Monday, May 26, 2008

Nothing To Do With Skiing But....


we had to let everyone know about the newest member of the ALC household! Delilah is a 10 week old Cocker Spaniel bitch and definitely the cutest person at this address! We are completely besotted so it's going to be tough showing her who's boss when we are her devoted slaves.
One of the reasons we opted to choose a cocker was a lovely little fellah called Elvis, little in stature but BIG in personality. Sadly we heard Elvis had died only a few days before we took possession of Delilah. Deepest sympathies Sharron, if we get half as much pleasure from Delilah's companionship we will be very very lucky.

Monday, May 12, 2008

End of Season



Here we are in May and the season is all over bar the shouting. It was short but intense, mainly because Easter fell so early this year (apparently it doesn't fall that early again for another 200 years!) and that is usually when holiday makers' thoughts seem to turn away from the mountains and towards the beach! A shame really as the snow conditions continued to be exceptionally good right up to the end.
Joe concluded the season in Zermatt and I went along for the ride. It meant we missed the big end of season bash in Avoriaz but hey ho, you can't have everything! At that altitude they were still enjoying winter conditions and even in the first week in May there were tracks to be had!
I only stayed for the day so unfortunately I didn't get to ski fresh snow with Joe and his group but we had some great on piste skiing and an excellent lunch on the Italian side before they closed for the season.
One thing that did occur to me was how comparitively easy it is to access the slopes from Les Gets. In Zermatt the skiing is so high that it takes almost an hour of uplift before you start making turns. Imagine getting all the way up there and finding Little Johnny's forgotten his gloves! The great thing about Les Gets/Morzine is that it's perfectly possible to head up for an hour or two if that's all you want and let's face it for a lot of recreational or family skiers that's plenty. Especially when the weather is marginal.
I can't go without making a mention of Angus, our new recruit to Alpine Learning Curves this winter. Angus worked alongside Joe for the peak periods and going by the feedback was a very welcome addition. How much time he spends with us next season is very much down to family commitments but we are hoping to see a lot more of him!