Eff One
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Val d'Isere 2009Finally got around to sticking up some pics from our trip to the Alps in late January/early February. After huge anticipation it was a tough trip in many ways. I finished my novel three days before we left and was absolutely exhausted - not the best state to begin a thirteen day stint of skiing. Not helped by the fact that I chose that moment to catch my first proper cold of the winter, which developed into a full scale sinus infection.
I spent the first week popping Ibruprofen like it was about to be made illegal - the last time I experienced pain like that was when I had surgery on my face. On top of that I sprained my wrist, which is still bandaged 4 weeks later, and rubbed an inch-wide patch of skin off my right shin.
Despite all that I was determined to enjoy myself and skied all thirteen days - and we were blessed with fantastic conditions especially during our first week. Our stay coincided with the final preparations for, and first week of, the World Skiing Championships, and Val d'Isere was buzzing throughout.
Pics:
Top of the world - La Grande Motte, 28 January. Highest point in the Espace Killy, and at 3456m, the highest I have ever been. Skiing just doesn't get any better than this:
Yours truly, still smiling despite having clattered wrist-first onto an unsighted ice patch a couple of hours before:
Looking across Val d'Isere from the top of the nursery slope, first thing in the morning:
The Eye of the Needle, a couple of valleys across from Val d'Isere:
Me with a bit of speed on, just below the Eye of the Needle (it's to my right):
View from the top of Lessieres, the infamous 'up and over' two-way chairlift on Solaise:
Face de Bellevarde, the Men's race course, taken from the bustops in the centre of Val. Never skied it - it was shut the whole time we were there - but it's shit-the-bed steep:
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Dr. Hfuhruhurr
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Great photos - I was in Tignes Le Lac in 1986, so I guess they've probably put up a few lifts and pistes since then. But I remember Grande Motte (in similar weather too, glad to say), and the up-and-over lift.
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kraftwerk
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Wow, great shots. Even better if they weren't sullied with all the toffs throwing themselves off a mountain.
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Eff One
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| kraftwerk wrote: | | Wow, great shots. Even better if they weren't sullied with all the toffs throwing themselves off a mountain. |
There's almost nobody in the pics! You calling me a toff?!
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Giant
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I went to Tignes over Christmas 2007, the run by the eye of the needle was our first every morning, easy enough to clear the hangovers! Fantastic resort and fantastic photos.
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PR
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What stunning scenery. However, I'll stick to doing the Alps by car, owing to the fact that I am a massive un-co when it comes to strapping alien means of transport to my feet.
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Eff One
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As an all-round experience the Three Valleys, and Meribel in particular, are closer to my heart - probably because I learned there.
But Val and the Espace Killy have a lot going for them - very pretty village, prices not as crazy as somewhere like Courchevel, astonishingly friendly for a posh French resort. I would certainly go again.
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scamper
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I think Val is my fav resort - i went in i think 2003. To my untrained eye, the runs seemed steeper and graded harder apparently, and the village has a good night life.
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