The circus leaves town

Ready, set..............GO

The Ski World Cup event was completed successfully and the circus which came with it has rolled out of town. As previously posted the event was a good rehearsal for 2015 and it certainly gave us all a taste of the excitement that such events can bring. Although we couldn't turn on the sunshine we did deliver a French podium position so the locals were all very happy. Fresh snow gave organisers and ESF Instructors plenty to do as they were given the job of clearing fresh snow from the course as mechanical means are forbidden once a certain time prior to the start of the race has passed. The layout of the course made it very easy to get close to the competitors although it certainly was a case of blink and you will miss it, the speed at which they travel was quite amazing to be so close to.

Plenty of local support

Very snowy finish line

In addition to the excitement of the World Cup events it has been the busy half term period in the Alps which is now drawing to a close. We are currently experiencing the Parisians so the    bars are full of talk of aggressive driving techniques! After a week and a half of the very best spring weather the Parisians seem to have brought winter with them. For the first time in what feels like months upper lifts were closed down today as gale force winds had most people skiing the lower slopes all morning and then taking an early mark. Light snow is forecast over the next couple of days which will freshen up the slopes, temperatures are dropping again so time to dig out the layers which we thought had been put away for the season.

We enjoyed some skiing over in the neighbouring resort of Les Arcs recently with good friends who have skied the area a couple of times. We put ourselves in their capable hands and didn't have to consult a Piste Map but this did get us thinking how hard it can be arriving at a "new to you" ski resort - especially the largest ski area in the world as Three Valleys is. How on earth to you stop yourself from getting lost, ending up in the wrong valley or finding yourself at the top of a Piste you really did not want to ski down. Next Post then will be full of tips on how to find your way around.

Finally one thing we did learn in Les Arcs is that some Gondolas do not actually take you anywhere...........