Plus Altern-8 style painter:
Equals primed helmet,
Then ORANGE.
And finally, shiny shiny.
Much better.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Gear readiness - making a helmet less crappy
Horrible, horrible helmet:
Plus Altern-8 style painter:
Equals primed helmet,
Then ORANGE.
And finally, shiny shiny.
Much better.
Plus Altern-8 style painter:
Equals primed helmet,
Then ORANGE.
And finally, shiny shiny.
Much better.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Yesterday, today... Great days.
Well. Yesterday included Jim charging off after a rogue board dropped by the rescue (!) guys from the Aeroski lift out of tignes - we started out down piste H, but our little greyhound went mental ;-) he didn't catch the board in the end, but he did get a hand on it twice.
Thus, we diverted into tignes proper, and had to get back up piste H later. A good day, we got up the top of the tignes glacier.
Thus, we diverted into tignes proper, and had to get back up piste H later. A good day, we got up the top of the tignes glacier.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
You guessed it - another epic day, glacier "mint" :-)
I was carrying Nic'c camera on a backpack today, so, as Jim puts it, I was "boarding with my girlfriend" - a characteristic stance where the trailing arm gets thrown out liker a figure skater for extra balance. Still had a great day, with a lot of great pistes to be had.
Today's stats courtesy of Ski Tracks app (59p - a steal, as mentioned earlier!)
Max speed: 39.7mph - a record for me, and with the pack on!
Ski distance: 14.1 miles, 13.6 on lifts, total 27.8 - about 0.3 miles less than yesterday, but we took a longer lunch down at the bottom of the Fornet bubble, where a restaurant will serve you pasta with no topping for €7 - a vast amount of it, with cheese. Useful tip.
Ski vertical - 13206ft
Max altitude 10501ft(!) - that glacier is high high high, over 3000m!
Duration - 05:44:50
We started out from Val D'isere centre, taking the bus in (which got very busy!) - late start, today was lie-in day as it's the chalet host day off. 10:51am through to pretty much 5pm.
The run took in the solaise lift, glacier express, lessieres express, then up the glacier proper. Nic, Jim and I were together for the morning, with Nick Pym joining us for the afternoon.
We spent some time up the glacier, enjoying the great conditions, with pretty much no wind - the board in the bubble said 40kph but it was still as anything up there. Right up at the top of the Montets T-bar lift people were sunbathing - it's really warm out there now.
Plenty of blues and reds today, at one point Jim fell asleep in the Vallon D'iseran bubble after lunch!
Max speed was definitely achieved on a small drag run blue where lots of speed needs to be carried through . The board is feeling fantastic - at the end of the day, we looped back up the glacier express to do a sweeping blue - plan millet - which we hadn't done before. The pistes were a little cut up but the concentration is addictive when you're picking your line. One solitary wobble from a piste lump near the bottom of Datcha but otherwise a rock solid day.
Now feeling a slight buzz but ready for the night in Val D'isere at La Perdu Blanche, which was recommended. We always used to go to La Casserole, but last time we went they'd taken down all the character and put in too many tables. I scent new management, which is a pity. It'll be grand to try a change!
I'll make sure there are some pictures to post tomorrow, I think.
Today's stats courtesy of Ski Tracks app (59p - a steal, as mentioned earlier!)
Max speed: 39.7mph - a record for me, and with the pack on!
Ski distance: 14.1 miles, 13.6 on lifts, total 27.8 - about 0.3 miles less than yesterday, but we took a longer lunch down at the bottom of the Fornet bubble, where a restaurant will serve you pasta with no topping for €7 - a vast amount of it, with cheese. Useful tip.
Ski vertical - 13206ft
Max altitude 10501ft(!) - that glacier is high high high, over 3000m!
Duration - 05:44:50
We started out from Val D'isere centre, taking the bus in (which got very busy!) - late start, today was lie-in day as it's the chalet host day off. 10:51am through to pretty much 5pm.
The run took in the solaise lift, glacier express, lessieres express, then up the glacier proper. Nic, Jim and I were together for the morning, with Nick Pym joining us for the afternoon.
