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FRIDAY, 19TH MARCH

TRANSFER DAY

FROM ELAINE (cos Baylis has only run 10m and not done enough that he feels worthy blogging!)

Chris decided to pass on skiing/snowboarding on his last day as his blister was still bad and, as his
ski pass had run out, it would mean paying for at least a half day which could be around £40!

So Baylis and I decided to get a run in this morning - headed out at about 10.15 across the road and
onto the snowy path that runs beside the cross country route.

It was a stunningly scenic route up to Monetier (3m) and onwards through the woods by the river. We
continued for another 2m before turning back. Lovely run BUT we were running on gradually melting snow
and therefore not a lot of grip and hard work on the legs (or, in my case, knee and in Baylis's, his
achilles). Sooo I did 10m (the good news) but it took 1h54m (the bad news). Still it is all about
spending time on feet in the run up (excuse pun) to the Brighton Marathon on April 18th.

Back home for a quick shower then out to Nevache for a gloriously tranquil lunch (lunch but only a
quiche and salad - which, yes, the real man did eat!) overlooking the peaceful snowy slopes used only
by cross country skiers.

Then airport to drop Chris off. Drove round to the small town of Castille by the airport for a coffee
in the piazza (spoilt for choice, as this IS Italy!) while awaiting Kathy's flight due an hour later.

THE DOG'S BLOG

Rrrrrrrrrroad trip!! My favourite road where I can bark at people who take our money and launch myself
at things are across our path until they see me and then they rise up into the air and let us through.
Lucky they have me with them, huh?

Chased white balls across the white stuff at lunch time. Spent ages trying to find them which, of
course, He Who Torments Me thought was VERY funny. But I laugh when I piss in His beer and he can't
find that!

Thursday 18th March

All change……

Well looks as if the weather is changing, wind now from the South and wee bit more cloud, and forecast is for freezing levels at  3000 and rain, though hopefully that’s wrong. Still plenty of snow and pistes are in great condition.

As for change, managed to get Chris on skis today, using my boots and Scott Missions. By the third run he was doing really well, could be another one changing from board to skis!

That said this afternoon took the Mrs out for a little hike up from the Col du Lauteret, nothing too major, just a quick 400ms. I decided to use my old soft boots with the Dynafit lugs that let me use my approach skis for climbing rather than snow shoes as per Elaine…..good news boots were really comfortable, however the “lugs” kept popping out every now & again, and I can’t see why it’s doing it.

Anyway another 400ms snow was freezing as we came down, left it really too late in the day……..anyway let Elaine fill in the detail!

FROM ELAINE

Typical Baylis tour – straight up and don’t stop. Except his binding kept coming out. Tee hee. Anyway felt sooo dehydrated cos our bottles were in our backpacks with the boards on, so we couldn’t them…..stupid or what!

Fell on my first turn in cruddy snow and then strained my sternum YET AGAIN getting up. So was a tad cautious then re falling and hence not my best descent ever.

Meanwhile, yes, Chris was on skis today. We all skied this morning from Aravet.

So yet another boarder over to the dark side? Actually just another skoader, one who can both ski and snowboard depending on the conditions.

Now 14^th day of exercise – skiing, boarding, touring, running. Welcome to Baylis Bootcamp.

THE DOG’S BLOG

Was left at the apartment last night with a few measly Meaty Meals while they went out for dinner. But tonight we are going to find the bar in Chantermerle now run by the people from The Grotte. Maybe Gary the-only-German-Shepherd-I-will-let-smell-my-butt, will be there?

PS Late edit from the "Station" bar, Gary's new bar - and he was there, and he went for my butt, so I went for him!

Just as we were leaving home, the cheek of it there was a deer in our garden, so I barked and attempted to give chase.......but made out I was none too bothered about catching it!

Wednesday 17th March

That’s it for a few days……

I’m totally cream crackered after  today’s little jaunt, just hope that all this is helping my running fitness!

Think as I’ve already mentioned going “solo” means that you tend to not hang around and so you end up going at a much faster pace than if you were part of a group, net result quite knackered.

