Messages posted by : andyoneil
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Mrs O is a contacts wearer and is usually fine. As lilywhite says goggles work much better than sunnys to stop the eyes drying out in the wind.
She lost one half way down the home run in Livigno a few years ago and had to finish the run with one eye - luckily the optician in town spoke to hers in the UK and got her sorted |
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Nelly's advice is spot on - my wife learned in VDI and the Madeleine is where I had her practicing what she'd learned in ski school earlier.
After the Glacier Express runs (nice long blues that you can really get comfortable on) then you may be tempted to ski down "piste L" to Le Lasinant which is a trickier blue (perfectly manageable) that will help your confidence back to reds but do be aware that its often closed due to ice as it's in a shady gulley much of the way down Glacier Express will also let you take the "scare chair / up and over" Leissieres lift over towards the glacier. From the top of the glacier you can ski the blues and also the reds (confidence boosting as they are no different to the blues up there) You can then work your way down Vallon and either take the cable car to le Fornet and get the free bus for 5 mins back to town, try the Mangard run down to le Fornet (again manageable though a little tougher) or take the scare chair back over the ridge. As Nelly says - if you do this and get back to top of Solaise then skiing down will not be an option if you're wobbly as there's no blue back to town and the red is challenging. That said - once your confidence is back then its do-able as the top is steep but very wide and the bottom is narrower but not as steep. In bright sunshine and good snow it's within your reach that week. In flat light or lots of ice then most will get the lift down. Once your confidence is up then go up Bellevarde and you can come down the long blue all the way to La Daille. This cris- crosses with both a green and a red - the red being the famous OK. The OK is definitely on your list for the week as it's very do-able for any intermediate in good snow as long as they take their time and read the line through the one tricky bit low down. I personally think the red is easier than the green.... Anyway, enough rambling. Hope that's of use and I'm sure you'll have a great time. Just leave some snow and beer for me as I'm there on the 19th Jan! |
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That'd be the Aiguille Percee that I mentioned before - you know its there as I've ski-ied past it with you and Mr Nelly! |
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Some things to look out for whilst on the slopes themselves:
The reservoir they created when the dam that Dave Mac mentioned was built is visible from "below" when down in Tignes Les Brev at one end of the map (there's a mural of Hercules painted on it but its not very visible in winter) http://ski-chalets-tignes.co.uk/sites/default/files/AllAbout1.jpg Once you get over to Val and go up the Solaise side you can look down the Isere Valley, past Val town, past La Daille (where the OK run that the Women's downhill is being run on today finishes) and you'll see the Lac and the top of the dam The Aiguille Percee is also worth looking out for - a rock with a hole in it that you can (I'm told though I never have) ski through if the conditions are right and you're brave and willing to go on a "Naturide". Though not really a "sight" you might want to go down the blue "Santons" run from the Bellevarde down into Val as this is quite a sight (natural half pipe with beginners strewn round the place believing that a blue way down from the mountain top was a better choice for them then sensibly riding the gondola like the instructor told them) One thing we did last time was to ski all four "corners" of the map in one day: Le Fornet, Val Glacier Pissaillas, Tignes Les Brev 15550 and the Grande Motte glacier in Tignes. Perfectly do-able in a day with a lunch stop too but you need to think about route to get back to where you are staying as getting caught without a lift over the top can be expensive. Realistically though the only link you must watch is the one over Toviere or the Col De Fresse to get from the Tignes side to Val and vice versa as once you're in either bowl you can ski down and even if you only get as far s La Daille for Val or le Lac for Tignes you are then not in the realm of expensive transport to wherever you need to end up. Hope this is of use - anything else then PM me, off to the EK on the 19th Jan myself Andy |
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But the point of Apres music is that it happens after ski (hence the name) and BEFORE you have your tea with free wine in the chalet!!!!! I'll leave the family bit alone though..... :shock: |
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To be fair my wife is just as likely as I, if not more so, to be up and out for first lift - she's fitter than me so can ski all day and probably even drinks more than me these days as I'm getting old! |
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I prefer a bit of pseudo European throwback Hair Rock for my Apres
There's a band who play in VDI who meet all the criteria and score a bonus point for the splendid name of: "Mullit" (dunno if they mean fish but I think hair cut despite the spelling) You can't beat a bit of Livin' On A prayer in your ski boots..... |
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Its a fair point - my wife would ditch the summer hol before the winter one if it came to it |
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