ES Adaptive

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Originally uploaded by European Snowsport

ES Instructors get to grips with new adaptive equipment.

Alex in Action

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Originally uploaded by European Snowsport

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Originally uploaded by European Snowsport

Right then. Brace yourselves.

I know it's September, and I know if you're reading this in the UK it's probably miserable. And raining.

But, as far as I'm concerned, it's nearly winter, and that means we dust down the ES blog, fill in the blanks, and bang on about the amazing weather and the fact that it's snowed up top, and I'm going up to have a look tomorrow (if it hasn't all melted).

So. News. Well, it's been quite a busy summer, with billions of people floating about resort. But, in a nut shell:

Kato didn't make the Ryder Cup Team. Again. Faldo's loss.
Maryse went to the Himalayas. As you do.
Gusy joined the Marines. Again. Make your own gags - sailors, men in uniform, etc.
Oli had knee problems. Again. Same knee. Same as last year. Lightning striking twice, etc.
Kato got a job. No, honestly.
Jo and Gareth bought a brilliant flat at the bottom of the slopes, backing onto the woods, and everyone now hates them.
Emma Lodge had about 15 different fringes.
Jonas is still Sweden's most eligible bachelor.
Toby bought and wore a suit. You know, like grown-ups do.
I might be buying a cupboard.
Almost everyone fell of their bike and got to use crutches at some point.
Kato learned to surf. For free.
Jules nipped out for coffee.
Caroline got lost in Geneva.
Louis dropped off the radar.
Ms Ackner disappeared to be a student.
Neil Kernow cleaned the van. Religiously.
Laika discovered squirrels.
Marmot poo was agreed to be the most pungent smell in the world.
Jimmy The Entrepreneur planned world domination. With Alice. It involved helicopters.
Switzerland wasn't destroyed by black holes from Cern. Which was a relief.
And Emma's missing ski was discovered. She still owes me a pint.

Meanwhile, it's Emma Lodge's birthday tonight, and we're all turning Japanese - make your own gags.

Anyway, more soon. ish.

ES Falcons

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Originally uploaded by European Snowsport

Falcons Coaches Having a short Break at 1936

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Originally uploaded by European Snowsport

More cow fighting. Amazing.

Courtesy of Oli A Dannat: the high drama of watching two slightly narked cows argue over a few square feet of grazing. Enjoy:

Cow fighting

Take a load of excited bovines who've spent the whole winter in a shed and then let them loose, and they get a bit feisty.

Add a bunch of Swiss farmers who've spent the morning drinking wine in the sunshine and arguing about who's got the biggest cow, and, to be honest, you're in for an amusing afternoon.

This year the Combat des Reines was back in Chable, and it looked a little something like this:

And Maryse is a legend...

Not only is it Maryse's birthday today, she decided to celebrate by doing the Patrouille des Glaciers starting four am today...

The PDG is a big deal - like a marathon across the mountains on skis - and there are two versions: one from Arrolla, and one from Zermatt (which is the longer of the two and reserved for the clinically insane).

And the Swiss military get heavily involved, too, which is why my afternoon (hangover recovery) nap has just been interrupted by six fighter jets trying to get as close to our balcony as was humanly possible. Er, thanks.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be1iVVhLFaA

Rocky Horrific

What were we thinking? I'm still wearing nail polish - I didn't really think at the time, but how do you get this stuff off?

Yellow Maike's last night in T-Bar

Well, nearly - he's back tonight for the Rocky Horror show end of season party, and some more of this...

The ES staff night out. Messy. Very messy. And it looked a bit like this (no in depth analysis or explanations - I don't think I'm feeling capable):

I'm not being critical (but)

I know weather forecasting is tricky, but this is, apparently, the weather that's coming (and already been), and it still doesn't bare a lot of resemblance to either what was promised and what we've got...

Changeable weather

I'm not making excuses, and I don't want your sympathy, but there are reasons that sometimes our weather predictions are a little off. The information we're given isn't always accurate, to be honest.

Take today for example; all week the powers that be have changed their minds constantly, and snowfall predictions have been bandied around left right and centre. I mean, what are we supposed to beleive:




And the thing is, there isn't any snow falling at all this morning...

Welcome to winter.

Ok, it's not that cold, but we are getting snow on and off, and with alarming regularity. Yesterday it closed in, snowing heavily in town.

And, although the snow wasn't settling in resort, it's all over the trees a little higher this morning.

It seems like every other night the view from Chateaux du Sandy et Guy has been coloured in white all the way to Médières, and sometimes to the valley floor. Not complaining though, although Sandy's legs will need fake tan if we don't get some proper spring weather...

On a different note, S Dog went to the Pub's beach party last night, so we should get some disturbing pics from that (I choked and went home to hide).

