The three musketeers, ventured in two separate cars (Ralphs with Mark), and Mervyn making his own way . Bleary eyed we set off at 7.45 ish expecting to hit some rush hour traffic, amazingly it was quiet, especially zigzagging round Versoix and Ferney, to hit the motorway by the airport .
We were well behaved with our speed and saw no camera flashes apart from the occasional French lunatic flashing his lights to pass . Surprisingly we reached les Contamines at 9.20 well before our planned meeting time with Mervyn and another friend of Ralphs, Brian, who is also known through Ex DuPont colleagues .
Brass monkeys was an apt description when we arrived being a balmy -10.5 deg C at the car park by the lift. Yes you can guess fitting ones boots is bad enough at 5 deg c but -10 is indeed a challenge , however with a lot of heaving and grunting this task was completed leaving ample time to Mark and Ralph to partake Coffee and croissants. These were eagerly consumed .
Brian arrived just after 10 am and we headed off up to Signal , sharing catch up stories of what’s been happening recently , plus latest
Medical issues .
What a glorious day with clear blue sky and a crisp dry air , Mont Blanc showing all her might and glory. It had been dumping snow on the Friday and Saturday hence the snow conditions were excellent above 1700 metres , disappointingly below , it had been raining , hence with cold temps this had frozen , so edges had to be sharp to ski on this .
We were also pleased that it was not too windy , the day before in Geneva, there were serious gusts , fortunately not many lifts were closed , only ones where avalanches are a big risk .
From Signal we did a few blue runs to get all moving parts working , then headed up to Montjoie , skiing down Aig Croche , followed by Tierces and Coins a few times , aiming to stay in the sunnier slopes.
The snow conditions allowed for easy carving
Around 12 .15 we headed off for lunch at the farm at Rouelle,
Whilst I was taking off my skis (Ralph) I found myself on the ground trying to bend my ski pole straight , with my thigh . Falling over whist drunk I guess is acceptable but being stone cold sober was a first. Landing on a pole on ice is not that much fun , still have an enormous bruise as a reminder , however a great lunch dulled the pain .
Plat de jour (duck and spicy chips )washed down with beers. ( Not too sure that eating on the terrace was a great decision though )
Brian had to depart after 2.30 pm to pick up his wife from the station so the 3 -standing die hards , managed to do some interesting runs like the Olympic ,
Doing this without stopping suggests ones fitness is not too shabby .
Choucas , far right slope from top of the col du Joly , is usually a very enjoyable run , however today it was bobbly and icy .
We skied several runs on the col side avoiding north face slopes , then back over for another blast down the Olympic before returning back to signal .
It’s possible to ski all the way back to bottom of the lift in the village , however due to the icy slopes we skied to the top of the first bubble then stopped for some well- deserved refreshments. Taking the bubble down was a sensible decision , all arriving safely to our cars.
Great day out , and super company indeed a very enjoyable time.
