chairlift and ended up in the next valley but it was all good ! because we stopped for coffee at a place called portettes and discovered a great bar and restaurant right in viewing distance form our appartment ,we had been wondering what that Red Cross that was lit up at night ,we can see it from our appartment at night, its actually a bar called bar 360 that is up there an excellent place and at night it lights up a crossed fork and knife on its roof at night,  ross even met santa clause and two of his reindeers !we tried to get cammy on the radios but he is ignoring us so i sent him a txt and he is still refusing to move, we went on a couple of easy runs around that area as the weather got misty windy and cold and decided to have lunch in bar 360,  and an excellent lunch it was fresh made pizza stone baked ,the weather improved slightly and we skied a few runs around that area before a couple of apres ski beers in bar 360, where the dj was pumping out the tunes and the crowds were paying 5euros to get into the dance area , we opted to stay outside the dance area but close enough on seats to enjoy the atmosphere , another good day on the slopes but sad to be down a man and not getting more done in the morning 

           when we got back cammy hadnt even got out of bed ! i went to the shops and got some food for  the appartment , team carlin got there shorts out and visited the appartment blocks steam room sauna etc cammy just watched TV , we had curry got changed and headed out this was not going to be a big beer night we were all tired . we visited the appartment blokes bar which is on the 10th floor it used to be called moo bar ( it still says it on the hotel lift )but now its the burger bar, we required the free wifi for ross we had a few beers here then headed up to oconnels ,nobody was in the mood to party but we were all aware our holiday is coming to an end we are already over the half way and planning our final couple of days on the slopes and out in town , we only had a couple of beers in oconnelks and headed home well ross via the kebab shop me and cammy had left over dinner time curry .

balcony

view 

courchevel and back

         usual wake up routine for the boys but its getting smoother we are all working together better as a team and know each other's strenghs . waking up and discarding my duvet is not my strengh so when ali put a coffee at my bedside table and said kenny its 08:30 mate i straight away though jeez ive got another hour mate surely ! im on my holidays ! Ali had been up tjhough and he wanted to change over his skis at the shop he made an exchange for all mountain skis at a cost of 20euros , cammy was going to channge his freestyle skis as they are nowher as cool or good as his black crows from last year , but you kknow its a easy decison another hour in your bed or get up to change your skis ! at 19 i think i would have opted for the these skies will do for now option ,

          the good thing was we were out on the slopes much earlier than yesterday and decided to take the strange looking cable car called the 3 valleys its a cool piece of engineering but actually no quicker than the chair lift next to it ! still i liked it and  i chose to go up on it because i wanted to see how it worked  .our plan was to ski from val T all the way over to courchavel and back today which was a bit of a gamble as its the first big trial for this new group of four ! but ross came up trumps and skied his socks of , what a distance we covered today all three meribell vilages and all 3 of the 4 courcheval  villages then back to val thorens ,it was a huge day on the slopes and i don't mind admitting i was worried about getting back on time , you most definatelly dont want to be stuck in the wrong valley when the lifts close , so before you head off the distance we were hoping to cover you would like to think the whole party are capable , and we were capable the only person worried about not getting back to our valley in time was me ! , the group done superb today it would have been fantastic to have been able to log the distance via gps which is possible but we are all too worried about what charges that would incur , if i had one complaint about the team today it would be that we moved to fast 

   some of the highlights of today , the weather was cold but it was bright all day our faces are weather beaten by it , but we have good equipment so this is the price you pay for good snow/ski conditions  , the snow itself possibly because of the very low temp is strangley sticky over ice but no complaint we all have had a lot of different ski surfaces and these ar good ,on the way back to val T i said to cammy i would ski slowly near the area i stopped yestrday with the go pro to film the boys individually as i was sure that is the area i lost my whip leash , he went straight to the bit i was filming from and said there it is dad ! honestly the mountainside is huge the area is all white it still  makes me laugh  cant believe i got that small metal chain back after dropping it there yesterday. everybody had a great day 

   the low points of the day if there was any ! we never got our lunch break  ,no soup/lunch break mid day beer as we were on the move from the Minuit we got out the hotel untill we got back , we chose the wrong run back from meribel to avoid la folie douce and ended up at the bottom of town when we had hoped to be at the top of town ,but in all honesty if carlin made days out then this was up there !! 

