Residence Pierre & Vacances Le Tikal Val-Thorens

hello everyone!

so we got to London at 5PM on Saturday, jumped on a coach and went to France. We got there around 11.30AM on Sunday and just chilled out for the rest of the day, were a bit dead from the coach journey. there wasn't any snow when we got there.... got a bit drunk in the chalet in the evening but couldn't go out as nowhere was open!

Monday we got up and it had snowed overnight and it hasn't stopped since! started training, got uniform etc ...

... us in Feldkirch, and had a chat about the repair and things which had happened to them on the following day. It turned out they'd had a bit of a dashboard fire, but that's par for the course for Kieran, so nothing to be concerned about.

Now we had to pitch the pop up tent Kieran had lent us. That was easy, as you'd expect, but it was smaller than the one we'd had first, and so the clothes box didn't fit in ...

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 ...

... platforms and even the elevator shaft. Can you imagine how that kind of idea would be received in Canada. You want to put an elevator where?? So people can what??? Now maybe if there were a Tim Hortons on the top, who knows?
Anyway it was a great view and a wonderful way to end our time in the high alps. We spent two nights in the area then headed off on a few more scenic passes before spending the night in Briancon.
The passes we took ...

... drove over one of the passes to the beautiful Lake Cenis. There is an old village submerged in it, but you can see some evidence of it as the water is still low. You can also see the Italian Alps at this point. We saw lots of grazing animals, a few ski areas, and a very simple, mountain lifestyle to enjoy. We certainly would not have known about this place without Yasmine's help, so a big merci to her and her family for letting us check it out! A bientot, -Jamie et Stopher

... mieleen ja muutenkin ollaan paljon ajeltu tällä kaudella hengaileen Lödöön tai Brianconiin. Ylipäätänsä kaikki yhteinen aika laskemassa, leffojen parissa tai vaan arkipuuhastelussa on ollut todella onnellista. Kaikkien pitäisi kyllä joskus löytää sellasta aikaa, että saa tehdä yhdessä niitä juttuja, mitkä on niitä omia. Jotenkin tää on vaan niin ihanaa aikaa, kun kaikki kiire jää taakse. Aurinko paistaa, vuoret ympäröi, ihmiset on hyvällä tuulella, lähellä on ...

... pin bowling instead. Back to Philippe and Emilie's for a great meal and an evening spent playing Guitar Heroes on the PS3. Garth was brilliant on the drums and ever since has had no problems hearing the beat in any piece of music - think how much better we'd get on in our ballroom dancing lessons now! We had a brilliant time with Philippe & Emilie - thank you so much both for your unbounded generosity and hospitality. It was great to start our trip amongst friends.

After St Anton, Mike and I trained across Switzerland and into France around April 1st to get to Meribel, one of the resorts in the Three Valleys. Over there we met up with my London friends Shane, Stuey, Rhett and a few others.

It was the start of April, spring had definitely kicked in and the hard core skiing was over, we were just cruising around and making the most of the mountain huts ...

... water on each table. You found a seat in the crowded, crowded cafeteria and ate. It was really noisy, but I managed to tell Jess's friends about lunch in Australia. They were really interested. One of Jess' friends sang an English song that she knew, "there were 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed." and I sang the only French song that I knew; "Ca plain pour moi." After lunch was finished, you placed your tray on a conveyor belt that goes into ...

... jedi mind tricks while skiing in Whistler last weekend to secretly implant these ideas in my head, as it didn't take more than about 2 words to convince him. We now both have the anxious, excited butterflies in our stomachs that you get when you're a little kid on Christmas Eve, waiting for Santa to deliver the goods. This will help us both through the next 19 days until his arrival. I was very lucky to have been introduced to Les Terrasses/La Grave by Colin, who has been a part of ...