We spent some time up the glacier, enjoying the great conditions, with pretty much no wind - the board in the bubble said 40kph but it was still as anything up there. Right up at the top of the Montets T-bar lift people were sunbathing - it's really warm out there now.
Plenty of blues and reds today, at one point Jim fell asleep in the Vallon D'iseran bubble after lunch!
Max speed was definitely achieved on a small drag run blue where lots of speed needs to be carried through . The board is feeling fantastic - at the end of the day, we looped back up the glacier express to do a sweeping blue - plan millet - which we hadn't done before. The pistes were a little cut up but the concentration is addictive when you're picking your line. One solitary wobble from a piste lump near the bottom of Datcha but otherwise a rock solid day.
Now feeling a slight buzz but ready for the night in Val D'isere at La Perdu Blanche, which was recommended. We always used to go to La Casserole, but last time we went they'd taken down all the character and put in too many tables. I scent new management, which is a pity. It'll be grand to try a change!
I'll make sure there are some pictures to post tomorrow, I think.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Another large day - with a fantastic loooong ending
Today's been a day of 4: 4 friends getting out to Tignes and exploring the loops of Blue piste out that way. We got around.
My posts up until this point have been from memory - but now I've got something rather nifty to help my memory along: "Ski Tracks" - an iPhone app which really does what it says on the tin. It's cheap - the paid-for version is 59p(!) - and it's comprehensive. They've thought about how the app will be used (iPod controls are in there), they use the proximity sensor to turn off the display, there's a setting for minimum battery level at which the app will shut itself off - clever stuff.
I've used this app today, I turned it on with 99% battery, at about 10am, and we finished a little earlier than usual at about 3:15pm. I still had 34% battery left - an excellent job. The app can be paused so a single track can be recorded and saved for the day. It records max speed, miles, and overlays on google maps with individual runs and lifts available with full statistics and graphs for speed and distance. It's a cracking app.
So, according to the app, today the four of us (most in Tignes!)
- Start 10:15, 6242ft, la daille telecabine.
- Run 1: Down to Tommeuses, max 15.9 MPH, 0.3 miles ;-)
- Lift 2: 10:30, up 1391.2ft - Tommeuses
- Run 2: Piste H down into Tignes: 29.2 mph max, 1.9 miles.
- Lift 3: 10:57, up 1372.9ft - Tichot in Tignes.
- Run 3: Quick slip to Grattalu in Tignes, 11:08am
- Lift 4: 11:17, Grattalu, 1023.6 ft
- Run 4: 11:22am, max 28.1mph, 1.3 miles - great piste this
- Lift 5: Grand Huit: 11:35, 650ft
- Run 5: pierce-neige, 11:41am, max 29.8mph, 0.5m (a fast little downhill lovely)
- Lift 6: Aguille Percee: 11:51, 995.4ft
- Run 6: corniche, LUNCH, rhododendron, petit col: max 29.7mph, 2.9 miles
- Lift 7: 01:24pm, palafour, 1490.7ft
- Run 7: 01:31pm, lys to merle lift - max speed 33.4mph
- Lift 8: 01:36pm, Merles, 933.2ft
- Run 8: 01:44pm, max 29mph, 0.8 miles, grattalu
- Lift 9: Grattalu lift, 01:51pm, 964.7ft
- Run 9: 01:57pm, 25.6mph, lac again(!) after the party became confused about Grattalu directions - easy to do here ;-)
- Lift 10: Grand Huit again, 02:07pm
- Run 10: 02:16pm, grattalu and others, max 28.9mph, 1.6 miles.
This is an impressive app. :-)
According to the front page of it, the run saw the follow stats:
Max speed: 33.4 mph
Ski Distance: 14.4 miles
Ski Vertical (I'm guessing this is the total vertical distance covered on the board today) - 12744ft (!!! WHAT?)
Max altitude: 9005 ft (2745m)
Slope (I'm guessing this is the steepest): 31 degrees
Duration: 4:50:24
Today was a fine day with a lot of great pistes. And it ended back at Cristal 2, on the balcony (this little stack of chalet-apartments gets FULL SUN at the end of the day - sun you can bathe in - on the balcony - so buy some bubbly and luxuriate at the end of a hard day on a sun-baked balcony like we did.
