Weirdest Dessert ever! Sun 31 January

Dad’s first day skiing. I think a lot of people must be visiting for the weekend as the waiting time for the gondola was 25 minutes. We decide to take the nearby chairlift instead. It is bitterly cold but at least the sun is shining and the snow conditions are delightful.

We do a few runs before I venture slightly off piste to find some fresh untracked powder. Dad follows but rather than follow my route down he moves further across the hill and skis down a hill that no one has touched. The reason that no one has skied it before is that it ends in a massive uphill snow drift. Dad disappears for some time and I am calling him but he doesn’t answer. I call to two skiers who can see him and ask if he is OK, they explain in French that he is OK but he has fallen.

I then walk back up the hill and round the corner to see Dad digging himself out of the snowdrift. He has taken his skis off and is now exhausted. Dad announces he needs lunch. He then announces that he’s forgotten his wallet. We eat at a very expensive mountain restaurant where the only thing I can afford for us both is hot dogs!

After lunch we do a few runs to get us back to central Avoriaz to meet Abby before her first ever snowboard lesson. Abby is very excited and super enthusiastic.

Dad and I head home after two more runs as he is very tired and I’ve pulled a muscle in my back.

Abby arrives home after her first lesson and is buzzing. She LOVES snowboarding. She didn’t like button lifts but she perservered. Her excitement is infectious and makes me want to try again.

I make more power bars for taking skiing with us when I get in and then we all go out for dinner.

Abby, Dad and I go to La Chamade for dinner as I reckon Dad will really like the beef dish. We both order Beet Fillet with a Cep Cappucino and Spinach salad, Abby has Moules.

Although we are full we all order dessert too. My dessert ranks top of the list in the strangest sweet concoction I’ve ever had on a plate. I order Iles Flottante which essentially is soft meringue islands floating on a crème anglaise sauce. However this comes with a selection of other accompaniments. I was expecting ice-cream and requested lemon sorbet. However alongside this was:
- candied fennel
- lentils
- candied red cabbage
- curried rice pudding
- a shot of cucumber and spearmint juice
The merinque and sorbet was lovely but the other extras were all a bit too weird, even for me! A photo of the dessert is above.

Dad and Abby arrive - Sat 30 January

I stay at home this morning and catch up on some missed sleep from last night. Dad is a little late arriving and the leaving gang arrive back from a morning playing in the fresh powder. They leave just after lunch as my Dad arrives. We kit him out with skis and then walk into Morzine to get his ski pass.

I take Dad to the wine bar for a glass of vino and to share the tapas platter. The service is not as good as last time and the platter has damp tortilla chips on it which should just not appear on a platter like this.

Dinner tonight is homemade pork chorizo sausagement meatballs tossed with spaghetti carbonara. It gets good reviews from the table but I think the meatballs are too salty and I will tone down the salt next time I make them. I do a vegetarian pepper sauce for Abby who arrives about 9pm.

Snowboard Sledging - Fri 29 January

The Welsh boys want to party tonight as its their last night and they have a 6am transfer tomorrow morning. We all head to Bar Robinsons for apres ski drinks and down a lot of Mützigs before doddering home via the supermarket. It is snowing heavily and the road home is covered in snow. Gareth and I don’t see a road but a ready made luge. We use his snowboard to sledge back down the road and have a real giggle.

Kate has made us a delicious leek and blue cheese tart for dinner with new potatoes and salad. This is followed by lemon sorbet or chocolate ice-cream. We then receive an invite to go round to Sam and Seb’s for a second dessert of profiteroles! This is coupled with more drinks and we roll home quite late.

Rest Day - Thur 28 January

I’m still in a lot of pain and decide that a day of rest is called for. Adam and I head into Morzine and hang out in a café all day. I use the time to apply for volunteering opportunities for April onwards. I had intended to update this blog as well however I don’t get around to it.

Dinner tonight is made by Soph and is a cheese fondue for 10 people – which is quite a feat. Sam, Seb and Saz come over to join us.

Back to skis for my birthday - Wed 27 January

My chest is still really sore and I decide that a day on skis will be easier than boarding as I can’t face falling over again. Unfortunately the fear of falling means my skiing is less than brilliant and by mid afternoon I’ve had another fall (on artificial snow that is like ball bearings on ice) and am in a lot of pain again. I head back early for a long soak in the bath.

