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    

Home from christmas trip ready for val T

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snow at last !

  woke up a little rough from a late night and looked out the window ,At last the whole valley was covered in a blanket of snow ,Real shame its the last days ski`in but i was keen to get out and make the best of it , this morning when we got to the slopes the boarders and skiers split early on and me anne and dave headed over to the swiss side of avoriaz with the fresh snow falling rappidly ,sometimes big flakes sometimes small , blown in at speed with the mountain top high winds sometimes swirling fresh snow into small spindrifts at times and strong winds in mountain top unsheltered areas were strong enough to blow you along on your skies , but as usual the biggest problem for me is the visibillity my new prescription goggles were no good as they were wrap around style with side vents the coating was too dark and the side vents were ruined by the wind .in the end i settled on my normal prescription clear glasses trapped below my ski goggles and then the fun started ! 

          anne had found her perfect ski surface and was uncatchable loving the fresh snow over the hard packed pistes .she didnt want to stop for lunch she was having such a good time we met anna and matt at lunch time my dinner was delayed so we were a while at lunch ,after lunch dave got very cold especially his hands , i gave him some of my spare stuff including a pair of warmer dry gloves and then we had definately our best most fun aftermnoons ski`ing of the week the time absolutely flew past as we did piste after piste hardly noticing we were running out of time . an unbelievable piece of luck found us meeting matt and anna heading up the chairlift back to avoriaz on the way back to morzine , so the 5 of us could ski our final hour on the slopes together ,fortuneately matt knew the area well and we found ourselves sneaking under the piste closed barrier and wooping like kids as we found the perfect last off piste route possible, we all had one or two tumbles including myself but it was no problem as the snow was soft and deep it was a real shame that darkness was coming and the chairlifts were shut , we were at the end of the ski week and at the super morzine bubble cars back to town ! there was only one thing for it ! one last beer on the slopes in the most beautifull mountain chalet i have been in very picture perfect with thick snow covering it , and only really our group in it as it was late and most the place was shut down the fire was on and there was individual music boxes on the tables very pleasant surroundings to finish of the most excellent day on the slopes 

        we arranged to meet the rest of the group in morzine for some apres ski so all 9 of us had a few drinks in a nice bar while we waited for the mini bus to take us back to the chalet the snow was still falling heavy with little wind which was very pleasant to look at but a bit tricky for the drivers .it took two journeys in the mini bus for us and then a last excellent dinner in the chalet i was packed for my 06;00 rise in the morning for my airport transfer . only one thing lefet to do to finish the week off head into town , only dave and mick were game for the walk into town and we ended up in the budha bar mick got into a dance of with some girl and we had a pleasant night .

 

Boxing Day 2014

Boxing Day is the designated staff day off for the chalets , so we had to fend for ourselves at breakfast oh the hardship ! but worse yet no lift to the slopes we had to walk to the bus station ! the first bus drove right past us it was full , the second bus managed to squeeze all 6 of us in ! it wasnt a long bus journey from the stop as we could still only ski in the avoriaz area there was a snowfall forcast for that night and the slopes were really needing it a white christmas would have been the best gift santa could ever give morzine , the cable car que was very small considering the bus`es were full  and this was the only area around with snow , 

          i went into the lost and found office in the hope somebody would have handed in my helmet but alas no , the girl in lost and found was very helpfull and took my details and number just in case ,and we set off for our second last ay on the slopes .we all now knew the pistes around this area very well and after a few morning runs a stop at the usual crepe and coffee hut things were settling into a decent days skiing for the conditions we just had be carefull for icy and muddy patches . i decided to go ski over the swiss side anne joined me and then later we bumped into david we found a run on the swiss side we enjoyed another good day regardless off the rapidly disapeering snow 

      no chalet staff for lifts home so myself and david and anne got the bus and marched up the hill to the chalet as the sun was setting . perfect timing no cake for us today ,but we had a restaurant in town booked for 7pm so we all got ready and marched in to town found the restaurant who seated the 9 of us at what we thought was our table .the waitress took our drinks order and 8 meal orders just as anne was puting in her order they top waiter came over and there was a bust up about a wrong booking and 9 people had arrived who were the real booking ! to cut a long story short we had to shift we got a free drink and were about to move on when they decided they could squeeze us in at another spot not as good a table but hey we were there and comfy , dinner was ok gerry and dave had snails i would have tried them but was worried about not liking my starter (coward ) . after dinner i talked mick gerry and thelma into beers at the irish bar i like the rest of the crew went home

 

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 

Italy France ! No stopping these boys

     After the chambre Neuf last night we decided because we had not had any dinner we made a decision on what to do for dinner we would go to a nice restaurant for a change, so we went to the cave and the food was very nice, but the problem is when you've been drinking beer all day and then stop for a substantial dinner the belly can only take so much ! We were all stuffed . We went to the PUB but the beers were taking too long to drink because we were full !so it was an early'ish bed because we knew we were up early for the bus to courmayeur , no need for a massive chorizo pizza tonight! 

