So far – I think the best way to sum up the first week in January is: Need a bigger shovel!!!!
I have had to dig the car out every day, and some of the time it has even been in covered parking!!!!
So for the Grand Massif area – includes Flaine, Les Carroz, Morillion and Samoens – Mixed week with rain on Monday 2nd Jan, followed by sun, then heavy snow, more rain and yet more snow. Very good conditions once the lifts were opened which took a while. The links to Flaine have only been open for 1 day this week. The race training in Flaine is very good, and they take all ages from Masters to minis. Gilles BALTHAZARD and Rene ROULET, former coaches of the French Ski Team, fully qualified National Ski Instructors & high mountain guides are part of Flaine Super Ski – worth checking out www.flainesuperski.com
Maria Alm (Austria, near Zell am see) part of the Ski Amade area – this is a very pretty area with good linked lifts and lovely tree runs. Worth looking at, as the skiing area is large and it does not seem to be too busy, with almost no British voices heard. Almost every one speaks English though, even the bus drivers.
Maria Alm itself is a very typical Austrian village, pretty with lots of very good value hotels or guest houses. Beer and wine are cheap (by French prices anyway) – 2 euros for a glass of wine, 2.50 euros for a 1/2 litre beer, coffee/hot chocolate 1.75-2 euros.
Nice lunches with meat soup & bread only 4.30 euros, spagetti 6 euros etc.
Not sure what the snow conditions are normally like as it is not a high area, but following the massive snow storm there was lots of new snow the pistes had been groomed quickly, and the chair lifts mostly have covers on them – I was supposed to be racing but they got cancelled.
Back to Les Carroz tomorrow, and I will send more reports of the snow conditions later in the week.
Will do a race report on the masters races once we actually get some!!!! – I spent 9 1/2 hours driving here tackling some very snowy motorways!!!! only to find out that the races were cancelled at 2pm on the Friday. Next race should be the Welsh in Les Crosets, which I will be there just for the FIS bit, will report on that later.
Happy Skiing
Judy