Adam has booked a restaurant for us all to go to for my birthday. Our first choice didn’t have any room til 9.30pm so we head to another place that has been recommended. The food is tasty and the service friendly. Adam gives me a classic Morzine memento as a birthday present (photo to follow as I lost my camera earlier – just found it).

Six of us head to Les Rhodos for drinks after dinner to see if we can ‘beat the barman’ which happens every Wednesday. If you can roll two dice higher than the barman your round is free. I wait a very long time to be served and Soph exclaims that I’m not ‘young enough or pretty enough to be served’. I’m surrounded by pretty young boys and what she meant was that the girls behind the bar were favouring the boys, but it came out all wrong! We just miss out on a free round too.

Gareth does a great Elvis impersonation with my black hat worn as a wig. I’ll upload the video if Sam sends it to me.

Third Snowboarding lesson - Tue 26 January

We book another snowboarding lesson as Julien says that three is the magic number. We don’t get up to the mountain in time to do many practice runs which is a shame and on my first run, I fall onto my coccyx. Not only is it very painful, it make me very wary of falling again, it hurts when I’m doing up my bindings and means I am riding rather stiffly afterwards.

In our lesson we start to learn a new way of turning - first on the back side and then front side. I fall while on my front side as I catch an edge and fall flat onto my chest. The fall really winds me and I sit in silence for about 5 minutes. Julien helps me up and I think I am ok, although shocked, but as I do my next couple of turns I get a piercing pain in my chest. I sit down and feel awful – I’m worried I may have broken a rib. Julien helps me down the next slope and I decide to head back down in the gondola, cutting short my lesson.

Soph and I go to see the doctor (Soph as chief translator) however we discover that the doctor’s waiting room has no system and an absentee receptionist who only ever appears to answer the phone and then disappears again. After a long time standing waiting I decide that my agony is not overwhelming and we head home. Even it if was a broken rib the doctors can’t do anything anyway.

Soph swaps her board for skis as she’s had enough pain for one holiday and as she can already ski she decides its time to have fun. We spend the afternoon watching films and drinking red wine.

We all head to Sam and Seb’s apartment for dinner as they are only staying four chalets up the road from us. They cook enough chilli to feed nine hungry people with enough for seconds! And then we all play Cranium which is not the best board game ever invented.

Second Snowboarding lesson Monday 25 January

I wake up about 6am and every muscle in my body seems to be aching. Was I in a fight yesterday? Oh no, I was snowboarding!

We plan to get up to the slopes for 10am however Kate decides to put the beef stew into a low oven in the morning so that it is tasty and tender by dinnertime. We get up to the slopes by about 11am instead for a few practice runs. Soph has to change her boots and Sam is nowhere to be seen this morning, so Kate and I practice together. By lesson time I’m starting to get a feel for this and it is starting to feel more natural.

According to Julien I’m on my back foot too much and need to put my weight forward more on my front foot. To help me he holds my hands and rides down with me to help me get my weighting right. I like riding this way! Before long I am linking my turns and I’m starting to feel like I might actually be able to do this. However I then pick up too much speed and go flying towards the netting at the side of the piste and go through it, taking the pole with me. I have to take my board off to get back onto the piste.

Julien also teaches us how to get off a chair lift. That’s fun! A few crashes later we start to get the hang of it. He also teaches us Ollies and Grabs. Not sure why we are doing tricks already but hey-ho (the boys back home are jealous).

Gareth is reading over my shoulder and objects to the phrase hey-ho. He’d rather I peppered my blog with obscenities. Well he can get his own fucking blog for that.

Our beef stew tonight is very rich and tasty and Kate adds mustard to the dumplings which is a great addition. She has made a pot the size of a cauldron but we still manage to finish it all.

Sorry for the lack of snowboarding photos - I'm too scared to take my camera with me yet!

First Snowboarding lesson ever! Sunday 24 January

The big day finally arrives when I decide to try snowboarding. I’ve hired boots and borrowed Kate’s snowboard (thanks Kate!). We have a lesson booked for four of us (me, Soph, Kate and Sam) at 12.30pm and we are too scared to try it beforehand so we sit in a restaurant at the top of the gondola and eat crepes instead.

Our instructor Julien is very patient with us and takes time to get us warmed up and understanding our board, bindings and the names for all the different bits. We then practice moving on the board with only one foot strapped in and our other foot resting on the board. I am goofy by the way! That means I have my right foot forward.

