Residence Le Villaret LaGrange Classic Val d'Isère

... re staying in a nice posh chalet (one of the ones our company rents out) and just practicing the cooking etc. We're living with all the people who are going to be in working in our resort. There's only 6 of us - another couple and two single girls. also one resort manager.

Monday night Dave did the cooking and exploded one of the desert dishes under the grill so a good start - had to bin the whole lot but not my fault so all good! we seem to have done quite ...

... into the off roading site.
We followed Tom & the Sylkis along the track, doing a bit of Marmot spotting on the way. We couldn't help wondering how they catch them and then get them into those little black jars!!

Then we were confronted with a steep climb, which the photos don't do justice to. We took it one vehicle at a time, taking snapshots all the way. Once over the top, the Sylkis took the ...

We had packed up the Landy by about 8 a.m., and were ready to plan the route to Val d'Isere. With no roadbook to follow, the GPS was put into use, and a quick check against the maps verified that the best route was probably down towards Milan to join the motorway, and take motorways towards Aosta.

So, not much in the way of navigating to be done, except to check the road signs now and again, so the hunt for bingo photos was driven hard today ...

... Ferret ou un taxi nous attendait pour nous conduire au refuge de l'Arpette tout près du village de Champex. Comme vous pouvez le deviner, le diner s'est résumé a une bonne fondue composée de gruyère, de vacherin et de fromage a raclette, arrosé d'un petit Fendant du Valais de derrière les fagots.

Citation du jour:
La Suisse, ça n'est pas si formidable : ôtez les montagnes, qu'est-ce qui reste ?

J 4/ Auberge de la Nova - col de la Seigne - mont Fortin - col Chécroui

Mercredi 2 Septembre, au petit matin, nous passons le village des Glaciers, jusqu'au refuge des Mottets. Le temps a subitement changé avec un gros orage pendant la nuit, et durant toute la journée nous n'avons pas pu voir la chaine du Mont Blanc et les majestueuses Grandes Jorasses.

On commence par une montée de 700 m jusqu'au ...

... ce qui paraît un détail, vu tout ce que l'on vient de subir durant 9 heures de marche. Après le repas, nous apprenons que nous aurons un forfait pour le lendemain, 1 des 2 Bretons est épuisé, il rentre sur St Gervais en taxi.

Citation du jour:
Quand vous êtes harassés de fatigue, pensez toujours à l'exemple de la bouilloire. Elle a beau avoir le couvercle en ébullition, cela ne l'empêche pas de chanter.

J 2/ Chalets de Miage - Armancette – Nant-Borrant

Lundi 31 Aout, levée a 6 heures, petit déjeuner a 6h30, départ de l'étape a 7h30. D'entrée une belle montée de 250m de dénivelé jusqu'aux chalets du Truc, vite avalée en ½ heures, puis descente sur les Contamines-Montjoie, pour ensuite se refarcir une nouvelle montée de 1500m a 2000m jusqu'au refuge de Tré-la-Tête ou nous arrivons vers 12h30, soit ...

... season here, but can imagine some excellent biking and festivals. Sometimes the Tour de France even comes through! I am going to keep this posting short because we've spent most of our time exploring the mountains and I think you might enjoy some photos more than a bunch of chatter. I will let you know that we drove the length of the valley, along which are several small villages. The older houses are made with stone and you can see some of the interesting roofs here. We ...

... deck chairs out the front which were spread all over the mountain.

Meribel village was also hosting a mini jazz festival, each cafe's outdoor seating was packed, a few places had bands playing and everyone was kicking back in ski pants and t-shirts having a lazy afternoon beer - it's one of my favourite times of the season after doing the hard yards in January, Feburary and March.

... slopes) but I can't handle speed, if I have too much I panic and ass slide it, hahahaha! Were boarding in Val D'Isere and its such a nice town and our hotel is GRRREAT! And the best part is all the mountains are connected to I can board over to Tignes (I'm sure you've heard of it) and do the slopes there. I discovered it today, and its so much better because there is more powder on the slopes, its been icy ...