Yup, the unfounded amateur prediction of snow that emanated from Oli D after a few shandies the other night appear to be more than just wishfull thinking...
Here's a bit of evidence:
So cross your fingers - and anything else that you can cross - and think cold thouhghts...
That's right, the sun-then-cloud-and-snow cycle which has been with us all winter (and we're not complaining) has been broken. Cloud finally moved in, and although it's still slushy, there appears to be snow on the horizon.
Well, metaphorically.
The evidence is in the filthy weather that's hanging about in the Atlantic and about to make life in the UK very soggy.
The evidence has also come from an additional source thought to be slightly less reliable - Oli D. John Kettley he isn't, but he swears blind that two feet of fresh snow is going to descend next week.
I'm skeptical, but if it's right he gets a pint...
Yes, after toying with us for days, clouds have appeared. Crazy.
They're even promising snow - but don't hold you breath...
Every time we get a weather report, it basically says that there's going to be cloud moving in tomorrow, and maybe some snow the day after. But as soon as tomorrow comes, it's blue skies. Again.
Now, as you may be aware, I've said before that weathermen and women have a very tricky job, and it's ok that they sometimes make mistakes - just like the rest of us.
But, for the third day in a row, I'm pretty sure that this isn't cloud-turning-to-snow-tomorrow...
That's right - it may have been pretty sunny today, but there's growing evidence (ie the MET office say so) that the weather is set to change.
Now, to be totally honest, it's already changed a bit - the sun's been consistent, but the air temperature has risen in the last few days.
The MET office didn't tell us that one - we worked it out because you could sit outside the Fer a Cheval and finish your beer after the sun had gone down tonight and for the last few days, whereas it was way to cold at the start of last week (the beer got finished indoors).
The warmer air in combination with the sun is also why George (below) was wading through slush at the end of the day to get out of Fontaneyes.
But the weather is about to change again, and it's bringing snow.
Which is nice.
Hopefully I'll blog again later and stick some stuff up about the ES Cabin Tortin trip, but sadly some of us couldn't make the last lift up, so had to make do with the Pub Mont Fort. Which still does the trick.
Meanwhile, it's sunny as ever.
There were rumours of snow arriving last night (and reports from the cabin suggested there was a dusting up high) but this morning the familiar sunshine was back, and it's feeling a bit like spring.
Splendid.
Although, thankfully, a little too nippy out of the sun for Sandy to start revealing the anemic legs just yet.
But brace yourselves, it won't be long.
Yup - the enormous ridge of high pressure that's been sitting on us like a big, fat, high-pressure hot thing is still here.
There's a filthy rumour that it might pretend to snow on Wednesday, but I'm remaining cynical.
And I'm sure that there are loads of absolutely scintillating peices of gossip floating around resort, but sadly I've been getting as much sleep as possible in the sleep-bank, which has seriously inhibited my rumour-mungering.
Still, I promise to spend more time hanging about the Fer à Cheval eavesdropping and less time repairing my fragile constitution with gallons of sleep.
In the meantime, here's a picture of Max and Jack at the top of Plan du Fou. Bless.
Yes, it's been half term carnage in Verbier - and everywhere else actually. Which means the blog's been a bit light on news.
Although, it's not been that busy, really. Televerbier are excitedly bandying around figures in the hundreds of thousands relating to how many people went through the area over last weekend, but the queues haven't been too bad.
OK, we've had a few hotspots first thing in the morning, and the run into resort is still the lottery it's always been, but a pretty chilled week in spite of the huge numbers floating about.
I'm starting to wonder where they actually go - perhaps there's a wormhole somewhere on Greppon Blanc that billions of people disappear into each day.
Whatever the reason, queuing has been minimal. Which is nice.
And speaking of nice, the weather's been phenomenal. Deceptively cold air temperature, but then boiling in the sun. Laaarvely. Have a picture. In fact, have two:
And next week looks set to be calmer still - although, due to the staggered holidays across Europe, there should be quite a few people about over the next fortnight.
So right now we're getting the wagons in a circle and bracing ourselves for the Parrisians... Still, on the evidence so far, we've got nothing to worry about. Apart, perhaps, from some poor queuing etiquette.
Well, it's been a busy week - we've had the gap-year trainee instructors all finishing their exams, whilst loads of existing instructors have been bettering themselves doing the "ISIA Technical Exam" (particular congratulations got to Dr Chris and Tom - but that might just be because Tom's sitting next to me whilst I'm typing...).
On top of all that ES Falcon Karsten made it to the top of Mont Fort (and breezed the trip back down) aged eight.
So we've had a million things to celebrate, so T-bar was rammed last night with revelers and hangers-on, jumping up and down and generally being daft.
And - as if that wasn't enough - it's been amazing sunshine all day, with plenty of people floating about the Furry Shovel [sic] saying it's been one of the best days of the season.
And there's more sun to come. Wallop.
Karsten at altitude:
Mardis Gras 2008. A good year, I think you'll agree...
As suspected, last night's Mardis Gras festivities were utter, brilliant carnage.
There are loads of photos that I'm going to be getting my mits on soon, but for now you'll have to get an idea of how daft it was just from the picture below of Sandy (the lanky-grade-one-tech-passing-falling-over-machine) dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
More evidence to follow.
PS it snowed last night (but it turned into a little pesky rain in town by the time everybody surfaced with their post-festivities hangovers this morning), and blue skies forecast for the rest of the week.
Laaarverly.
Sunshine is great - especially when said in Sandy's best comedy Manchester accent. Or maybe by Noel Gallagher.
Suffice to say, we've got loads of it again today, so everyone's raced up the hill to enjoy it - if they're not busy teaching, or hammering down Savoleyres doing race training with Alex. Or if they're not me - sitting in my flat going through the es website and writing a list of amends and adjustments.
It's glamorous stuff...
Rumour is that more snow is coming middle of the week - the remnants of the filthy weather everyone seems to have had back in Blighty. It's also set to get a bit cheeky on the wind front over the next few days - you can see the wind starting to whip up the fresh snow up high in the picture below...
Plus it's Mardi Gras on Tuesday. Which will be pure carnage, so - if I'm in any kind of fit state to type - we'll be sticking up the evidence in pictures on Wednesday over an Alka-Seltzer.
As Ski Instructors we spend an awful lot of time training for exams, and then taking them.
And when we're not doing either of those, we're worrying about them...
So it's brilliant news that Sandy - my flat mate and Top Northern ES Instructor - got back from Val D'Isere yesterday having passed his Grade One Technical exam, which is the very highest technical exam there is in the British system, and on a par with any exam that any country in the world has.
Impressive stuff.
So perhaps we can excuse the fact that he was feeding shots to complete strangers in The Pub last night (as well as Olly, above, who's not a complete stranger, and also passed the One Tech - nice one mate).
Well he hasn't got any lessons today, so maybe leaving Coco at 4 am isn't so bad. Especially as he was aided and abetted by the boss...
PS it's snowing and there are rumours of a big, filthy, dirty storm next week. Bring it on...