We then learn an exercise called Falling Leaves which involves traversing across the slope facing one direction and then changing direction by looking the opposite way and changing your weight - like a pendulum.

After our lesson we practice for a couple of hours, trying to avoid all the beginner skiers and children on the nursery slope. I am taken down by a mother and her 4 year old son and we all lie on the snow laughing.

I look at other boarders practicing their turns and I wonder if I’ll ever get the knack of this. I can’t even seem to get up when I’m facing downhill. I feel very unfit and I don’t think I’ve ever fallen over so much in my life!

We stop at Bar Robinson on the way home for a few well deserved Mützigs however I have to have a week lie down when I get in as a result.

Dinner tonight is Fish Pie mark two. On the plus side, it has scallops in it! On the negative side it is a lot runnier than our first fish pie. It is still delicious though and we manage to eat two dishes of it.

Changeover Day and 9 for dinner Sat 23 January

Hangover and changeover day starts very slowly. Everyone feels rather worse for wear today plus we have to clean the chalet for the new arrivals. We have a morning of packing and cleaning and then head up to the slopes about 12pm. We have a few runs as a group and then a few of us go off to do the favourite tree run in Linderets again. We’ve arranged to meet at 1.30pm for lunch at a new burger bar but we have to stop a bit early as we are all starting to feel worse from the night before.

Best burger yet at this new burger bar. Very meaty burger, pink in the middle, toasted bun. We lunch for over an hour and then Tara and I explore the igloo behind the restaurant – Le Grotti du Yeti – see the photo above (more igloo photos on Facebook).

We are too full and hungover to ski much after lunch and we only do a few runs before heading back. The gang leave about 6pm and meet the new London gang (Soph, Carl and Kate) who arrive just before they leave. Other new chalet guest is Phil who arrived on Friday, a friend of Gareth’s from Wales.

Adam does a big shop and I make parsnip and pancetta tagliatelle for dinner as it is easy and there are a lot of mouths to feed as Sam and Seb who are staying three doors have just arrived and so join us for dinner. Nine around the dinner table!

The Grand Off-Piste Tour Friday 22 January

Tara has been doing afternoon off-piste lessons and today her class is joining with the morning class to do a full day’s tour of the area, mostly off-piste. She invites me to go along and so I book a class so I can join the tour. We meet at 9.15am and then we are off the day. Her instructor, Bruno, is great and spots where I need instruction. Our first off-piste run is down a wide couloir on the back side of the Mossette chair. Although very steep the snow is wonderfully soft and powdery. I am in the first half of the class to reach the bottom and as I look up at the tracks we’ve made and feel an amazing sense of achievement. My legs are burning though!

Bruno takes us over to Morgins and Chatel via various off-piste runs, one of which we do twice because the snow is so good. We then stop at a restaurant high in the mountains for a long, French style lunch break.

There is a noticeable difference in the quality of the lifts in Switzerland vs France. The French update their lifts regularly and they are comfortable and quick, whereas on the Swiss side the lifts are rickety, slow, stop a lot and seem ancient in comparison.

On the way back after lunch I do have quite a tumble down a chute and a Danish skier in the group helps get my ski off as my legs are practically tied in a knot. We come back from Chatel via an off-piste route called Le Renard which is great fun and one which I think the boarders would love.

We join the class for après ski drinks in Avoriaz where vin chaud is served in a giant mug. However we time our departure wrong and end up waiting a long time for a gondola and then find we’ve missed the 6.15 bus which means a very long wait for the next one.

Tara and I had planned to go out tonight and hit Morzine so we start drinking vodka Red Bulls when we get in to get us in the mood. However dinner (pasta with tomato and chorizo sauce made by Chris) is served so late that we end up rather too merry to go out and dance around the chalet instead.

Fresh Powder! Thursday 21 January

We all wake up super early. I think the boys were up at 6am! And we are on the ski lift by 9.10am for first tracks down the new snow.

Simply brilliant day!! Tara challenged me again to push my boundaries and I’m flying down steep powder bowls. Adam then finds us exhilarating tree runs that we want to do again and again. Gareth is completely blissed out after them with a goofy smile on his face, and we are all buzzing.

We then spend the afternoon shooting down off-piste powder bowls, through gullies and more tree runs. I really feel like my skiing is improving massively and I have my longest day yet on the slopes from 9am to 5pm.