      The bus was booked for 08:30 so we got up at 07:30, it was still pitch black outside, shouldn't need to get up so early on your holidays' we got organised to go and we got there in good time and sorted our bus tickets and ski passes. Once on the bus we were all sleepy but there was some fantastic views from this bus, some of the trees were bent double with the amount of snow that had fell on them. As We got nearer to the Mont Blanc tunnel, the monument for the disaster was an empty snow bound spot, but none the less a reminder that we were about to pass through a fantastic piece of modern engineering that required a bit more thought than first considered! I will make a point of reading a bit about the disaster when I get home, but nonetheless our journey through the nearly 12 km of tunnel was interesting but perfectly safe because things have changed so much since the disaster. we arrived in Italy at courmayeur to take the big Armani designer ski gondola Up to the start of the slopes we were impressed by courmayeur, we liked the layout of the slopes and the size was good it would be great to see how much distance we actually covered but we done a few km or miles and enjoyed 90% off it. if we had a complaint it would be the usual, that sometimes we had to ski in the shade. in the morning we skied while the snow fell in buckets blinding our turns , but in general it was a great days ski'ing and we were very fortunate that the last days skiing together we skied all the way down an excellent run in great weather to shake hands at the bottom to say thanks to each other for a fantastic week and an excellent day to Finish on courmayeur / Italy and the holiday as a whole was a great idea for the last days ski'in !

          We got back to the bus station and had time for some beers before the bus left ! Very pleasant it is to sit outside a cafe/bar with your mates in semi sun drinking beer and the staff start bringing out free pizza pieces ! Ali decided it was a good idea to buy 4 grappas !, not a good idea really schnapps or whiskey yes  is nice but grappa is like helicopter fuel it burned all the way down, cammy refused as he didn't want shots, even when he's out with his mates he doesn't drinks shots ( apparently ) ! Sensible boy for a change . Once the bus was organised we were on our way back through the tunnel and back into France to be dropped at the main bus stop , which was right next to chambre Neuf ! Our favourite bar it was 17:10 and the alps looked beautiful, the band would start soon it's our last day !, let's do it!! We had a beer a pitcher each ! Apparently they do around 850 pitchers a night here at €10.50 each not including the jäger bombs stupid stuff and ordinary everyday drinks 

        Common sense prevailed and we carried our skies back to the hire shop ( insert sad face ) that's it now, we are out of ski gear and already started packing ,but back out to see the end of the band which as I'm writing this are now finished it's been a fantastic day ,we loved courmayeur so much so that we would consider basing there one day . We have loved Chamonix but it's not the best for our skiing maybe if we were loving the off piste ! 

   Things to remind mysel for next year ! Vision is paramount I may need to at a minimum look at wrap round prescription sun glasses perhaps even consider contact lenses ! Fitness is different from ski fitness I can run a half marathon and i do well in the gym BUT ! Ski fitness is different I require now To train before a ski holiday ( not as young as I was ) I could do a half marathon tomorrow but my quads glutes and calfs were struggling on the slopes and now felling the pain as it's bloody hard work at times , enjoyable work but ! I wished I had trained more for a weeks  ski'in next year I will work my legs More in the gym cut back the running and hit the cross trainer , 

   Ok I'm ready to drink beer and finish my holiday now I hope you've all enjoyed the blog

The time is flying too fast !

Eat out        So last night we left the chambre Neuf after the band finished and headed to a place called the pub we enjoy the Chamonix IPA in there , there had not been a planned dinner there was still a big bowl of salad in the fridge and a lettuce ! I suggested we just have that and a bigger breakfast tomorrow ! But the boys were like Brits abroad and sent me back to sort out a side salad while they got what would acceptably be called carry out food ! I was hoping to have a healthy week in the alps these boys are fattening me up , a big pizza with extra cheese and chorizo arrived to accompany the salad I put out 