And a certain website is forecasting snow, so instead of telling you now, I'm monitoring the fluctuations in their predictions, and on Friday we'll compare what's been suggested all week with the reality.

That's not because you'll be interested, it's because I'm a bit of an anorak.

More snow. Again.

That's right, just when we're dusting down our flip flops and bracing ourselves for Sandy unveiling his milk-bottle-like legs, it snows again.

I know there's been snow in the UK, and that we haven't got the monopoly on late wintery weather, but it's been crazy - we should all be sunbathing by now.

Naturally the weather boffins/buffoons are saying more's on the way, but these are the same people who said today would be a bit cloudy. Beautiful blue skies and sunshine this morning, so not a great record on prediction...

Still, it's another great view from Chateaux du Sandy et Guy this morning...

Victory

Yesterday saw the return of the Carlsberg High 5, so lots of people in free white helmets and green race bibs were hammering about about resort 'training' (many of whom might not quite have been of the standard that their swagger suggested).

That said, there were some great riders and skiers on display, including world cup legends in the pro catagory.

Now, we always have a few instructors who enter, and largely give a good account of themselves. However, this year, the Ackner family took it upon themselves to take it to the next level. OK, just Em, really.

And impressively young Emily came first in the women's snowboarding - an overwhelmed bystander, Mr Oli Pinnochio Dannat, said "She was amazing - way better than all the other girl riders and most of the blokes". High praise indeed, for someone who's world view largely consists of him at the top, and everyone else's achievements some distance beneath him...

And this is what Champion Ackner Jnr looked like:

Yellow Mike returns

Yes, Kato's stunt double is back in town and played a very appreciative T-Bar last night, where it was ABSOLUTELY RAMMED.

Naturally, it was an amazing night, and it looked a little something like this:

Just because it's April 1st doesn't mean I'm lying.

April Fools Day it may be, but that doesn't change the fact that it's snowed - as predicted by the weather boffins.

I can't make my mind up whether or not they just got the forecast right as some kind of hilarious prank, and by tomorrow they'll be getting it miles off again, but I can be certain that it snowed all yesterday, although, due to the mild temperatures, it didn't settle on anything other than the snow already on the ground.

It's not loads, but it's snow and it all counts...

It's also started settling on the trees over night at exactly resort height, making the view from the windows of 'Palais de Guy et Sandy' look rather pretty. Which is nice.


The other big news in resort is that the droopy muzzer is back. Calm yourselves.

The fund-raising in pictures...

Due to technical difficulties (read 'laziness and ineptitude') we've not been able to get the pictures from the ES Adaptive fund-raising up here, but now you can enjoy them in all their glory.

Thanks to Rob H-S for the pics...













Oh. and by the way - snow-forecast are predicting snow for tomorrow, so, on the evidence of past predictions (and not being too cynical) I for one will be putting on suncream...

Snow, sun, warm, cold: a bit of everything

Easter has turned out to be a bit of a changeable affair - one minute you're freezing in a white-out and regretting getting out of bed that day, the next you're baking, turning crimson and wishing you'd put on suncream.

And so it continues - the snow is brilliant, especially up high, and we had yet another fall last night so the snow that was melted on the trees has been replaced, making everything look laaaaarvely.

And when the clouds clear it's decidedly above average.

Apart from that, we're all still feeling pretty chuffed that the school raised 26,000 CHF for disabled skiing last week, and we've also all been sitting around in the t-bar debating whether or not snow-forecast.com are over-predicting snowfalls on purpose just to mess with our heads, or if they just get it wrong a lot.

It's winter again.

Yup, after a worrying trend towards flip-flops, sunshine and Sandy in shorts, the weather in Verbier has swung back towards winter, and it snowed solidly for over 24 hours, resulting in quite a lt of snow on the hill.

But even better than the snow, is the amount of money raised for disabled skiing equipment after our fund-raising week - people contributed a staggering 26,000 CHF. So thanks to everyone who got involved, helped out and donated, it was an unbeleivable success and we'll get some pictures of the various evenings up here asap.

Meanwhile, here's what loads of snow looks like...

For Clare: stuff that isn't just about the weather.

OK, maybe last season the blog was more about the shenanigans that the general populous of the resort were up to, and a brief word on how the weather was going.

Well, I like to think that - in a John Ketttly stylie - we've kept you well abreast of snow and stuff this season, but perhaps neglected the news about Kato's dance moves, and Gussy's team-building with some of the ladies in resort.

So, heres some less-weather-driven stuff:

The big news in resort is that so far the charity week to raise money for equipment disabled skiers is going brilliantly.

We had a fairly enormous night on Tuesday in Coco (who kindly donated all proceeds on the door to the cause), and we gave away loads of kit and prizes in the raffle.