We head into Morzine for dinner out and half the gang go for quick fish and chips as they are about to faint from hunger. Tara, Dan, Penny, Chris and I look for something with a little more atmosphere and we find a lovely French restaurant called La Chamande where we have a delicious meal. I order Macaroni with Morel mushrooms and it comes with a whole platter of little extra amuse bouches which pleases me immensely. It is a taste sensation.

Black Bowl Challenges - Wednesday 20 January

Tara pushes me to the extreme with two black runs in the early morning where I ski two steep bowls, one steep with nice snow and the other steep with moguls. Although challenging I feel a real sense of achievement at the bottom.

The weather report warns of a ‘violent disturbance’ in the afternoon and sure enough, after lunch, the winds whip up and then it starts snowing heavily. Blizzard city.

I finish skiing early today, as the visibility drops, so I can be fresh for the new snow tomorrow.

Adam makes chicken and mushroom tagliatelle for dinner. We don’t seem to manage to eat until 10pm most nights though which is not good for the digestion.

Knocked-Out. Tuesday 19 January

I wake this morning feeling a lot better and refreshed. The stomach pains have subsided thank goodness. We all head up the mountain together for a few runs together and then me, Tara and Gareth plan to head to the off-piste bowl I went to on my lesson on 15 Jan. Tara and I lose Gareth though on the way and our walky-talky dies so we can’t reach him.

Tara and I go to the bowl on our own. It is a little crusty but we manage it. On our way back we get a message that Chris has been knocked out and an ambulance is due to take him down the mountain. We need to head back to give him keys to the chalet and Gareth needs to stay with him to make sure he doesn’t fall asleep yet. The boys knew something was wrong with Chris after his wipe-out as they asked him ‘what year is it?’ and ‘who is the President of America?’ and Chris didn’t know either answer! Luckily Chris is fine now but it was a worry for us all.

Tara makes a mean chilli con carne tonight aided by the addition of smoked hot paprika and dark chocolate. Yum!

Sick. Monday 18 January

I have stomach pains and the runs. Not a day to hit the slopes. So I stay at home, near the toilet. It is a glorious day with blue skies and sunshine and I feel pretty miserable. I read, sleep and watch bad real life movies.

Not a great day.

SnowDay 17 January

Ok, so we actually wake to rain in Morzine which makes us sad, but luckily as we head higher up the mountain the rain turns to snow. Wet snow, but still snow. I also feel a lot better than yesterday.

Tara is away, flying down the slopes, on her first run, whereas everyone else takes a couple of runs to find their ski and ride legs.

After a few easy runs I suggest we head to the tree run that Terri took me on Wednesday as I remember it being quite easy and a lot of fun. Well it was easy, following Terri. Our run down is slightly more shambolic. I find the same route but forget that there is a 2 meter vertical drop ahead and as I am first I go shooting over it. I galipette through the air and land head first in the snow. As I turn midair I do wonder if my skiing holiday is about to come to an abrupt end; luckily my helmet protects me and I am fine, if a little shaky. We stay together skiing until lunch when we meet Dan who has had a lesson this morning. Lunch is at Changabangs again and then I only manage a couple of runs before heading back to the chalet to greet Gareth who is flying in from Cardiff.

Skiing Breakfasts

Porridge

Most days breakfast consists of porridge, as it is a filling start with slow energy release, perfect prior to a day of skiing.

Porridge is super easy to make and very cheap. It is however hard to get oats in France therefore Adam brought bulk bags of oats with him. It is also an easy breakfast to make for a lot of people at once and late risers can simply reheat it in the microwave.

Use ½ a cup of oats per person. Add same amount of water and then an extra ½ cup. Heat slowly, stirring every now and then. Ready in about 5 min.

Favourite combinations with porridge are:

• Honey and milk
• Raisins, honey and milk
• Banana, honey and milk
• Demorara sugar, raisins and milk

Carina suggested adding broken up bits of chocolate to porridge. I tried it one morning but unfortunately the chocolate was a dark, bitter version and I had to had a lot of honey to correct the bitterness. I will try it again with a milk chocolate as I like the idea.

Other favourite breakfasts while here include:

Petit Swisse with Sugar
I can only find Petit Swisse in France therefore it is a special treat that I have when I am here. It is also good as a simple dessert. Not healthy at all though.