Left at 09:00 with high cloud but with the sun burning through, in no time at all I was down to one layer with sweat pouring off as usual. Later on as you can see below, was colder, and put my soft shell back on, but still sweating hard with the sweat freezing in icicles’ from my hat!

My gadgets are really coming into their own doing this stuff on your own. I plot the route on my laptop then download it to my Garmin 305 which then lets me navigate the route. I also download the route on to my PDA which uses the same Memory Map software which I refer to every now and again when I need better confirmation of my route finding.

Must admit to being quite overawed when I was about half way and realised that it was just little old me out in this entire vast expanse.

As I neared my objective feeling off trepidation took over as the last 300m looked to be quite steep, as I started the last pitch I could see where previous people had either taken their snow shoes / skis off and hiked up. This was a few days back when the cold N’ly was blowing and the snow pack would have been rock hard. Today with the sun it was better, though still very technical as there was a very small aspect of where the sun had got to work so quite a few kick turns to stay in the softer snow. Eventually it was too steep and the snow was hard, so for the last 50ms I left my skis and hiked up to the ridge which was quite demanding!

Up there views as ever were superb, and not too much wind. Has to be said that it was like interval training the last 300ms having to rest every couple of minutes with a light head and then back on with the effort. I just need to pace myself better & be calmer, but when a ski slides out from beneath you and you start sliding it all gets quite tough.

At least when you have a guide leading he will make the track for you, could have done with one today towards the end!

So after the usual pictures back into descent mode.

First section was steep and snow pack not too forgiving, think my heart rate going down was the same as going up.

Route down P1040455.jpg

As gradient eased snow was better and found pockets of powder traversing in and out of the many gulley’s, great terrain!

(red dot was the start of the descent)

Then lower down great spring snow………..

So 1,100 ms in just under 3hrs – 3hr 48m in total with an average HR of 142- more or less the same effort as a marathon!

Here's the days track log!

Then back home, quick rest and then back out again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FROM ELAINE

Baylis came back pretty knackered. Hurray!! I was waiting for the van in order to go to Monetier for a snowboard so INSISTED that he came with me as Chris is wounded and off games today cos of  a huge blister from snowboard boot.

So into snowboard boots for first time – aaah bliss. And into flow bindings – eek kinda tight. Then down from chair at Monetier. Bit stiff to start with but then it all came back so had to do it all over again. Without stopping!

Yep, Jez, there is still something really COOL about snowboarding…

THE DOG’S BLOG

Had a long walk this morning and had my butt sniffed by a German Shepherd. Luckily (for him) She Who Cottonwools Me picked me up just before I had one of his pointy ears in my mouth.

Ate another beermat last night at Mojos – which stopped me barking at all the Swedes who were there on a pub crawl.

Tuesday 16th march

Road Trip

Was not too sure about what the conditions would be like today so we decided last night to go over to Puy St Vincent today regardless of the weather. Seemed like a good call as there was still a bit of a breeze blowing here.

Puy is good in that with a weekly pass you get one day there, and we get three days with our season passes. Probably only takes about 35 minutes depending on what route you take, one is a rather gnarly mountain route on roads with huge gorges and no barriers and the other is much more sedate.

There was logic to going over there as well in that I wanted to show Elaine where to pick us up should we be doing a repeat of a big off piste tour that drops us down into Pelvoux.

Puy was good as ever, great snow again and there was no wind. I took my big fat skis as I thought we might see some “soup” down the bottom in the afternoon. And as you can see the ASBO skis were starting to kick a spray up!

Pistes like yesterday seemed devoid of people again, especially when they all go to lunch. Also met up with Corrine who is the daughter of my brothers “lady”, she’s a ski instructor there was we’ve arranged to go back over next week when some other friends are over to do a couple of the classic routes at the back of Puy which did look in excellent condition, was most tempted to do them on my own, but that would have been a wee bit reckless.

So good day again and afterwards drove up to where we end up when doing the Combe du Riou, after a very long run out.