This is an interesting contrast after the hunting I did for Cristal 2, and a really lucky break - the valley in front of la daille means it gets literally the last of the march sun, while the "sun drenched knoll of Le Cret" advertised by VIP chalets is already in full bone-chilling shade under the dark arc of the Bellevarde peak. This place rocks, not least because the car park of the hotel opposite clears a perfect path to the sun through the frontage of La Daille.
Stunning day.
My posts up until this point have been from memory - but now I've got something rather nifty to help my memory along: "Ski Tracks" - an iPhone app which really does what it says on the tin. It's cheap - the paid-for version is 59p(!) - and it's comprehensive. They've thought about how the app will be used (iPod controls are in there), they use the proximity sensor to turn off the display, there's a setting for minimum battery level at which the app will shut itself off - clever stuff.
I've used this app today, I turned it on with 99% battery, at about 10am, and we finished a little earlier than usual at about 3:15pm. I still had 34% battery left - an excellent job. The app can be paused so a single track can be recorded and saved for the day. It records max speed, miles, and overlays on google maps with individual runs and lifts available with full statistics and graphs for speed and distance. It's a cracking app.
So, according to the app, today the four of us (most in Tignes!)
- Start 10:15, 6242ft, la daille telecabine.
- Run 1: Down to Tommeuses, max 15.9 MPH, 0.3 miles ;-)
- Lift 2: 10:30, up 1391.2ft - Tommeuses
- Run 2: Piste H down into Tignes: 29.2 mph max, 1.9 miles.
- Lift 3: 10:57, up 1372.9ft - Tichot in Tignes.
- Run 3: Quick slip to Grattalu in Tignes, 11:08am
- Lift 4: 11:17, Grattalu, 1023.6 ft
- Run 4: 11:22am, max 28.1mph, 1.3 miles - great piste this
- Lift 5: Grand Huit: 11:35, 650ft
- Run 5: pierce-neige, 11:41am, max 29.8mph, 0.5m (a fast little downhill lovely)
- Lift 6: Aguille Percee: 11:51, 995.4ft
- Run 6: corniche, LUNCH, rhododendron, petit col: max 29.7mph, 2.9 miles
- Lift 7: 01:24pm, palafour, 1490.7ft
- Run 7: 01:31pm, lys to merle lift - max speed 33.4mph
- Lift 8: 01:36pm, Merles, 933.2ft
- Run 8: 01:44pm, max 29mph, 0.8 miles, grattalu
- Lift 9: Grattalu lift, 01:51pm, 964.7ft
- Run 9: 01:57pm, 25.6mph, lac again(!) after the party became confused about Grattalu directions - easy to do here ;-)
- Lift 10: Grand Huit again, 02:07pm
- Run 10: 02:16pm, grattalu and others, max 28.9mph, 1.6 miles.
This is an impressive app. :-)
According to the front page of it, the run saw the follow stats:
Max speed: 33.4 mph
Ski Distance: 14.4 miles
Ski Vertical (I'm guessing this is the total vertical distance covered on the board today) - 12744ft (!!! WHAT?)
Max altitude: 9005 ft (2745m)
Slope (I'm guessing this is the steepest): 31 degrees
Duration: 4:50:24
Today was a fine day with a lot of great pistes. And it ended back at Cristal 2, on the balcony (this little stack of chalet-apartments gets FULL SUN at the end of the day - sun you can bathe in - on the balcony - so buy some bubbly and luxuriate at the end of a hard day on a sun-baked balcony like we did.
This is an interesting contrast after the hunting I did for Cristal 2, and a really lucky break - the valley in front of la daille means it gets literally the last of the march sun, while the "sun drenched knoll of Le Cret" advertised by VIP chalets is already in full bone-chilling shade under the dark arc of the Bellevarde peak. This place rocks, not least because the car park of the hotel opposite clears a perfect path to the sun through the frontage of La Daille.
Stunning day.
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