Scrambled Eggs, Kate’s way
Served on toast or with mushrooms, tomatoes, smoked salmon etc.

Beat 2 – 3 eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Melt good knob of butter in a saucepan over a med to low heat. Add the beaten eggs stirring. Keep stirring while the eggs cook gently. When cooked to the consistency you like remove from the heat. If you add a little more butter now then the eggs will stop cooking and remain at this consistency.

The new gang arrive Sat 16 Jan

Yesterday I had a tickle of a cough and I wake this morning to a very sore throat and nasty chesty cough. I snooze the alarm for an hour and a half realizing that I probably need to take the morning off.

The new arrivals (Tara, Dan for his 2nd week, Chris, Penny and Chris) are due around lunchtime with Gareth arriving tomorrow and so I decide to reserve my energy until they arrive as they’ll want to go up the mountain. However we get word at breakfast that their flight is delayed so they likely wont be here in time to ski today. Although disappointing for them it means that I can have a day of rest and try and rid myself of this nasty cough.

The coming week has the most skiers of all our weeks with four skiers and four boarders, although Tara can switch between if she chooses to. A lot of fun awaits us – I just need to feel better.

We polish off six bottles of red wine over a dinner of spaghetti Bolognese.

Powder Playground and Tapas Smorgasboard Fri 15 Jan

It is my final ski lesson today. I head up the mountain in the morning to practice and have a really good morning focusing on my turns in imperfect snow.

While eating my lunch up the mountain I see the ambulance helicopter land and transfer a person on a stretcher to a waiting snowmobile. I can’t work out why the helicopter doesn’t take the injured person straight to the hospital unless it has another rescue mission to perform. It is a powerful reminder that skiing is a very dangerous sport.

I meet Terri in the afternoon and discover that only two of us will be skiing with him today (Ivan and I) as Julian wants to ski with his mother on his last day and Vaughan is skiing with his girlfriend. The photo shows Terri, Ivan and Julian.

We set off in the direction of the notorious ‘Wall’, also known as Chavanette. The Wall is a very steep mogul run where two to three people die a year according to Terri. I am therefore very pleased when we traverse across the top of it and head over the ridge to the right of the Wall. Here we find another powder bowl with very few tracks. Perfect powder practice playground. Unfortunately because the weather has been warm a crust has formed on the snow turning it into ‘la croute’ which is not perfect for practicing. By heading to the shade though we still find some powder and my turns improve immensely.

Definitely an area to come back to after a fresh fall of snow and 15cm is forecast for Sunday (fingers crossed). The run back to a lift is easier than the Thursday route too (although it leads to the red run that Kate and Dan hated).


I bump into Adam as I ski down to the bus stop and he suggests we go into town for a drink. We change our shoes and head down there, after a few shops and errands during which Adam munches a tartiflette flan, we head to the wine bar to enjoy a glass of wine. I spot an amazingly imaginative gourmand tapas selection on a nearby table and we order one to share. A photo of the plate of food is above. At 12€ it was very good value and extremely tasty. I’ll be back for this dish again!

Thur 14 Jan evening

We’d planned to make a special dinner tonight but by the time we leave the bar it is quite late. We reach the supermarket two minutes before closing and have to whip round it whilst being chased by the manager who wants us to leave. We’ve never done a shop that quickly.

The deluxe dinner will have to wait until Friday night and instead we have pea and pancetta spaghetti, which is super quick to make.

Week 2 - Tues to Thurs

Tue 12 Jan – evening

Adam and I stay rather too long in Les Rhodos and so it is late when I start to make our pizzas. I discover, to our amusement, that the pizza base mix has a use-by date in the year 2000. Only ten years out of date! I have a go regardless. Sadly the base doesn’t rise at all and we eat pizza biscuits at 9.45pm. Suffice to say, I have not pleasantly surprised Adam at all although he kindly says that they are ok.

Photo of me in my new jacket.


Wed 13 Jan

It is snowing really heavily this morning!!


I take it easy in the morning at home, using the time to do some Pilates and worry about the strange clicking noise my hips and knees are making. I decide to eat an early lunch at home to avoid the indigestion suffered yesterday.

I learnt a new French word yesterday. Galipette. My tumbles down the mountain are galipettes. The direct translation is somersault. But Terri and the French men in my class find it very funny as apparently this French word has a double meaning (I bit like finnochio in Italian which I learned about in one of the Tales of the City books and used in India with Luca, the Italian volunteer I met there). I’ve now looked Galipette up and its other meaning is: fornication!

