The last day and the loooooong journey hone

Yesterday was spectacular. A morning up the Le Fornet glacier, a good trip up the T-bar to the top, Ski Tracks app well and truly engaged. We had a great time, my legs took until 1230 to warm up - getting used to that now, but there's life in them until well after 5!

Nic and Kim went down to Bourg St Maurice to shop for Cheese and Booze so Jim and I made our way over from Solaise to Tignes to meet up with Nick P at the tichot lift. For a change, rather than go Tommeuses, we took the blue off the top of the Olympic bubble down to Borsat, then caught the green around the corner, dropping over into tignes valley on Genepy and making our way down. The legs are alive by this point, well and truly.

The three of us meet up at Grattalu - Nick Pym managing to evade Jim and I attempting to identify him by his characteristic "man-tank doing 1,000,000 miles an hour" piste stylings (he's an animal) - and we set off for an afternoon on the tignes loops, taking the blues around and pitching back off the top of grand-huit when jim and I spotted a gulley in the middle of a fairly untracked but refrozen and thawed off piste area.

Predictably, Jim did a great job of getting some fun out of it and I fell over laughing while he tried to give me some hints. Wet and soft, nothing hurt ;-)

We got back up grand huit and Jim spotted the cloud buds we had admired in the morning from Fornet had got HUGE and very grey while we were looning about - we decided to let the weather chase us back to Folie Douce bar above La Daille where we would convene from beer ( at €8 a pint!!! ).

The loop was getting very wet at the bottom so more off-piste fun ensued before we got down to Tignes to get back across to la Daille for that beer...

This was dutifully pulled off using the Aeroski which Jim crossed himself in before the doors closed, praying we wouldn't get stuck like the people we saw on thursday - Jim chased a rogue snowboard down the black Trolles run I to Tignes le lac after it fell out of the crap harness one of the pisteur redcoats put it in while they were hoisting people and equipment out of the Aeroski lifts.

Great final run down still-sweet blue Creux piste with Nick P taking a last jolly down orange before he joined Jim and I to take the last of the Friday rays as the sun was finally chased by the clouds: Jim and I take the bubble (by this point, my right arse has ceased to function and I stumble getting into the bubble!!) and - surprise surprise! - Nick P hares down "OK" for. Last giggle, getting back well before we do.

An excellent day, longest tracks of the week with fornet glacier and farthest loop of tignes at the needle conquered. 19.1 miles, 39.6mph fastest point.

A great ending to a spectacular week, with perfect weather.