Les Arcs Diary - March Week 2

Saturday 11th March

We are up early as we have to collect Richard and Fiona at 8.00am to drop them at Bourg for their train home. It's still cloudy and clearly a lot of snow has come down overnight. There is snow all the way down to Bourg, and we lament missing the fresh snow on changever day when the mountain will be quiet. After dropping them off and getting some coffee and croissants at the Cafe De La Gare, we stop by the electronics shop to get the missing lead for my helmet camera. Then into Intersport to check out the board bags, having broken mine on the way over. I get one with wheels for a bargain 55 euros, and a pair of boots take my fancy. Mine should have been binned at the end of the 2004 season and have they have a pair of Northwave with ratchet laces on sale for 159 euros - I can't resist. We then head into Super U for a marathon shop before heading home. Not exactly what we'd planned and a whole morning of boarding lost.

Still time for Ben, Dave and I to get an afternoon of off piste boarding as the snow came down again. Lots of tree runs caught on video and we all had a go at the rock drop above the Blanche Muree. A full day was rounded off when Dave served up Chicken Maryland. Very nice it was too.

Sunday 12th March

Ben is leaving at lunchtime and doesn't want to board so Dave and I head out without him. It is still quiet on the mountain, clearly there are a lot less people around now the half term holidays have finally ended. It has dumped a metre of snow over the past week, the off piste is fresh and as it's a clear day we can see the best places to go. We haven't got time to stray out of Peisey-Vallandry but there's no need to. We head first to do the off piste between Liason and Coqs down to the 69 Lift, the top half being untracked powder and the the bottom half an exhilirating high speed dense tree run. Then it's behind the 69 lift down to Access Transarc, well chopped up but still fun. Back at lunchtime so Dave can drive Ben to Bourg, while I eat lunch and read the Sunday Times. More tree runs with Dave when he returns make for a pretty good, relaxed day's riding. We stop by the Mont Blanc to catch the second half of the France v England Six Nations game - always one of the social highlights of the season and probably the reason there only seemed to be us and Dutch people on the mountain. The bar is full, with the French out in force and loving every minute of it, as do I being Welsh! We stick around to watch Arsenal v Liverpool before heading home. We order a take-away pizza from the Refuge and pop in to Jimmy's while we wait. Djerk, one of the barman, finally gets to see his rock drop I filmed last week and we get a free beer in return.

Monday 13th March

Despite another blue sky day neither of us are exactly keen to get out on the slopes, a lie in is the order of the day and we only manage one run before stopping for lunch at the Poudrouse by the top of the 74 lift. I leave Dave to practice backside 180s on the kicker we built last week, while I head down to the Mont Blanc to meet Rhianna. She wants me to show her some tree runs so we take in a selection of the usual routes off 69. She loves them and copes pretty well, so I decide to take her down the Col du Grand Renard off piste route. It's my first hike of the season, and her first ever. Nobody else has been up there so it takes ten minutes to hike up from the top of the Grand Renard lift, but it's well worth it. It leads to a big open face with a nice gradient, down which you can get six or seven sweeping turns and a 40-50 second run, over the piste at the bottom and carry on off piste all the way back to the lift. It's always a good run, and despite finding a few hidden rocks Rhianna loves it. We meet up with Dave and he films me doing the rock drop above the Blacnhe Muree. I take a more aggresive line but fail to land it. I'll get it on camera one day. Time for a quick celebratory beer at the Blanche before heading home

Tuesday 14th March

Today we are mostly boarding off piste. I take Dave up to the Col du Grand Renard and we take it in turns to film each other coming down. I finally get the helmet camera to work and get some decent footage following him down. Dave tries to film my second run down from below. It's my best run down but he forgets to remove the lens cap! I hike up again and he gets it this time.

Tuesday nights have long been party night in Vallandry, as the majority of season workers used to have Wednesday off. Karaoke at the Mont Blanc followed by live music at the Marlu was an institution, and a great opportunity to meet up with seasonnaies and loacals. Sadly, karaoke was retired during last season and the Marlu was taken over by Jimmy's Bar during the summer. Herve is now putting on bands at the Shiva which is up on the piste at Plan Peisey. Dave and I head up there after a couple in Jimmy's. It's packed out with the local French and Tracker, Charlie and Dazza from the Blanc are grooving away to Machine of Soul, an excellent covers band bizarrely augmented by some guy scratching on a deck. A top night out.

Wednesday 15th March

We decide to take the day off and allow our bodies to recuperate from the aches and strains we've picked up. Dave finishes his novel while I clean the apartment and make lunch. We drop off our washing at the laundry in the evening, and after enjoying Dave's shepherd's pie settle down to watch a DVD - Kevin Smith's excellent "Mallrats".

Thursday 16th March

Late getting up (again) Dave and I pack a lunch and head off to Arcs 2000, to do the run from the Agille Rouge to Villaroger. It's a clear sunny day, warm at 6 degrees and we hope for some fun in the slush on the way down. We are dissapointed though, as it's not warm enough for that and the runs proves hard and icy. A challenging place for some switch riding for me but not too much fun. Still, it's nice to get a change of view and a refreshing beer in the sun at Villaroger is some compensation. Dave gets a whack on the leg getting on a lift and is still limping in the evening. I leave him at home and walk down to Peisey for a few beers with Rhianna in Trois Stations. It's nice to get out of the resort, even if a 4km walk back up the mountain at 2am is hard work.

Friday 17th March

Not surpsisingly I sleep in after my early morning return from Peisey, but wake to find that the spring conditions I have been waiting for have well and truly arrived. It is showing 11 degrees on our thermometer and it is a beautiful sunny day. Dave has been busy finishing the job of cleaning the apartment before Debbie's arival, as he is driving to Genevea this afternoon to pick her up. Before he sets off I borrow the hoon-ometer so I can see what top speed I can rack up. It's only after he's left that I realise "The Beast" is in the ski store and he has taken the only key. Fortunately I have my old board "The Jibber" to play with, but I won't be setting any speed records on that, it's as stable as Iraq on a bumpy piste and the edges are shot. But it is so flexible it is a joy to play about on. I spend the afternoon in 1800 and Peisey Vallandry, where loads of hits and lips have appeared, pulling off big ollies, 180s, buttons and spins.