Hopefully we’ll get to do that again in a couple of weeks when Jes and a few others are out.

Tomorrow planning on going up from the Col du Lautaret to Pic des Trois Eveches 3116ms - weather getting warmer, wind should be light so sun should get to work on the snow for the descent. Checked with Philou and he texted back saying "good timing for a classic tour"

FROM ELAINE

Okay so had another really really bad fall today – slipped on the rock hard ice in the car park while carrying my skis and went down on my butt and pulling my sternum yet again. Almost as stupid as falling down the back of the washing machine on the first day.

Otherwise nice day on the pistes – Puy is small but very friendly resort. Did a steep face of moguls to try and improve style and THEN WE ACTUALLY STOPPED FOR LUNCH (well, a bowl of potage), as suggested by Baylis. Don’t all faint. Actually three bowls of soup were 15 euros, same as three hot chocolates. Quite a bargain really.

THE DOG’S BLOG

Road tripppppppp! Went in the blue kennel on wheels for a while. Had a kip. Then He Who Torments Me let me out for lunch. He then went for a ski for the purpose of filming while I stayed with She Who Cottonwools Me and the camera. I then barked at everyone on skis in case it was Him. This included a man in a nifty purple one piece - I could have sworn it was Him …

Then I tried on Chris’s helmet and goggles in preparation for my next snowboarding – but will someone tell me honestly: Does my head look big in this?

Monday 15th March

Perfect Piste Conditions

If you had to choose a day to be piste bound then you can not have chosen a better day than today, absolutely perfect!

Decided to venture out on the board, why?

A)    To keep Chris company

B)     I’m in danger of packing it in totally

• Due to knee strain
• Skiing’s just more cool now J
• Boarding’s more hassle
• I’m just getting older each year!

As we’ve brought all the kit out decided to use my “semi hard boot” setup as it was going to be a piste day. The boots are actually an old pair of Dynafit touring boots, very light but also quite soft, as they were designed more for ascending than descending. I used to use them with my mini approach skis when snowboard touring, also a damn site better when having to hike up and kick in!

As you can see from the video the pistes were not at all crowded. Think the video came out on the second run down, the Casse du Boeuf which was in superb condition.

We had a great morning, deciding to get some miles in by heading over and down to Briancon.

Towards the bottom of Briancon the snow was classic spring slush, as it’s more South facing than up this way, great on the board, won’t be long now till it becomes more like that at lower levels up this way.

However with the cold N’ly still blowing it’s keeping the snow in great condition. Just hope the wind backs off tomorrow as I’m hoping to do another “tour”.

FROM ELAINE

Great cruising day with the guys on boards - while I am remaining on the dark side, staying on skis. At the top of lifts when the guys are faffing and even getting on the lifts (when Baylis slipped onto his bum) I'm thinking, do I need the snowboard issues? Will have to do it soon, though, to prove I still can.

THE DOG'S BLOG

Went to Mojos last night where they had changed the password for the internet cos people were using it illicitly. Tim wrote it on a beer mat so to prevent further espionage I felt obliged to eat the evidence. All of it! Have felt rather bloated today - think I might be cardboard intolerant.

Sunday 14th March

Mission accomplished

Set off at 09:00 and was on foot for the first 40 minutes as was better to hike up a footpath rather than skin along the Col du Granon road.

As feared there was a keen N’ly blowing as I gained more height. Started off with just a light top, but half way soft shell back on and for the last hour hood was out.

I’d input a route into my Garmin from the Memory Map Software which has randoneé routes on it which I more or less followed, till it became obvious that the summit of La Gardiole could be achieved (as there were tracks running down from it).

Views back across to the pistes of Villeneuve and Chantermerle were really good.

As I was climbing up heard this light aeroplane and turned round to see it had landed just below me.

Made it up there in three hours, just over 1,200ms with a few stops for layers / drinks etc.

Really was quite spectacular up there with views down into Nevache & Serre then across to Barre Des Ecrins / La Meije etc.

You can click on a photo to see it in full size, or view them in the Gallery.

