As promised, it's the first real riding update. But first, an appeal....
Wherever you are, spare a thought for Ali "short straw" Bayne. Arriving for his three-week stint in Brides a day late due to a cancelled flight, his trip out had more than its fair share of lowlights, including a smashed camera screen, a lost liftpass, and a botched backside 180 that resulted in a hellishly bruised arse. His streak continued right to the day he left, where even the frustration of his five-hour delay at Chambery Airport was surely nothing compared to having to leave town during the biggest dump of the season so far. Nae luck Bayne....
Wherever you are, spare a thought for Ali "short straw" Bayne. Arriving for his three-week stint in Brides a day late due to a cancelled flight, his trip out had more than its fair share of lowlights, including a smashed camera screen, a lost liftpass, and a botched backside 180 that resulted in a hellishly bruised arse. His streak continued right to the day he left, where even the frustration of his five-hour delay at Chambery Airport was surely nothing compared to having to leave town during the biggest dump of the season so far. Nae luck Bayne....
Hamish, Jono and Tom drop in
Yes, the powder was back, but the visibility was horrendous. Hamish and I called up Tom Myers, a friend and former Meribel seasonnaire, who was out for a week and could lead us to the good spots. Being such a huge area, Meribel has plenty of quality off-piste, and a lot of it is accessable right from the lift without the need to hike. With the pylons as our guide, we lapped a couple of chairlifts which had seemingly endless fresh lines, even into the early afternoon. At lunch we met Jono Hunter, another Aberdeen rider, and headed for the tree runs on the steep face under the Loze chairlift. Just as we got set to drop in (right about when Bayne was finally boarding his flight), the sun came out, and pretty much stayed out all afternoon. After a couple of hours in which we hadn't even come close to sussing out all the natural hits and drops, we finally called time on one of the best powder days any of us had seen in a while.
Jono underneath the LozeThe rest of the week saw some weather fluctuations straight out of Al Gore's nightmares, as the temperature rose from the minus twenties to a toasty 8 degrees in the space of a day. It was time for a long overdue park session. Over the last few weeks the Moonpark had been gradually taking shape, but with so much terrain to explore we had never dedicated any serious time to it. Hamish, myself and a handful of staff from the hotel did laps of the perfectly groomed park in the sun until the knees couldn't take any more.
Knuckle-bound....
Joining us in the park were huge clusters of army, navy and air force troops, decked out in matching garb and preparing for the Combined Services Snowsports Championships. We watched as the squaddies, male and female alike, all stepped up from basic freestyle to the bigger booters in a matter of days. They had no doubt been encouraging each other with threats of a Full Metal Jacket-style soap-in-socks beating for whoever didn't man up, and the results were impressive. As one trooper put it: "it beats being in Fallujah, anyway".
Yesterday the powder returned, so the park sessions are once more on hold until after the freshies are gone. Til then....
Duthie
P.S. Adios Hamish Duncan. Don't think Brides Les Bains was HD ready. Thanks to you and Bayne for the good times....
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