Weekend

Lunch at the Gouet

Gordon and Carol's son, Kit, was out this weekend with his girl friend, Sarah.  We skied with them Saturday and Sunday on Mont D'Arbois and on Monday morning at Cote.  Saturday was busy but a lot of the holiday makers must have left as Sunday was much quieter.  We skied the Ladies' Downhill course today twice, which Sarah had never done, so she felt quite a sense of achievement.  The weather was beautiful and we sat outside for lunch every day.  So Sunday was Croute de Gouet at the Gouet and lasagne at the Radaz on Monday.  Snow is expected tonight so we are hoping for fresh powder.
Emily is progressing well and has been out today for a little walk.  She is still feeling dizzy so has to take things easy but she is on the mend.

Emily

Emily, one of the chalet hosts at the Rond Point, had a nasty accident on Tuesday.  She was skating on the outdoor ice rink and fell heavily, knocking herself out and cutting her forehead.  She was taken to Sallanches hospital by ambulance.  The doctors decided not to do a scan but to transfer her to Annecy by helicopter, where, presumably, they had a specialist team.  Anyway, the scan was clear and she was discharged the next day, thankfully.  Her mother flew out and she is now recuperating.  She can't remember between talking about going skating on Tuesday and waking up in Annecy on Wednesday morning.
Rory and Amy were marvellous, Amy, in particular as it was her day off and she went down in  the ambulance with Emily, and then had to hitch a lift back to Megeve. She and Rory then drove to Annecy and didn't get back to Megeve until the small hours of the morning. We are all so thankful that it was nothing worse.
It was a lovely morning and John and I skied the Rochebrune ridge this morning to Cote.  There was a race taking place on the Ladies Downhill Course.  The girls all looked about 14 but were they travelling!  The Radaz was open but only for bar and sandwiches. It wasn't clear as to when, if at all, the restaurant would be open.

Radaz

The son of Brigitte. the owner of the Radaz Restaurant at Cote, was killed in an avalanche 8 days ago.  He went out at about 8 am.  Roger Siviter, who is a pisteur and paramedic on Rochebrune, told us that they saw an avalanche had come down when they came on duty, but as it was before the lifts opened and there were no tracks they assumed that no-one had been caught in it.  It was not until the victim's wife rang them to say she was worried as he had not returned home did they investigate.
He was the young man serving behind the bar at the Radaz, and was due to take over the business from his mother.  It is tragic.  So what is going to happen to the Radaz after the winter nobody knows.
On a brighter note, the weather has been glorious and the pistes are in fantastic condition.  We had lunch at the Alpage yesterday.  There is a new waitress who looks very like Marie, the owner.  It turns out that she is the daughter in law and her husband is the chef with his father.  It is nice that the business remains a family business. 

Friday

  We have just spent the last few days near  Grasse in the south of France, so apologies for not blogging.  Our  friend Ruth Hatton was driving back to her house at Cabris on Monday and asked us if we would like to visit for a few days, as she had other friends who we knew coming out to stay.  So we drove back with her through the Mont Blanc tunnel and down through Italy to Ventimiglia, and then along the coast to Nice and up to the hills behind, where their house is.  It is in a beautiful situation, overlooking Grasse and with a view out to the sea.  We flew back on Thursday morning.  So today we skied in Megeve on Mont D'Arbois.  Seeing that it is the last day of the Paris holidays the queues were not too bad, and we found some almost deserted pistes.  This is the view from Epaule, looking at Mont Blanc.  Next week should be quieter as the English half term will also have finished.

Cote 2000

Yesterday we skied on Mont D'Arbois with Ruth Hatton and Gordon, having lunch at the Gouet. Today John and I skied to Cote to see if there was any off piste left.  We found some where it was not too cut up, but it was breakable crust at the bottom.  We skied off the Pre Rosset track past the barn that is being refurbished and down to the stream.   This comes out at the bottom of the Lanchettes lift.  The snow was lovely and it wasn't tracked out.  Usually I hate the stream, there is one track which is too fast and nowhere to stop, and I spend the whole time thinking I'm going to end up in the stream.  But today not too many people had been down it and the snow was soft.  We had to climb over one fallen tree, and skirt round a couple of others, jump the stream a couple of times but otherwise it was quite fun.  At the bottom we met three guys skinning up.  I was very relieved not to have met them on one of the narrow unpassable places.  Then it was home for lunch, as it is the start of the French holidays and the pistes were getting busy.

John's birthday

We had an amazing day today. We met up with Gordon at Cote and skied off piste all morning, or at least, I practised falling over in the snow.  I was leaning back.  Considering it's the first week of the Paris holidays, Cote was deserted.  We had lunch in the Radaz, a birthday tartiflette, and then took the bus to Mont D'Arbois.  Mont Joli and Epaule had been skied out totally.  But we  found some untracked snow down to Etudiant and then skied back down to Planellet.  I thought the snow might be heavy but it was perfect.  And to cap it all, we had some sunshine so we could actually see what we were skiing.  This is a video of the birthday boy!
This evening we are off to the St Georges for dinner with Jonathan and Fiona Muirhead, Carol and Gordon and our friend from England, Ruth Hatton.

Staff day off

Tuesday is Amy's,Gary's and  Emma's day off so we met up with them at 9am and skied over to Cote.
This is me skiing off the back down to the track.  The snow was lovely and very few people had skied it.  We met up with Gordon who gave Gary and Emma some tips, the same that   he has drilled into us over the years.  I still can't ski like Gordon, but at least I haven't given up trying.  Gary and Emma were planning a quiet lunch at the Radaz but we gate crashed it.  John and I had ordered a lasagne to share and the old man brought out something which he said was the lasagne.  By the time we had divided it we were told it was Gary's Croute.  So Gary had the mashed up Croute and we devoured our lasagne, when the old man brought Gary a second Croute.  So that got shared out!  We then skied back home but took a diversion through the trees which was testing as there were a lot of shrubs.  Still, the snow was lovely.

Snowy Sunday

When we got up this morning it was snowing and hasn't stopped all day.This is the view just down from our apartment.  John went out this morning with Gordon for a couple of hours.   There was not quite enough snow for off piste but there probably is now. Our concierge has been attempting to keep our car park clear, but has obviously given up.  I haven't heard any snow ploughs but they must be working to keep the roads clear. I'm hoping that I shall feel well enough to go out tomorrow to play around in the powder. I'll just have to keep swallowing the pills. We have been looking at reviews of new skis for me, so I'm feeling very excited.

Stormy weather

Today, Saturday, it was snowing steadily.  John went out Skiing but I had had a bad night with my cold so I had a trip to the Medical Centre.  On the website it said it opened at 8, but it didn't open until 9.  Why can't they get something simple like opening hours right.  Anyway I was told I had a temperature.  Being France I came away with a prescription for vitamin C, a nasal spray, paracetamol, cough mixture and antibiotics.
John had a lovely morning Skiing fresh snow with Gordon.  They stayed on the pistes but where they had not been groomed there was about 15cm of snow.  The sun came out briefly and then there was more snow.  It's looking good  for next week's guests.

Home

We went home last week to look after the grandchildren so the girls and their husbands could come Skiing.  It was nice to be home for a few days, but it was cold and grey most of the time.  We came back here on Tuesday, but we haven't been Skiing as I have a bad cold and cough and am trying to get over it.  New snow is forecast for this weekend so I must be better for that.