Skiing 2011

Our skiing holiday is almost over.  We had blue skies and sunshine for the first two days, followed by cloudy and windy conditions for another two days, when the sky was heavy with snow, but we didn't get any fresh snow. Now late in the season, the slopes are not crowded, but there are many places of little or no snow cover, and the piste management is working very hard each night to make sure the most popular slopes are well groomed.

Here are a few photos to give you a flavour of our short trip:

  Aerial view of the French Alps from the plane.

Empty slopes and little snow on the mountains.



Ski lifts closed due to high winds.

Button lifts always open...

...but can be a little tricky to get off! (Here Andy should have come over the brow of the mound before releasing the 'button', which is on an elasticated strap. The poor skier following behind [in yellow] couldn't even make it onto the mound as Andy was still in the way.)

There are three types of lifts, 'buttons', chairs and gondolas, which a friend of ours refers to as buttons, benches and bubbles. 

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Inside the 'bubble'.

  Chocolate break in the warm sunshine.

'Apres ski' in the jacuzzi........"ahhhhhhhhhhhh".