The snow’s coming down in town and the forecast is for it to keep going all day. Which nearly makes up for the act we were due a load more on Friday but there’s high pressure moving north over the Med which has scuppered things. (Now, that’s a pretty geeky answer but we know you only deal in the cold hard facts).
Still, it’s pretty relentless snow this morning so cross something for us…
Meanwhile it’s been baltic in resort the last few days, but it’s also been blue skies and looking stunning. This stunning in fact:
|
Snow update…
Here are a couple of snaps in town this morning but we’ve also just been told they’ve got over a foot of fresh down by Lake Geneva (cheers Rob – and everyone else have a read of his splendid blog).
Slightly ironic that the weekend before the Ski Show in London next week, that we should get some snow in town. Could this be an omen for a good season to come? Who knows.
What I do know is that Laika will love it, as soon as I am released from the kitchen I am out for a walk. MORE PLEASE…..T
Today saw the realisation of an epic challenge – two modes of transport competing to see who can exhaust themselves first.|
Yes, the Lake Geneva Challenge. A group of cyclists aimed to do a circuit of Lake Geneva and a lone rower was planning on rowing the entire length of the thing.
It was all for charity, of course, and their ridiculous efforts raised over £4000. (Although you can still join in and make a donation….).
And here’s how it happened (there are some links to pictures here but thanks to the magic of technology all the pics are collected at the bottom of this blog):
- So the Lake Geneva challenge is on… Neil rowing the length of the lake, Gareth biking round it. Here’s the story: http://bit.ly/bSt9G6 #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge He’s off. Conditions are perfect, water’s like a sheet of glass. Spirits are high. I’m off to MacDonalds. N #
- To find out exactly how daft the whole #LakeGenevaChallenge is you can read James’ interesting article: http://www.planetski.eu/news/1951 #
- @planetski forecasting La Niña next winter http://bit.ly/d3Pget so I don’t think it’s too early to whisper about the 100 year storm again… #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Bikers have started “Depart Villeneuve: Jonas, Pedro, Ian & me – the Verbier Peleton” from Gareth. Only 175km to go… #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Gareth starts the mammoth trip round the lake… http://twitpic.com/2geq4j #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Three of the four cyclists ready to go. And shamelessly plugging sponsors… http://twitpic.com/2geqkb #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Stage 1 to Meillerie complete. Very windy and choppy on the water, but the big man’s powering on to Evian… N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge However, Gareth has passed Neil, and already made it to Evian. But he’s got 175km to go, Neil’s ‘only’ doing 75… #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Pedro, Jonas, Ian & Gareth just sped past on their bikes looking pretty red-faced – there’s a pretty stiff headwind. N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge News from the rowing finish line in Geneva: Toby’s there and it’s chucking it down – Neil’s rowing into a storm… G #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge The bikes are in Thonon les Bains with a puncture. 1 hour 40 minutes of cycling and 45 KM down. Only about 130 to go… #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge The cyclists are about to come back over the border into CH & “il pleut comme une vache qui pisse”. They’re very soggy. #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Lake’s choppy & boat wakes are nearly tipping Neil in, so 15 min rest. Happy to hear bikers are stuck in a rainstorm. N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge …and the Verbier Peleton has reached Geneva “wet through but smiling” according to Gareth… #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Stolen from Jonas’ Facebook update – Neil getting overtaken earlier…. http://twitpic.com/2gg4an #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Jonas has revealed they’ve stopped off for snacks at a petrol station.They don’t do that on the Tour de France do they? #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Wind’s whipped up waves & very difficult rowing. Calmer now. Neil’s passed halfway but he’s fighting the elements… N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Puncture number 2. The Verbier Peleton is just outside Nyon. Spirits are “strong, plus the sun’s come out” says Gareth. #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Neil’s rest to wait for calm water has paid off and the lake is like a sheet of glass again. He’s raring to go… N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Neil is powering past Yvoir (which is beautiful). It’s looking good: sun’s out, no wind. Like jam, he’s on a roll… N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Neil’s about 50km in, with about 25 to go. As our nifty map shows. Enjoy… http://twitpic.com/2ghuhn #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Neil’s been rowing through hell in huge waves but perfect sunny conditions now. In fact, I’m going for a cheeky swim. N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Verbier Peleton has finished in the last few minutes. Cracking effort & pictures to follow… G #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge The boys collapse after their epic 175km trip… G http://twitpic.com/2gi6gb #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Neil is pushing through the pain barrier – hands are shredded, blisters on blisters. But taped up and still going… N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Waiting in Geneva at the Hotel Kempinski for Neil’s triumphant return. Krug’s on ice & cigars are ready. Not long now.N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Neil might still be on the water but the internet is already buzzing with news… G http://www.planetski.eu/news/1966 #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge Have just spotted the big man approaching the finish. SO close. 11.5 hours in that boat – I’ve got a tear in my eye. N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge He’s done it – Neil has climbed his Everest. OK, he finished a while ago but we were so excited we forgot the tweet. N #
- #LakeGenevaChallenge So to conclude: 75km in 12 hours(ish). Legendary. Impressed? Please donate at http://www.justgiving.com/Neil-Aherne #
Firstly I would like to apologise for not keeping you good, loyal folk in-touch with the goings-on in Verbier.
