We’ve had a varied few days since the last post. Memories of crowded slopes persuaded us to go back to the UK for the half-term school holidays, and gave us the chance to return to Cornwall, catch up with old friends, and check on our sailing boat, Merryn. Fortunately, she was in good shape, having weathered the seemingly endless rain and storms that have been the hallmark of this winter. We fared less well with the weather: both our outbound and return flights were delayed, and we seemed to spend most of the week stuck in traffic jams, peering out through the windscreen at rain-soaked views!
Foolishly, we picked Saturday to fly back to France, forgetting the ski traffic that plagues the area at weekends. Our drive from Grenoble to our apartment should have taken just over two hours; instead we spent six hours in nose-to-tail traffic, before arriving late Saturday night. So… we needed something to lift our moods, and decided to return to the Dome de Vaugelaz: a route that is fast becoming one of our favourites. The weather was glorious, and baking hot: more like late spring than February, and there were plenty of walkers out on the lower slopes, as the picture above shows. Conditions were good for an easy climb to the top, where an obliging French gentleman took our photo, before a lovely descent on spring snow.
With conditions set to remain warm and sunny, we opted for another tour the next day (today!). This time returning to the Col des Fours above Le Fornet in Val d’Isere. It was another lovely trip: sunny and warm, with a great descent to the Refuge, where we enjoyed lunch. The tour ended with a further descent to the foot of the Manchet chairlift. We returned to Le Fornet on the up-and-over chairlift, more properly known as the Leissieres chair, seen in the little video clip.
The forecast is for a huge dump of snow over the next few days, with temperatures also plummeting. We’ll miss the worst of that weather as we have to return to the UK (again!) to get an MOT for the car. I’ll be coming back towards the end of the week, and looking forward to a week with friends skiing in Italy. Cate is staying on in London for a few more days, and we will both be back in early March.