          when we got back to town we were down very close to our appartments the choice was walk  downhill the same distance as uphill to the irish bar ! me and cammy opted for uphill. the carlins opted downhill , we met them after 30mins and after a few beers me and cammy skied back to the appartment ross and ali went to spar to choose something for dinner 

after dinner and a quick power snooze we went out to the irish bar bar oconnels but the bars seemed quiet we made a mistake .it was quiet so stayed for only two beers , then we walked into a bar called saloon but me and ali didnt like the music and walked right back out with the young team shaking their heads then went to the frog and roast beef it was mobbed in there and i lost my glove somebody must have moved it from where i left it ,it was 01;00 and i suppose it was enivetable but they young team wanted to visit malysia the underground nightclub that supposedly has the biggest dance floor in Europe me and ali went of to bed we rescued a poor penguin on the way !!  a young girl dressed as a penguin had fell on the ice lol we lifted her up , cammy and ross went to panda bar then got home around 02;45 

slippery slope

            the carlins were up first yet again ,i can see this being the trend ! its certainly the way forward for me ,ali had to give me a shake this morning to tell me my coffee was ready ,it was a bit overcast still, but not snowing and a lot brighter than yesterday , so we made a decision to ski from Val T to meribell have lunch there and ski back 

             we were very fortunate the sun came out as we exited the mountain top between val t and meribell and it stayed out all day , it was still bitterly cold but it was gloriously sunny when we were not in the shade ( obviously ) and we had a excellent day out on the slopes , meribell looks like it would be another great place to go and stay some day , its also the resort schumacker was in when he had his wee accident apparently caused by his gopro ! theres lots of good runs we only scratched the surface of the available slopes and villages there today theres actually 3 parts to meribel,and hopefully we shall explore more of them later in the week  , everybody skied well today and there was no major falls we had tumbles large and small  over the past two days . and i discovered this morning that the tumble i took yesterday ( i shall blame the poor visibility for that one ) has broke my go pro selfie stick as it was in my backpack when i went down , i also lost my whip leash for the gopro today ,being the crew film man is becoming a stress ! 

      we stopped for soup and beer in meribell ( ross had mulled wine ) and we done a few runs in that valley between val t and merribell after lunch that were really pleasant .it was not too busy on the slopes we chose the ski`ing in the afternoon was good ,it had been vbeen a good day and we headed back over the mountain to val T , the sun was till shining and i was surprised to see that la folie douce has its own direction post on the slopes leading to it in a lot of years skiing ive never seen a sign post pointing to the pub lol  , so we decided to join the crowd and put our hands in the air raise the roof boom boom boom , ok me and ali opted for a seat away from the mob and are still refusing to pay 50cents for a pea so that restricts us to 2 beers max , we skied the last run and kept to the high ground knowing there was a route to the frog and roast beef right of the slope , we had one last beer before it got dark ,the sun was setting as we skied down the empty slope at the front of the resort to the back door of our appartment beautifulll end to an excellent day on the slopes 

     after our chilli dinnner not chilly cold ! it was an excellent pot of chilli and rice we had a quick power snooze ( well the team did i worked on this blog ) afterward we went out to shamrock bar and had a beer ,then decided to take the elevated walkway to the sports centre and have a beer in the bar in there , turns out there was a band playing and they were good the bar was jumping and singing in french so not any brits,  but it was a good atmospher we were all tired and opted to go home at 01:00 when the bar was shutting anyway 

day 1 on val Ts slopes

     The carlin`s easilly beat the alexanders out of bed in the morning with ross getting up before his dad and cammy beating his dad out of bed a race i was happy to lose the coffee and snacks were on the go when i got up , the first morning is busy at the ski hire shop and it would have saved us a good hour if we had managed to get our skis yesterday ,there was also a bit of a wait at the ticket office for our ski passes but by 10;30 we were on the slopes 

