Andy's Blog - Gone Further

Always a ‘Catch 22′ situation, when it’s busy and there’s loads been going on I tend to choose sleep over blogging.

I last blogged on the Friday after the Guy Wednesday a couple of weeks ago. Andy & Laura arrived shortly after and brought Pezza and Cazzie with them. Stuoobs & I took Andy & Laura’s car down to Brevieres for the free parking and had an excellent board back to Lavachet.

Friday & Saturdays tend to be quiet in the resort because of weekend transfers, with not much going on in our end of town we went up to Val Claret to the Crystal Holidays run bar, Crowded House. It was a good night, Andy Forbes was turbo mashed and ended up confusing his new ski jacket with a little baby ‘Grim Reaper’

The following morning was my day off and I heard some rummaging around in the apartment but nothing too hectic so I stayed in bed. When I eventually got up I found Laura on her own saying Andy had gone out for a wander, unsure of where he was and assuming he’d be milling around the Lavachet shops I got ready to get some breakfast, as I walked out the door Andy strolled in. I asked him if he fancied coming to the shop but he totally ignored me and looked a bit annoyed.

By the time I got back Laura was sporting a new shiny ring on her left hand. Apparently Andy had hiked up to the top of Lavachet wall (a good 500m vertical climb) in knee deep powder to write ‘Will You Marry Me’ in the snow. As he discovered, it was an impossible ask and hence the reason he appeared to be a bit annoyed and short of breath when he came back!

Congrats Andy & Laura!

What followed was a fabulous day on the mountain and (until today!) the warmest day we have had so far. We spent the day on the nursery slope teaching Andy & Laura the basics and making sure we burned our faces with the blazing sun.

Andy Forbes and Instructor Stuoobs

That night was spent celebrating in Couloir enjoying the kangaroo steaks before a walk across the lake and a bit of a play around in the igloo by the natural ice rink.

Andy & Laura left on the Tuesday morning and by the afternoon Laura & Tracey from Alder Hey A&E fame pitched up to kick off the celebrations for my 30th. They had had some skiing lessons in England and were raring to go on the slopes. Hats off to Laura who completely neglected to turn and went straight down the slope as fast as I have ever seen anybody go on their first day on snow!

The great thing about Laura & Tracey’s visit was thet they were here for a Guy Wednesday. It’s always messy, especially when Bring Your Sisters are on at Loop. We were, to a man, mashed and ended up in the Caves Du Lac and Jacks clubs. When we got back the music continued in the flat and we had our first complaint of the season from the neighbours (thankfully the apartment next door is on a weekly let).

Thursdays after Guy Wednesday are always tricky and all I wanted to do was stay in bed. Eventually Pezza told me I had to be up by 6.00pm as she had a birthday surprise for me. None of us were really in the mood for anything but as soon as we got to where were supposed to be we picked up. Pezza had organised a Wilderness Evening followed by tobogganing at night. We started in Tignes Les Boisses, about 300m down the mountain from Tignes and had some soup and an aperitif around the fire.

It was then inside for fondue and LOTS of genepi. The bird who ran the show had wind that it was my birthday and loaded me up on the tradional Savoie shot – I ws officially back in the game.

It was then to the slopes for the tobogganing!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

It was a top night, and just the thing to shake off our hangovers. The tobogganing was carnage, we ended up going down the red run to Brevieres!

It was then time for a lot of R&R before more debauchery on Saturday. We had a huge dump on Friday and Saturday was a great powder day. I took it upon myself to ski in a funny hat knowing full well that people who wear funny hats should be shot, unless they man up on the slopes. We found some excellent new powder in Val d’Isere.

We were in the apartment getting set to head out when Paulie & Karen turned up, unbeknownst to me – it was a great surprise! Pezza had arranged for the local, Brasero, to lay on a table, banners, balloons etc. Nic & Karen (the owners) laid on a bottle of bubbly and a huge gin for me! Nic put on the top 20 from the year 1979 and we boogied away. (I appreciate that I know too many Karens).

It was a great night that was preceded by an awesome day on the mountain – easily a contender for best birthday ever. I was as smashed as a bloke on his 30th should be, Morgan from Loop Bar made sure of that at the end of the night by making me a triple Foolish – I forced Stu to have one too, such a nice bro!

All in all a great couple of weeks. I hate leaving it so long to blog because I could have waffled on for hours about everything from Andy & Laura’s visit, Laura & Tracey’s skiing skills.

Everyone has now gone and we’ve had a few nights off the pop (even sacrificing a Guy Wednesday). Today marked the start of the Nissan Freeride of Tignes, a truly remarkable event where the best Freeride skiers in the world tackle an area of off piste known as the Grande Balme.

I’m going to leave it there but I’ll have loads to update you on next week, hopefully Monday.

I’ll leave you with a picture of the Couloir De Tufs area of off piste, known colloqially as ‘The Fingers’, lit up by night.

xxx

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