I do one run before my lesson today and take a steep but short off-piste slope to practice my turns after yesterday’s disastrous falls. The snowfall has softened the bumps nicely and I ski it quite well. I have mentally changed my attitude to my lesson today as I know that it was fear yesterday, which was crippling my skiing. I also hope that due to the snow and poor visibility we will have to stay low, in the trees.

When I meet Terri we have a new addition to the class, Vaughan, but two others have not come today so we are still only a small group of three students. Terri says we have to stay in the trees and that there will not be any steep cliffs today. Hurray!

Terri leads us a merry dance through the trees around Linderets and twice we head off the right at the top of the Linderets chairlift (most people go left as there is no piste to the right). The snow is thigh-high powder in places between the trees and it is still snowing.

I am turning on time today and it is Julian who is the main galopetter today (thank goodness). We make first tracks through the trees and whoop a lot as we turn and jump through the powder. There is no one else here – Terri has been skiing Avoriaz for 30 years and really knows the secret areas, it is fabulous.

On our 2nd to last run Terri loses a ski while skiing a steep slope which ended in a jump with a hidden lip. It is the first time I’ve ever seen an instructor crash and we all find it very funny (Terri is fine!). I stupidly take the same route and also lose a ski, so the others find another way round to avoid more crashes.

Last run of the day is through The Stash which is a freestyle playground with rails, jumps and walls to play on. I had thought it looked really dangerous however I ended up skiing down a wooden plank (!), doing a few jumps and skiing through the wooden hut in the middle which has a steep approach and descent. We were all whooping like crazy!

Vaughan says this has been his best lesson ever and asks if he can join our afternoon class from now on. It is definitely better with a smaller number in the class, the morning class has 9 – 12 people and they are constantly waiting for people so don’t do nearly as many runs as us.

It kept snowing all day but it was quite wet snow and I returned from my lesson soaked through.

I make chicken fajitas with rice, guacamole, salsa and soured cream for dinner. Adam was a bit hesitant about a Mexican dinner but he really enjoys it and says that this dinner has surpassed his expectations (at last!).

Thur 14 Jan

Today Terri says he will give us a lesson we will never forget. Sounds ominous! We head up the Fornet chair, a chairlift I have taken many times, however this time we then walk in our skis up to the mountain ridge and pop over the back of the mountain. There we find fresh, untracked powder and proceed to practice our powder turns all the way to the bottom. It is blissful (between falls) and I do not do as many galipettes today at all. It takes us quite a while to reach the bottom however then we have a very long cross-country ski around to the Nyon gondola. Definitely more of a trip for skiers than boarders, unless they want a long walk.

Week 2 - on our own

Mon 11 Jan

A leisurely morning where I pop into Morzine to get my liftpass replaced as it stopped working yesterday. I try on some new jackets and buy a super cool hoody by Volcom. I see a jacket I love and decide to bring Adam back later for his advice.

I lunch at the chalet (happy noodle soup) and then head up the mountain for my lesson. I have booked 5 lessons this week from 2.30 – 5pm to prepare myself for Tara’s arrival and to try and get a better technique on powder and bumps. The sky is blue and the sun is brilliant again today.

My lesson only has 3 others in it, all men, and our instructor Terri is a maniac. Rather than warm us up with some black runs to check our style and correct anything he takes us straight off piste and down what looks like a waterfall with big boulders scattered down it. We then head down the montain through the trees. I like seeing new runs down the mountain but it is pretty scary. I cope quite well though and am not as panicky as the men for once.

After my lesson I meet Adam in Les Rhodos for a drink. I then show him the ski jacket I’m considering getting and he agrees it is ace. It is also by Volcom and is white with a really cool graphical design (lots of thin lines in bright colours giving many matching opportunities). I decide to get the jacket and see a lovely leather belt that is really cool. I ask for a saisonaire’s discount and although the guy says he can’t do that he does do me the belt for half price as I’ve been such a good customer that day (my hoody this morning was from the same shop).
When we get home Adam cooks a comforting and tasty Spaghetti Carbonara which we devour.

