Sorry for going missing. Pretty ignorant of me considering the valuable input I've received from some on here in the past. By way of weak excuse my phone died while I was in Chamonix so I was using my daughters phone sparingly. There were a few dramas at home and then once home I've been scrambling to catch up with business and personal stuff.
Anyway.........I didn't do the Vallee Blanche. After the day in Annecy I was still very sore (and weak) in the legs. And to be honest I was lacking in confidence after the day at Courmayeur with the guides. I must defend the guides though. They did ask before doing the long steep run through those tight trees if we were up for something more challenging. I responded that I was fine if they thought I was up to it after seeing my ability earlier in the day. In hindsight they made the wrong call and at a couple of points (when they roped the British fellow up) they were a bit stressed themselves. They obviously knew once we were committed that the terrain was too much for most of the group. They commented a few times that the snow conditions were "not as good as we expected".
I had an incident with a buried tree root that left me very uncomfortably contorted with the front of one ski under the root and me falling back in toward the hill. The knee that was twisted quiet severely is still a bit tender today. There is no question I will remember that day in Courmayeur (in good ways too) for the rest of my life. The chutes with no trees had good snow and would have been steeper than anything I've skied before.
So I had a day cruising around Le Tour with a couple of fellows from the UK and the next checking out Grand Montets. Conditions were firm. Too firm for me anyway. I tried to venture off the pistes a few times but being worse for wear from a few days earlier I quickly retreated to the groomers. We headed to Milan a day early and did some tourist stuff.
I'm now looking forward to our time in Oregon in mid to late April. I hope I can get some confidence back there.
We all had a fantastic time on the trip to Europe. I am incredibly proud of how well the newbies went. They are both planning trips to the snow in our winter. Looking back the best snow days were those where myself and the family were skiing the low angle fresh snow between the pistes. Given that we'll head to Japan next January/February where hopefully those conditions are plentiful.
Anyway.........I didn't do the Vallee Blanche. After the day in Annecy I was still very sore (and weak) in the legs. And to be honest I was lacking in confidence after the day at Courmayeur with the guides. I must defend the guides though. They did ask before doing the long steep run through those tight trees if we were up for something more challenging. I responded that I was fine if they thought I was up to it after seeing my ability earlier in the day. In hindsight they made the wrong call and at a couple of points (when they roped the British fellow up) they were a bit stressed themselves. They obviously knew once we were committed that the terrain was too much for most of the group. They commented a few times that the snow conditions were "not as good as we expected".
I had an incident with a buried tree root that left me very uncomfortably contorted with the front of one ski under the root and me falling back in toward the hill. The knee that was twisted quiet severely is still a bit tender today. There is no question I will remember that day in Courmayeur (in good ways too) for the rest of my life. The chutes with no trees had good snow and would have been steeper than anything I've skied before.
So I had a day cruising around Le Tour with a couple of fellows from the UK and the next checking out Grand Montets. Conditions were firm. Too firm for me anyway. I tried to venture off the pistes a few times but being worse for wear from a few days earlier I quickly retreated to the groomers. We headed to Milan a day early and did some tourist stuff.
I'm now looking forward to our time in Oregon in mid to late April. I hope I can get some confidence back there.
We all had a fantastic time on the trip to Europe. I am incredibly proud of how well the newbies went. They are both planning trips to the snow in our winter. Looking back the best snow days were those where myself and the family were skiing the low angle fresh snow between the pistes. Given that we'll head to Japan next January/February where hopefully those conditions are plentiful.