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| Training at Alpe d'Huez |
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| Written by John |
| Saturday, 16 January 2010 17:32 |
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Enough cycling and running. Time for some ski training. We were lucky enough to go to France for some skiing in January. After a pretty uneventful journey we arrived in Alpe d'Huez, which is near Grenoble in France. Apparently the week before had been pretty dismal with heavy rain, but when we arrived it was cold and snowing!
One of the main objectives of this training session was to have a go at proper deep powder off piste skiing. On the piste is good, but I fancied a bit of "brochure skiing" - weaving through the trees and sweeping though fields of white powder snow. I decided that the best way to start would be to have a lesson with an instructor. I decided to have a couple of hours with Seb Ballereau at Stance Snow (http://www.stance-snow.com). Their website looked good, and they seemed to have an emphasis on more adventurous skiing. I was not disappointed. The day before my lesson it snowed all day and all night. We woke to about twelve to fifteen inches of fresh snow. It is always encouraging when you meet your instructor and they are excited!
The first thing Seb did was give me some kit. The first thing was an avalanche transceiver a bit like this one - http://www.facewest.co.uk/Pieps-DSP.html. I thought "fair enough"; we were going off piste, and I didn't want to get lost. We weren't going far, but best to be safe. He then gave me a backpack. I thought perhaps it was just for the pole and shovel inside, but no - it was an ABS Airbag http://www.snowsafe.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=47&products_id=209 It was at this point that I thought this could be quite serious. We set off to the top of Marmottes II, and traversed across the top of the black run, the Combe Charbonniere. Then we set off. Just keep your skis together, transfer your weight from side to side and make sure you complete your turns. Easier said that done. A bit like sailing you need enough speed to float on top of the powder snow so that you glide rather than ploughing through the deep snow. This was all the more important because the powder was about three to four feet deep.
Needless to say it was not an instant success, but three turns became four, then five. All of this in a valley that was totally deserted. We got to be bottom of the Combe Charbonniere, and then walked a short distance to the top of the Chalvet chairlift, and traversed across to be above the campanules red run. From there it started to click and ten turns became twelve, and soon Seb was skiing beside me. Apparently Helen could see us from the resort, and it felt great. Then Seb pointed out to me that we could be seen from the resort - and I promptly did a face plant! All in all a fantastic introduction to off piste, and the groomed runs will never be the same again. Special thanks to Seb at Stance Snow. Not only did he provide confidence and enthusiasm - a nice discount was donated to the Monsterski fund!
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