Let me put some blue sky and snow into your life in the middle of the endless wet spell that is the UKs weather at the moment.
My annual ski trip to the Three Valley’s in the French Alps.
Off to a good start with nice clear views over the UK from the flight to Geneva, here looking over Birmingham.
South Coast of England and the Isle of Wight.
Lake Geneva and the Jura. I don’t think I’ve ever landed at Geneva from this direction before. Luckily our pilot didn’t make the same mistake as en Easyjet pilot a few weeks earlier when he had to abort his landing after being told by Air Traffic Control that he was far too low and close to the water!
I like this shot as I managed to get the shadow of the plane on the ground below.
Our now regular stop off in Annecy for lunch.
Warm enough to dispense with a jacket and it rained for most of the drive to the resort and was still raining at 1800m when we arrived, never a good thing in a ski resort as it turns the snow to wet mush which then freezes bone hard overnight.
First ski day was beautiful though.
Snow low down was icy as hell but up top it was still in good shape. This was top of our favourite long run down to St Martin de Belleville.
Eating is of equal importance to skiing on these trips. The slightly warmer weather, while not great for snow conditions does mean you can eat outside in the sunshine.
Sun sets on our first day.
Mont Blanc towering over the rest of the Alps.
Like last year it was a week with nothing in the way of fresh snow but plenty of sunshine by way of compensation.
As the years go by I find skiing in fresh powder tougher on the legs so I don’t miss it all that much. Just being out in the sunshine and clear air is more than enough for me.
Another of our favourite lunch stops with a fine sunny terrace overlooking the slopes.
THO and MM at the end of another day’s skiing.
One of my favourite end of day views as the sun casts shadows on the mountains.
We had a couple of gorgeous mornings with pink skies.
These are taken from the apartment balcony.
A new find for lunch – a fantastic burger place on the slopes with another sunny terrace.
Evening sunset.
Taken from a walk up the hill to do some shopping.
I say shopping but it was a lame excuse to head to our much frequented little local bar for a couple of early evening beers.
The Minchin brothers.
The view from the top of the slopes before we head down to the apartment at the end of the day
And yet another food consumption photo!
The slopes of Val Thorens, one of Europes highest ski resorts.
MM, THO and the Aiguille du Peclet.
THO and Mont Vallon.
More eating!
After which we did actually do a little skiing!
On our last day we stopped off at the top to admire the views before the final run down. As the lifts stop running and everyone heads home its a beautiful and peaceful spot. We stayed for half an hour and would have stayed longer but the lift attendants make you ski down before it gets dark for safety reasons.
It was a great way to finish the trip and the first time we’ve ever done it. I think we’ll be doing this more often in future.
A nice, clear sunny day for our flight home. A view of the CERN complex especially for the Prof.
The Jura mountains.
The Alps laid out in full behind Lake Geneva.
And low clouds and mist fill the valley’s
Another memorable trip in great company.
Not sure you’d get me whizzing down mountains at 80mph on 2 planks myself! You could have stayed here and skied for a week on one foot of powder snow a week or so ago! Was quite sunny too for a change.
Great photo of the shadow of the plane – good job you captioned it though as I didn’t notice!
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Apparently there was great skiing in the Beacons for a day last weekend. I’ve tried skiing there before but there is just too much bracken and too many rocks to make it any fun as we rarely get snow that lingers long enough to be in good condition
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It was definitely a rare event the other week – I haven’t seen snow like that for years. I had quite a good, but tiring, week on it (it didn’t freeze so was all sinking into it stuff – but nice snow just the same).
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Just a bit of horrid wet stuff down here that lasted about 24 hours before it was all gone
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We could have sent you a few inches depth of the stuff!
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Love the photos of the morning pink glow and obviously of the views across the high mountains to Mont Blanc. Looks to be a good trip and some good food found
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We had some great blue and pinks skies if not any fresh snow. Not the best trip for actual good skiing by any means but good company is more than enough compensation
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Nice pics (& trip).
I actually live somewhere on the (far) backdrop of your “plane shadow” pic.. not much skiing on the Jura this year.
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Been a pretty poor year for snow this season, one of our party has just come back from another trip and the lower slopes are pretty much completely bare, like you’d expect to see in April right at the end of the season.
Done some walking in the Jura and they are wonderful
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I’d love to ski in Europe someday. But this year I traveled to Colorado and Salt Lake City to ski and they were both great! Nice to see you out skiing with your friends.
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I think the US has had way more snow than Europe the last couple of years. I keep seeing stuff in my social media feeds about incredible snow depths. Its just a very long way to fly for a week’s holiday. We’ve been skiing in Banff and Whistler but they were 10 day trips
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A fabulous, sunny week, skiing [and eating] with friends. Just the best!
Fantastic photos.
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The eating is almost as important as the skiing!
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With a comment like that, you could very easily become a Hungry Hiker!
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I was thinking of your little group when I wrote that comment!
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🤣😂
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Did I mention…blah, blah, blah.
Looks delightful. Being chased down the slope late in the day by the piste-bashers used to be part of our cram-as-much-in-as-possible MO didn’t it? So your final day trick was a return of sorts to an old habit.
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Back in the day we always made sure we were catching the last lift up and run down. That doesn’t happen much these days as I think we all find skiing a little tougher on the fitness as we get older, especially as we ski at breakneck speed most of the time. This is – I think – the first time we actually sat down, skis off, for an extended period on the mountain top, waiting for the last run down. Its a great run down from here but sadly in the shade at the end of the day
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