Tue 12 Jan

Adam and I head up the mountain for some runs late morning so I can warm up before my lesson. We plan on heading over to Linga which is an area we’ve not skied yet however just past Chalet the valley is in the shade and we opt for the sunny runs instead. We find some lovely wide easy pistes that would suit beginners very well. Adam gives me some tips on my skiing style and then pushes me to the max until I am starving and worn out.

We eat our sandwiches perched on the top of the mountain with an awesome view however I ate too soon before my lesson as I get chronic indigestion during my class, not helped by the fact that our first run is a ‘couloir’ or corridor (40º chute between two rocky cliffs).

My lesson is more scary than Monday and I lose my skis quite a few times plus I tumble down the mountain at one point taking out Ivan (one of the other students) and then do three forward rolls on a steep slope. Luckily it is soft deep snow and I am not injured. Best part of my class today is the powder lesson and practice we get. Terri knows where to take us to find untouched powder!


Dinner tonight when we get from from Les Rhodos (where I am posting this from) will be home made pizzas. Adam is not too keen but I’m hoping he will be pleasantly surprised.

Last 3 days of the first gang

Fri 8 Jan

Today Kate, Dan, Joel and I decide to see what Morzine and Les Gets have to offer piste wise. Unfortunately the fog is so thick that visibility is almost nil and we can not actually see the runs at all. At the top of the gondola Dan realizes that his bindings are coming loose and he needs new screws. He heads down on the gondola to try and fix it while Kate and I lead Joel down some icy red runs which puts him off red runs for the rest of the day.

About an hour and a half later we meet up with Dan again and head over to Les Gets. It has very pretty, tree lined runs however general sign posting is not as good as in Avoriaz and the runs are a little short and tame. The trees mean that we manage to move away from the fog a little.
Last run of the day is an amazing red run from the highest point –Les Chamoisserie – and I spot a lovely black from the chair that I want to go back to do.

After posting on Friday from Les Rhodos, a very friendly bar with free wifi (with a drink) Dan and Joel came to meet me for a few drinks and then we ending up eating in the bar too. Food was healthy sized pizzas and was pretty tasty. Adam went to meet Carina (who finally arrived) and then they both came to meet us for a drink too.

Sat 9 Jan

Today I take Dan and Kate on an epic journey that they don't exactly thank me for. What looked like a very long red run (the longest on the piste map) turns out only to be reachable by a very long button lift (not fun for boarders) and then the steep red run all too quickly turns into a very long and very flat lane. On the upside though we do find an igloo! Will post photos of us in the igloo as soon as Kate sends them to me.



Sun 10 Jan



It is Kate, Dan, Joel and Carina’s last day (although both Dan and Carina are coming back and Kate sorely wants too). Luckily for them the skies are a beautiful blue and the sun is shining brilliantly. They have a late flight so can ski all day however two runs in Dan falls and hurts his shoulder, closely followed by Adam who also hurts his shoulder and possibly even knocked himself out momentarily. Hot Chocolate and then an early lunch can’t fix the boys and they have to, sadly, call it a day.

Hardcore Kate stays out with me, fuelled with the divine peanut butter, nut and fruit bars which Carina made us. We do a few big jumps under the chair but later Kate winds herself after jumping off a 1.5m sheer drop by mistake while looking for small jumps to practice on.

The chalet seems very quiet after everyone leaves.

First days in Morzine

Sun 3 Jan

The neighbours who left the day after we got here had mainly had rain over New Year and were not very happy. We are very lucky as there was snow the day before we arrived and after a wonderful first day on the slopes on Sunday it then snowed all night so we awoke on Monday to fresh powder everywhere. Two of our first week’s party are beginner snowboarders and I debated whether to learn to snowboard with them however I want to perfect my skiing first. I may decide to give it a go in week four.

Adam and I collect Kate from the train station on Sunday evening. She has been skiing in Chamonix the week before. She is very jammy, leaving one heap of powder for another and she is buzzing from her deep powder off-piste runs.

Dinner tonight is TWO shepherd’s pies (a meat and veggie version) made by Dan.

Mon 4 Jan

One of our beginner snowboarders breaks his cruciate ligament during his class and is stretchered off the mountain. Sadly that is the end of his holiday and he must wait for an earlier flight home to be arranged. Luckily he got his travel insurance just before he left the UK and is covered for his medical bills and repatriation.