Last night The Lodge broomball team robbed the mighty ES squad of a place in the final on penalties, and then went on to win. All the teams paid to play, and the money went into the big pot for Disability Snowsport UK.

And tonight it's the big auction at T-Bar (music from 5pm, auction at 6pm), with loads of brilliant lots up for grabs, plus we're auctioning off slaves.

So could even pay to spend time with Gussy. If you like that kind of thing.

We'll pop up some pics tomorrow, and for the weather junkies out there, check out this...


It rather looks like we're about to get dumped on.

It's snowing

Yup, we had snow last night (and some rain then snow in resort) and now we're getting pretty impressive flurries of snow in town, plus its been snowing on and off all day up the hill. Nice.

And they're promising more is on the way. That said, they do say things like that an awful lot and then change their minds.

Still, sitting outside The Pub and drinking Guinness in the snow isn't a bad thing.

Sunshine. Nice.

A great day up there today - sunny, blue skies, great snow (ok, it got a wee bit slushy in places once the sun got on it) and on the whole a rather pleasant way to pass the day.

And, according to the boffins, it should snow at the weekend...



So, once again, cross everything, and think snowy thoughts.

(PS get well soon Jase)

Mmmmmm, sunshine

Yup, the clouds gone, the rain's a distant memory, and the sun's going to be out all day.

Could be worse...

There's no such thing as bad weather - just the wrong clothes...

Billy Connolly is a wise man indeed, and would fit in here quite well today.

You see, the snow line yesterday was below resort, but it's drifted higher over night, so this morning it was only snowing at the top of the tree-line.

But when you think about it, most of the skiing in Verbier is above the tree-line. So not a brilliant view in resort through the spitting rain, but no real drama.

But get to Ruinettes and it's snowing pretty hard - La Chaux was getting a real pasting when we got up there.

And the level's dropping - I've just skied down and whilst there's drizzle in resort, it's snowing just above Chez Dany.

But the big news is that it's the ES Adaptive fund raising week next week, raising money to buy disabled ski equipment for charity. So more soon...

Snow (good). Rain (rubbish). More snow (great).

Yes, we've had a precipitation cornucopia today.

The overnight snow (about 6 inches in places on the piste) gave way to rain in the afternoon (and we don't mind rain, as long as it stops just above resort), then the nice people at snow-forecast.com told us - in fact, as good as promised - that we'd get snow at the weekend.

Well, maybe not in resort, but at mid-station.

So, don't hold your breath. But do cross your fingers.

I'm not promising anything

OK, I've questioned the snow forcasting community a few times, and perhaps been guilty of the odd libel regarding the accuracy of their predictions, but they are very confidently predicting snow right now, and I'm inclined to hope they're right this time...

What's a thermal inversion, then?

Er, it's one of these:



It's that thing when the cloud sits over the whole place then you get to the top of the lift and you can see all the other high up bits above the clouds. And we had one today. For a full explanation you need to ask a grown up (like Roy), but it looks nice though, doesn't it?

Mild.

Rubbish if it's cheese. Rubbish if it's in a ski resort.

But the good news is that snow-forecast say there is loads of snow on the way, although it could be yet another over-exaggeration of almost Oli D-esque proportions...

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Verbier/6day/bot

Snow + sunshine = genius

A simple formula but it works. You can even improve on it:

cold x (snow + sunshine) - wind = genius.

Which is what we got today.

And if you ever wondered if all those noisy, messy snow cannons worked, have a look at this (underneath the ice and snow it's the old disused chair lift from the Medran car park, and it got in the way of a snow cannon on overnight):

Snow. Honestly.

Well, Oli 'Pinocchio' D might not be wading to the boozer through his predicted two feet of snow, but we've had a few inches of snow over the last couple of days, and it's been cold.

And not just cold, but VERY COLD.

And windy, too.

So the fast-melting pistes have solidified (read 'turned a bit icey') and you can ski to resort on something other than soupy snow. Which is nice.

And the dirty rumour is that more could be on it's way (more cold, more snow and more wind).

But if you want me to put a figure on it, you'll be waiting a very long time. However, buy Oli a beer and he'll tell you whatever you want to hear.

DO NOT TRUST HIM...

Crikey. Snow.

Yup - it's not the "definite two feet" that certain members of resort staff swore blind would be here. But it's a start.

And the most important thing is that it's going to be loads colder. If you believe snow-forecast.com - and you'd be very sensible in deed if you were a little skeptical - we're in for temperatures down to minus 12 degrees C this afternoon (about minus 19 with the wind chill).

And you don't need to be Ian McCaskill to realise that those kind of temperatures stop the snow from melting away to nothing.