Summer #skiing in #Megeve

Crazyness rules in#Megeve today. It's the festival of the horse apparently and there have been people doing acrobatics on horseback and these madmen being dragged along on "#skis" around the streets of #Megeve. They got up quite a speed on the downhill sections! When they got to the Palais des Sports they upped the ante by trying to kick a football through a goal whilst being dragged behind the horse. Absolutely nuts but entertaining!

Time #Megeve Completed!

Well the boys did it! Congratulations to Will, John, Kev and Richard for completing the Time #Megeve road cycling race.   

85 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing in 37 degrees of heat.  #Megeve is not normally that hot in the height of summer.  It really was gruelling conditions for them but some fantastic scenery.  John says he's never doing it again.  We'll see! 

Thanks to Jonny & Tracey for opening up and catering for them in our Chalet Sylvana.  At least they had a comfortable bed and a filling meal at the end of it.  I should think they needed it!  John's lost a fair bit of weight and he didn't have much to loose in the first place. 

If you fancy a more relaxing summer break, then we've still got space in our B&B Chalet Hotel Rond Point and self-catered chalets Les Clochettes and Sylvana.  It doesn't have to be all uphill you know, the lifts are open and there are nice gentle walks along the top, markets, farms, beautiful scenery as well as high ropes courses, luges, horse riding, swimming etc. etc.!  See our summer website for more details.

Our Brave Boys!!!!

 Beautiful Scenery!

 

Wait for Me!!!!

The well earned post ride beer!

a Bientot

This is the last blog of this winter season.   It has been a good season for snow.   We have been able to ski off piste most days until about the last 3 weeks of the season, when the sun came out and spring arrived.  Mont D'Arbois lifts closed on Tuesday (though we were told they were to stay open until the end of the week and we didn't understand why they closed earlier), and Rochebrune (except for Cote 2000) closed today.   Again it is hard to understand why as the pistes are still skiable and the resort is losing the weekend trade.
The spring flowers are blooming.   The first ones to appear on the banks where the snow has melted is the coltsfoot, a yellow dandelion like flower.   In the damp shade the butterbur is ubiquitous, and the gardens are yellow with primroses.   Further down the valley there are cowslips by the side of the road. I have also seen oxslips, marsh marigolds and violets, though not heartsease, though I have seen them other years.   But my favourites are the mountain crocuses.  These are tiny, like little flakes of snow at first glance, mostly white but you do get purple and yellow.  And they appear at this time of year as soon as the snow has melted from the sunny banks.
The birds are singing enthusiastically and building their nests.   Under the Chamois lift there are 6 ewes and 5 lambs.  During the winter they are in a shed at the bottom of a garden, but as soon as the snow has gone a fence goes up and the sheep appear.  Sometimes one sees marmots sunning themselves under the Ideal chair, but again I have not seen them this year.
So farewell for the moment.  We are back in the summer for the Jazz Competition.  Now it's time for tennis!

Luge

On Thursday evening we all went to the luge at Les Saisies.   There were 36 of us, the youngest 3, the eldest 73.  We try and do this every year with all the staff, the guests and anyone else whom we want to invite.   The last two years it has been snowing and very cold.  This time it was chilly but not freezing.
It is on rails above the ground, so for the first few minutes one is hauled up the incline.  Then you reach the top, the light goes green and you push the handles down and off you go.  It is basically a roller coaster with tight bends.  There is a notice at the end that tells you to slow down but mostly it's ignored and the automatic brake jerks you to a halt.  You can go down individually but it's more fun to go down with another.  Most of the children grab any adult around for a trip down but Lizzy (granddaughter aged 9) and Phoebe (aged five) went down together.  Lizzy just managed to exceed the height limit to go down without an adult.   Most people managed about 7 goes in the hour, except for Anna Booth who said she managed a record 9 times.  Anyway, here is a photo of Lizzy and Phoebe.

Helicopters

Yesterday I had a trip in a helicopter.   Clive Emerson, a guest, was having instruction in flying a helicopter in the mountains. He asked Jonny if he would like to be a passenger, but Jonny was knocking holes in walls in the Sylvana and couldn't go, so I got the chance.   Sadly, it was a misty day so I didn't get very good photos.
We took off from the Altiport at Cote 2000, flew down the gorge to Albertville, took a right and passed over Annecy.  We then flew over the mountains to Bonneville, passing La Clusaz and Flaine, to Sallanches, St. Gervais, passing Les Contamines ski resort before crossing the ridge back to the Altiport.  We were airborn for about 1hour 10 minutes.    They were hoping to do a longer circuit but the weather looked as if it was closing in and Ian, the instructor, didn't want to take any chances.   It was amazing to see all the familiar places from the air.  These pictures are the lake at Annecy and the top of the cable car and Caboche lifts at Rochebrune.

I had my skis in the minibus so I went up from Cote 2000 to join the others at the Radaz for lunch.  I shared a tartiflette with Steve, my younger son-in-law, and very good it was.

Family holiday

All the family is here, including the grand children, Anna, Emily, Lizzie and Tommy.   We also have 2 other families staying in the Clochettes, Kevin and Nicky and their two children who are Elizabeth's and John's friends originally, and Graham and Rachel with their 3 girls (Rachel was Caroline's best friend from school).  There is no room for John and me to stay at the Clochettes (8 adults and 9 children do not leave much room for us) so we are next door in the Sylvana.  We had a lovely day today, after getting the children sorted. The 3 older girls are being taught by Katie Campbell, who has taught them from the beginning.  The 2 little ones are in the Piou Piou club, and they seemed happy there.    That meant that the adults were free to ski without children for the morning.  We had lunch at the Staduel and ended up wearing silly hats as it was so hot.  The 3 older girls, all 11 years old, were allowed to ski by themselves for the first time.  So far, I am still faster than them, but it won't be that long before they are racing past me.   

Vallee Blanche

Yesterday was a gloriously sunny day and we all set off for the Vallee Blanche (except Tracey who did not want to do it and Chris who had gone home the previous day).  Unfortunately there was a problem with one of the top cable cars so there was a delay in our getting up the mountain so we had to hang around for about an hour and a half.  Still it was worth it when we got up there.
After we had walked down the arrete the guides put us in two groups, one doing the classic route and the other the Grand Rognon (there is a big rock sticking up in the glacier which is supposed to look like a kidney).  We were in the latter group.  We had no untracked powder and some of the snow was wind crust but we had a great ski down.  We had one rather gripping coulour where the guide said there was ice on one side and rocks on the other and we should go down the middle.  The inclination is to head immediately for the rocks!  I got down it by shouting at myself.
 We all met up for a picnic lunch on the glacier.   4 opted to ski all the way down which the guide said could be done but involved several places where you had to take your skis off and walk.   I've done that and it isn't a great deal of fun.   The rest of us walked up the stairs.  Every year the glacier recedes and more steps have to be added to climb up to the station.  When we first skied the VB we herringboned up the moraine to ski down the track to Chamonix (they didn't run the railway then in the winter).  Now it's about a 20 minute walk out before you get to the track.  It's alarming how much the glacier has receded since we first skied the VB.
There were two sit skiers coming down the VB with helpers.  One of them was just ahead of me on the stairs at the end of the run.  He had about 6 men taking turns in carrying him up the stairs.  It looked like seriously hard work.
Anyway here is a photo of us all after the picnic:  Back row: Sebastien (guide) Sam, Emma, Dave, little Emma, me, Frank (guide), John and Tim    Second Row: Megan, Jonny and Hannah  Front Row:   Sarah P, Santa and Lara.