We tend to meet for lunch every day at Changabangs which does a bargain House burger for 5€ and yummy curly fries for 4€. By day two though we are taking our own sandwiches and sharing curly fries as the euro exchange rate means that a pound pretty much equals a euro now.

Today was a really fun day of pure powder madness. My skiing is still a bit all over the place as I still have to find my ski legs, but we have a lot of fun.

Dinner tonight, cooked by me, is my favourite Courgette Pasta (grated courgette, onion, garlic, red chilli, penne pasta, butter and parmesan – adapted from a Carluccio dish). Sadly the meal does not meet the approval of Adam who believes it is too watery. Shame, as he’ll be eating it a lot over the next few weeks!


Tue 5 Jan

Today should have been a lot more fun in the powder however we head up Fornet where there is a lot of off piste around the snowcross park however I end up constantly losing my skis. After 30 minutes looking for my ski the third time it happens I decide to stick to the piste and book myself a powder lesson the next time it snows.

Dinner tonight is Butternut Squash & Feta Risotto made by Kate, with the added taste of burnt rice. It is an interesting combination which, against all odds, works! One ruined pan though …


Wed 6 Jan

The morning in Avoriaz is heavy with fog and visibility is only a couple of metres. so Kate, Dan and I head over to Switzerland. We go above the clouds and see a fully circular rainbow. The morning is glorious with empty pistes which have been perfectly groomed. I practice my carving and start to regain my ski legs. However we do end up in a part of Switzerland where the only chairlift back to France isn’t working so we end up on a bus to Les Crosets to catch a different lift back to Avoriaz which adds about 40 minutes of non-skiing onto our journey.

Tonight’s dinner is a delicious fish pie cooked by Adam and Joel.

Thur 7 Jan

Major lie-in and then a relaxing morning cooking a Leek and Chickpea soup before heading to the slopes around lunchtime.

Finally my skiing seems to be coming together. I feel like a skier again!

Didn’t ski for long as I misjudged the weather and it was very cold, so I head back to the chalet after an hour and a half. Finally manage to start writing this blog.

We were going to go out for dinner and drinks but have postponed this to tomorrow night once we get some recommendations on where to eat.

Eat soup for dinner as do some of the others, the rest eat leftovers (fish pie, mince etc).

Carina is supposed to be flying out tonight but her flight has been cancelled due to the adverse weather in England. We hope she’ll be able to come out on Friday instead.

First week in Morzine

Sat 2 Jan

We hit the road at 9am, bang on schedule, for the long drive to the Alps. We are in Adam’s Dad’s Vito (looks like a posh van, just don’t call it a van, ok?). The 5 of us each have our own seat and there is plenty of room in the back for all our snowboards, skis, luggage and bags of groceries.



It is Saturday 2 Jan and the roads are empty – everyone must still be suffering from New Year’s Eve excesses – so we make record time to Folkestone and manage to get on an earlier train to France. The EuroTunnel is weird as you stay in your car, or hop out to go to the toilet, but aside from that there is nowhere to go. You can’t even see the fishes. I think the tunnel should be made from reinforced glass and be like the shark tunnel you get at the SeaLife centres so you can see all the sea creatures while you zoom across (or is the tunnel actually under the seabed? Must look into that).

We then take the speedy toll roads towards the Alps and barely stop for diesel and refreshments. I’m surprised that my co-passengers, four grown men, have not brought any snacks for the journey. I have packed nuts, tangerines, dates, figs and beetroot crisps. And they are quite rude about my beetroot crisps! Adam describes them as ‘beetroot flavoured cardboard’. I think they may be dehydrated beetroot as they are not baked or fried – they certainly taste very healthy.

We arrive in Morzine at night but can immediately see that the resort is quite large, with a lot of amenities. Our chalet is fabulous. It is a semi-detached chalet over four floors and includes a ski equipment & utility room on the ground. The views from the living room are tremendous as they look across the valley to the Morzine ski slopes. And we are a few minutes walk from the ski bus stop which can either whisk us up the gondola to Avoriaz or down to Pleney to ski Morzine and Les Gets.

First meal when we arrive on Saturday night is made from the groceries I brought - Parsnip and Pancetta Taglietelle (A Jamie Oliver recipe). I try not to tell the boys what I am cooking as I can imagine that some don’t like parsnips. Adam spots me cutting them up and admits he doesn’t like them, however I explained that they taste different when sliced thinly and fried. He later on says that he liked it (more so than some of my later dishes!).