Pow d’Isere was a new phrase coined this year for the sheer amount of snow we received in Val d’Isere at the start of January. Had you been a family with young kids maybe it wasn’t ideal, but for all us snowboarders here at Ticket to Ride it transformed the vast mountains of the Espace Killy ski area into a free riding mecca. This was what we’d been waiting for, and it all landed right at the start of the Ticket to Ride Val d’Isere courses.
Nestled in the heart of the Terantaise Valley in the French Alps, Val d’Isere is one of the highest and most snow sure resort in Europe. It’s also a global contender for one of the best areas on the planet, and it has something for everyone both on and off the mountain and this is why we operate here.
I suppose before continuing I should introduce myself, i’m Gwil the Val d’Isere Resort Manager back for round 2. Stay tuned to this blog for the next few weeks to stay in the loop with everything from Val. Running resort alongside me is Dave who is an ex Basecamper and currently on his Level 3 BASI training. He will also be writing the blog when I get writers block. Anyways, enough about us…lets give you the lowdown on what’s been going on…
We’re now almost a month in and it’s hard to summarise all the action and adventures of the last month. The first 2 weeks was spent getting to know each other, building up the snow legs and shredding hard. For the BASI boarders, all the time was spent training hard for the Level 1 Snowboard exam, and everyone applied themselves fully to get up to the standards. The fundamentals and central theme was the main focus, and the main challenge has definitely been learning to ride switch…it has provided some really entertaining bails though.
Now in the middle of week 4, the nerves and anticipation of the BASI exam has been replaced by a weekend of ecstatic celebrations as most of our guys flew through the Level 1 and are now ready to grab the bull by the horns and step up to the Level 2 training. Bring it on!
Alongside the BASI Snowboarders, we have a few powder hounds who are on the Snowboard Performance Course. These guys have been coming back off the mountain with face wide grins after exploring some sick lines that this playground has to offer. On the other hand they’ve come back like zombies being so tired from being pushed hard. Having received through off piste transceiver and snow pack training, they’ve been in riding hard and riding safe. Naturally not every day has been a pow day, so a lot of piste performance work has been done, plus some gnarly shapes have been thrown in the park.
Work hard play hard is definitely our ethic, and we’ve had some super fun nights out. New to Val this year is a bowling alley in the rather fancy Les Barmes de l’Ours pictured below. Its the kind of space you see on MTV Cribs in some multi millionaires game quarters, with bowling, baby foot, pinball machines, playstations and a pool table crafted by BMW that’s far nicer than most beer stained pub tables we usually play on. Naturally everyones super excited to be here, so we’ve been out sampling the cracking nightlife Val has to offer and once or twice ending up in Dicks Tea Bar until the early hours.
On the social side we calmed things down last week due to the exams taking place but that didn’t stop a couple of pints being sunk at 1 or 2 of chilled apres sessions. Val D’sere has an impressive ice driving and ice karting track so myself, Dave and 10 of the boys took advantage of that this week. We were told before the race started to avoid the cones, walls and each other or the race would have to be stopped. For about 6 minutes we had an awesome time slamming the pedal to the metal and drifting round the icy corners and until there were no cones left and half the karts were buried in a wall of snow and we were guided off the track and into the pit by an angry looking Frenchman, still, good while it lasted. We celebrated the end of the week and the exams with a huge apres session in an absolutely buzzing Cocorico, its fair to say everyone had a sick time and had earned themselves a beer or two.
On the calmer, safer side of social life one evening was spent in Rize Cafe having a very interesting avalanche safety talk from Henry’s Avalanche Talk http://www.henrysavalanchetalk.com. It was so informative and essential for all the guys to be fully aware of the dangers that lie here.
We’re going into week 5 and its the half way mark, around 1.5 m of snow is predicted. Things are going to get RAD.