But there really is no point in keeping you up-to-date on nothing. We lead a tranquil, slow-paced life here in the summer. Really – nothing has been going on for the past week.
So it’s good to see town buzzing again now, it’s also good to have a couple of weeks of solid sunshine. Thats much more like it.
As well as the festival we have a weekly market on every Sunday. The usual deal, pretty much cheese, honey and knick knacks.
But this week there were a few familiar faces with stands; Lucy Dunnet from donut designs had a number of her fab painting on show (see below). Also Jo Chandler from Petit Verbier stall lined the street offering face painting and a play area for the kiddies.
Once we made it up to Ruinette we waked over to the area by the Restaurant La Marmotte. We came across what can only be described as a Val de Bagne version of the Bath and West show. A proper agricultural shindig complete with the fizzy white wine (Fandant) and tonnes of melted cheese (Raclette). Just as were heading off the ‘main event’ started; The cow fight.
Now I thought this happened in Sambrancher or Le Chable at the end of the season. A kind of gladitoral going home event for all the ‘etrangers’ of Verbier. From what I gather this is qualifying. Which is hilarious. Not only that, I have recently found out there are different classes and weights. This perticular event was for 2 year old virgins..! I am not kidding.
Don’t get your hopes up, it’s a slow process, if the process actually starts. A number of the ladies were not keen to fight so were disqualified. Once a fight does commence there is no understanding of the rules. Only one thing can be counted on, one will win and one will lose. How they actually manage to determine this is completely beyond me….
|
|
|
|
We were on a mission to find a picnic area for some clients at the Lodge, the brief was to find an area near a lake but not normally accessible. Sounds easy you say. Well in actual fact it’s not as easy as it looks. The first problem is that you have to find some way of getting up high. Not all vehicles can make it due to the rugged road and snow residue.
Thanks to the kind people at Ski Armadillo we managed to borrow their Polaris off-road vehicle called Boris. As we climbed up from Ruinette we came across a pile of snow that stopped our progress completely. It wasn’t a complete waste of time as we trundled round to La Chaux where we found the perfect spot:
We weren’t the only ones enjoying the ride. We decided on the cheap way of walking Laika:
It’s a natural question to ask isn’t it?
You’re talking to someone who’s fundamentally only doing a job for the winter. You’d ask a the bloke who drives a road-gritting lorry the same question. You’d ask the guy at the lift station (if lifties didn’t carry such an air of grumpy unapproachability). And you certainly ask a Ski instructor. Or a reindeer. Or Santa’s elves. Or perhaps our Kato.
So what are we doing?
Well, in an ideal world we’d all be sitting in the sunshine on the T-Bar terrace getting sun-burnt, but in this far from ideal world we all disappear off for a moderately nomadic few months.
So Nicol’s dashing between his building project in Le Chable and work all over the UK, Kent’s off touring round Sweden running the family catering business with Jenny and bringing his winning smile to the world of hotdogs and beef burgers.
Olly (who’s thirty today – wish him a happy birthday if you get chance) is off to New Zealand to teach out there for the Southern Hemisphere winter. Rich and Gina are back painting houses (and Rich is probably skiving off a lot to play golf).
Toby’s manning the office and taking Laika for walks in a rather soggy Verbier, Westy’s cooking in the dungeon beneath T-Bar and I’m in an equally rainy Amsterdam writing ads for Heineken (the research is killing me…).
But despite the fact that summer is only just beginning (well, it’s supposed to be here now but seems a wee bit delayed) our conversation’s already turned to winter 2010/2011, pre-season training, new skis and what colour uniforms we should be wearing.
Maybe if the sun decides to grace us with it’s presence we’ll get the bikes out and try not to wish away summer again. But it’s snowing up top today and you can’t help wonder what the glacier’s looking like in Saas Fee…
It reminds me of a quote by Chris Laidlaw, a Kiwi journalist. He was writing about Rugby, but I’ll plagiarize it a bit here…
“[Skiing] may have many problems, but the gravest of them is undoubtedly that of the persistence of summer.”
Not long left now though – only four and a half months before TeleVerbier think about starting the lifts at the weekends…