      a few degrees lower in temperature at -13 at the top with snow and a slight breeze it was a tad chilly and visually challenging to say the least , we had not skied quarter of our first run when ross came to realise his boots were going to be unbearable he was falling regularly because he was hurting which culminated in him doing a face plant into a deep pile of powder snow , that wasn't the worst of it both his skis had come of as he tumbled forward and we couldnt find them in the deep snow all 4 of us took ten minuets ( well for 3 of us i had to do a bit of gopro filming while trying to suppress a giggle ) once we got his skis and could move on , we decided to split the group untill ross changed his boots, me and cammy went for pizza and coffee and a few runs over the other side of the valley before meeting back up at around 1pm ,after a couple of easy runs we decided it was time to visit the famous la folie douce a real bumping apres ski bar between the hours fo 3-5 the tables are full to bursting and that includes people standing on them a dj does a great performance from a balcony on the outside of the big mountain chalet, we got a beer up and when we wanted to leave ross had got into company and decided that this was the place to be ! he was ski`ing no more today ! well we told him he would have to ski back into town from la flolie douce so take it easy on the beers .myself and ali refused point blank to pay 50cents to take a leak we were going ! cammy with us ( i think he left his wallet and we had the kitty lol )

     for it only being our first day we certainly split up a lot and because of the toilet situation it wasnt long untill myself andd ali decide a quick pee stop at the shamrock bar would be the way forward ,I had totally forgot rangers and celtic were playing at home and the game was obviously getting shown in the shamrock bar with strangely enough very few rangers supporters , it didnt bother cammy he wasnt leaving i gave him some cash after me and ali finished our beer and we decided to head back up to make sure ross got back ok 

   by the time we located ross he had a walkie talkie and so did cammy the music was blaring out it was all a shambles ! cammy was talking for ross we thought it was ross , but the short of it was that cammy had finished and had no key for the hotel we eventually located ross and we all skied back down to meet cammy at the ski lockers in the hotel its great just ski`ing to the back  door of your appartment block , speking of appartment block me and ali are by far the oldest two guests in this appartment block ! its full of the young team ,

      i made us all a thai curry with a salad starter with some beers out our balcony beer chiller ( best remember to bring they bottles of beer in before the freeze out there ) and we decided to head out up the far end of town from us theres a street of bars up there we opted to  start aour night in a bar called the frog and roast beef which was standing room only , they have a ice challenge on your first round if you beat the bar staffs roll of the dice then you get your first round free ! we got our first round free well done ross , there was a lot of folk on stags and fancy dress and a couple of bar crawl groups in with their tour reps , we had another beer and moved along the street to another irish bar called oconnels were cammy manged to fall down the stair to the toilet and break their railing ! he wasnt drunk and the stairs were wet and tight oops , we stayed there untill closing time and walked past malaysia nightclub hotting up as we headed home cant see me and ali visiting that place 

the longest journey ever

       the day started off ok my sister Karen who was staying over got up and made me a coffee while i got a shower , i completed the last minuit packing cammy had drove himself down ,then B A turned up on time to drive us to edinburgh airport for 08:30 ,we met ali and ross at the check in and it all went smoothly through the check in procedyre which has changed a lot at edinburgh recently, we had  a nice bacon roll and beer at the airport its a tradition we always start the ski week with a beer at the airport ,it was a good quick flight over to grenoble we had booked the leg room seats and everything went perfectly , i have a lot of bags with me because of the extra ski equipment big bag so i was expecting some minor  trouble or other , but everything went smoothly right up untill we got on the airport transfer bus! our flight landed at 13;50 the bus was supposed to leave at 14:40 , after we sat for 15minuits wondering why the bus hadnt left yet it turned out the girl who was in charge of the passenger list was missing 3 people we waited ten minuits more and it turned out the 3 people were me the booking had been done twice ! that was our first delay the supposed 3 and a half hour transfer journey took over 6hrs with traffic problems (mostly caused by drivers not having snow chains on )

          when we eventually got to val thorens we found the appartment easily enough checking in was fine we done a quick unpack and headed out , we had spotted an irish bar on the walk from the bus station and decided to have a beer in there before going to dinner they had real ale so i had a pint of youngs , its 7euros a pint in the irish bar or bottles of corona for 6

    because it was now getting late at night we went to a nice restaurant and got a very nice dinner which me and ali washed done with litre beers ( steins of lager ) ross and ali shared a sort of side table bbq which they cooked their own steak and veg on all very nice , two dads and their lads out in the alps should be fun ! i think ! we had a walk up town to see where  the nightclubs and bars were but it had been a long day and now because the bus was late in getting us here we now need to collect our skis and ski passes in the morning ,so we went to bed