Could see a large group heading up from the Nevache side probably going over the Col.

Was really windy though and unfortunately snow pack was too hard as the sun could not do anything, did find some cold snow on the way down, and then wind blown powder, it was only below 2,000ms that it was spring snow which was really nice going through the larch and down the terraces, good bit of combat skiing.

I eventually arrived just above the old village of La Salle.

GPS track log here

Really good day.......

More pictures from the day in the gallery

Late edit: Back was feeling a bit tight, probably having that heavy ABS pack, so did half an hour of stretching

FROM ELAINE

Sooooo how did the van get back, eh? Last night Baylis suggested that I do a run this morning via where he would be leaving it so I could drive it back. Didn’t tell me it was a mile up the mountain!! Gd hill work, I guess.

Went out with Chris on the slopes this afternoon for some relaxed ski/snowboarding (relaxed cos we didn’t have Baylis). Resort was full of Sunday day trippers, many Italians gesticulating their way down the mountain.

THE DOG’S BLOG

Went to Mojos last night and my favourite barman, Tim gave me some delicious lumps of ice. He then asked me to say “sausages”. So I said “awwauegregs” and everyone clapped and said how clever I was to say “awwauegregs”. Tim brought some prawn crackers, which don’t taste anything like sausages. But I didn’t complain.

We watched the rugby: England v Scotland and I barked for England to win and, then, when the Scottish group having a drink, shouted, I barked for Scotland, too. Lucky not to get ASBOed to the blue kennel on wheels….

Then this afternoon went to the Grotte and there were things on the funny moving thing humans all sit round & watch and everyone was shouting at it - so I sort of joined in, and then he who torments me kept trying to hold my mouth shut!

Saturday 13th March

Pleasant Day………..

Up on the first lift out of Monetier, as we decided to go early as Chris (this week’s guest) had to get his lift pass (194€) so we reckoned best to get it sorted first thing before the weekend crowds arrived.

After that couple of easy piste runs to get his legs going and a bit of filming again. Then had a mini mutiny on my hands as both Elaine & Chris wanted to stop for a drinks break, which is not normally allowed!

So after that made their legs burn, actually I went off on my tod traversing below the Crete de Cibouit finding some soft snow in the trees above Tronchet with some quite steep pitches. I sort of gate crashed some locals who knew their way, well at least one of them did and that helped with the route finding.

Then back home for lunch and then a an hour of so this afternoon, with a decent run down off the Crere de la Balme.

Been sussing out a possible route for tomorrow morning that will take me up to near the Col du Granon. Will all be about timing in the morning, icy first thing then hopefully good spring snow for the descent, all subject to the weather playing ball.

Went for a run this afternoon and this time found Pia & Stefan’s house. They’d only done a mere 1,700ms touring today, Pia’s first tour of the year with Stefan finishing off the guides course for the week. She confirmed that my route for tomorrow was ok, though  better to leave around 09:00 as today with a cold N’ly didn’t really start to thaw till after noon. 

Watch the damn wind honk tomorrow!

FROM ELAINE

Ahhhhh,,at last, some relief from keeping up with the Baylis thanks to Chris who snowboarded pretty fast but needed a break or two (unheard of on Baylis Tours). Didn’t mind even getting up to do the first lift as it is so fab having empty slopes to ourselves. So one coke/hot choc break this morning, back for lunch and up for an hour this afternoon.

Sitting at the café we were having a fashion moment talking about our attire – turns out that Baylis was dressed in Rab Jacket, Patagonia trousers, Head boots and Mountain Equipment gloves all courtesy of ebay. While my Patagonia jacket and Spider pants were both thanks to TKMax..

In fact both our outfits and skis and bindings were all less than Baylis’s ABS backpack!

THE DOG’S BLOG

Left at home, this morning. Again. Then left in the blue kennel on wheels, this afternoon. Again. So all I’ve done today is have some lunch, shed a few hairs, sleep a bit. Sometimes life’s a woman.*

* you humans would say, bitch…

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