I have returned from foreign shores mountains. La Plagne was good, not excellent mind, because the resort has some of the worst pisting that I have ever known! There should not be icy mogles on a blue run in resort at 10am. Les Arcs (a quick ski away and across the Vanoise Express) had worse snow but bloody excellent pistes, so La Plagne really do have no excuse. Had loads of snow whilst there, arrived in a snow storm (that closed most roads and meant we didn’t arrive ’til 1.30am on Sunday, which is a story in itself!) and it generally snowed most days – had over a meter whilst I was there. Sadly this meant that the bobsleigh was snowed off so I didn’t get to do it.
The chalet was pretty nice (Chalet Cloe II) though a little out of town and could have been kept a touch better – the food was good though! Didn’t sleep well, beds were not to my liking (ooh, get me!) and having your nice 8inches from the rafters is disconcerting. But after a day on the mountain I did sleep, just not well. Had a good crowd in the Chalet, 4 guys from Edinburgh, 4 from South Wales and 2 from Essex. A nice bunch, which lead to a few good evening sat around drinking, talking and recounting tails of neck deep powder spills. All good!
I learnt that Burton snowboards are not for me. Don’t get me wrong, the Bullet I had was a nice board, glides well, turns nicely and isn’t bad in the chatter, but… its not /quite/ wide enough for me so I get toe and heel overhang leading to clipping on ice/mogles. Also, the silly 3 bolt binding attachment system Burton (and no one else!) uses means I couldn’t move the bindings to where I would have liked. I am pondering buying my own board, even though renting is okay and if you book ahead you can get a nice board… its just that I would have things just right with my own board… but 400quid for board and bindings… Hmmmm.
There are many pics over at http://www.bullit.net/al/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=9533. I’ll add titles and comments one day 😉 Much of pretty snow though! Right, need a beer….
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