     We are all getting a good nights sleep as it's long days and short nights and were all up at 08:30 to head to the ski area called grand montets , there's a lot of good runs there and we had an excellent mornings skiing even though the visibility could be better, we stopped for coffee around half 11 . Ali and cammy had bought  a can of monster and they got me doughnuts with my coffee to take the piss out my healthy eating , I had brought along nice healthy trek cereal bars ! (It's no easy ) the runs in this area were good and if the sun had been out it would have been perfect , we had a few more runs after coffees then stopped for lunch . 4 soups and 4beers in a nice mountainside alpine building ,it would have been nice to stay longer but the days are going far to quickly as it is ! and our time on the slopes is limited, what we came here for was the slopes, so off we went and done a few more runs ,I've charged up my video camera and Ali has a new attachment on his helmet for cameras, so we got that fixed up and decided around 3pm to head as high up as possible and ski all the way down to the car park/bus stop to call it a day with the video running. and that's what we done. what a great end to a good day I hope the video does it justice we had a fantastic ski down and shared a celebratory beer at the bottom , this came down past a spot where I had a particularly big wipe out 6years ago so I enjoyed it but was wary  

      Once back at the apartment there was 4 individuals trying to decide the best thing to do tonight, we had skied all day and were expecting a full days skiing tomorrow. we like food we like nights out, options were limited for us. Power snooze ? Shower ? Spar for dinner ? Eat out after the band ! Time was marching on. it was now 5pm, the band were due to start at the chambre Neuf ,we want to ski in Italy tomorrow at a place called courmayeur and that requires booking ourselves on the transport as it's through the Mont Blanc tunnel. We have now booked this and looking forward to it!

     Decision made I laid out snacks we had a quick change out of sallopettes and ski gear, we got our jeans on and headed off to chambre Neuf ! And here I am blogging away as the band plays there's a bunch of Irish guys from Munster joined us ,  the band are doing their set it's all good solid rock classics  ,bob and Ali have got the bus for tomorrow all sorted out ,it's paid for and we have managed to get tickets printed out via the bars hotel reception , so if we manage to get up in time it will be an 08:30 bus to Italy tommorow morning!!

        Maybe I should go to bed now and refuse anymore pitchers ! But then again it's not Amstel I'm on tonight it's Murphy's and very tasty, many more beers will be had tonight, it's inevitable!

Alls good in the alps

                We were up and on the slopes in the sun in plenty time this morning ,and we had decided to ski an are called la flegere today .we chose it because it was in the best position in the valley to get the sunny morning (the weather report said it was to cloud over later in the afternoon ) the lower slopes were excellent lots of nice well pisted wide easy runs , but unfortuneately for some reason some of the upper regions were closed and unpisted possibly due to avalanches or the risk of them through the night , so there wasn't a lot of the longs red runs and/or decent black runs to keep us entertained all day .by midday we had pretty much skied out the all the available areas and bob and Ali wanted to try a unpisted upper section ! They were not alone I've never seen so many people ski'in/boarding off piste ! So for the first time our wee ski group split into two and we kept In touch with our walkie talkies .me and cammy done a couple of easy runs taking our time and taking some photos then went for a lunch time beer ,bob and Ali joined us there and said it was difficult in parts in  the upper sections but got better as they came down we never missed anything really ! It's slightly better for them in their all mountain skis and if the weather stays the way the forecast is going it's looking like me and cammy will be changing to a set of those before the weeks out , 

       Before we knew it our day was disappearing and it was nearing 2pm ! we had changed ski areas back to brevent and decided to have some lunch there , after lunch cammy pronounced he was shattered and wanted a sleep he was going back to the apartment , so the 4 became 3 and we skied a few red runs in brevent before the light made things dull and we decided to call it a day ! We got back to the apartment where cammy was already sound asleep , it was around 16:20 and we thought if you can't beat them join them ! It had been a long hard day we deserved a snooze ! So we all had an hours sleep and some snacks before heading out for beers at 18:00

    Over the past couple of days perhaps because of all the wet snow around cammys common sense had taken over and he has been wearing my big moon boots out .but tonight he is back to his 10bob sliders walking the freezing pavements with his hands in pockets lol ( oh to be young ! ) , ther was no need for a group talk we all knew we where we were heading ,so here we are it's 18:40 and I'm finishing off today's blog yet again in chambre Neuf while the resident band no limits are rocking out some classic rock numbers so far we've had Bruce Springsteen whitesnake and a queen number , alls good in our world it's shaping up to be another damm fine day ,  and we are making plans for tomorrow's ski area (it's looking probably grand montets ) Jesus how can a band jump from born to run to take on me by aha ! Lol that's a change this band likes to play to a mixed audience