Skiing.

It was a good trip, and an interesting trip...

Les Arcs (the area, not Arcs 2000 which is a bit grim) is great. Good and very varied slopes, lots to do in whatever conditions, and easy to get around. Lots of woodland runs and an inspiring focus in the Aiguille Rouge, with a classic 7km black/red run with 2km of descent from 3200 to 1200m - did it without stopping first try and my legs nearly fell off :).

The view from Aiguille Rouge on the last day, with the 5% of the entire resort that was above the cloud...



On the other hand, the snow was pretty challenging this trip. There hadn't been a dump for a while, so the first few days were pretty icy mogul fields. Then there WAS a dump and it became fresh powder obscuring ice moguls. Eventually this settled to good powder / good pistes, and poor visibility. But still there was plenty of good fun to be had. Aside from the Ag Rouge, the highlight was being the 3rd person down (after ski patrol dudes) a freshly groomed isolated red run just as the swirling mist cleared to the morning sun. Perfect fast cordrouy, ace :).

I learnt a few things this trip:

1. I haven't magically improved since the last time I went skiing, over a year of, errr, no skiing at all. Funny that.

2. It takes me a few days to warm into it but after that I can keep going well.

3. I'm still utterly crap at jumps despite liking doing them. This was partly the hard snow, but also I realised that when I was better at jumping, it was when I was regularly visiting a dry slope and practising every couple of weeks. Haven't done that for years so no wonder I'm not so good now!!

4. Despite doing running recently and being a bit fitter, I still find my legs are neither strong nor bouncy enough. Should do some more weights I guess.

5. I like powder a lot more than I did previously. Had never really got into it before, but after the ice moguls it came as such a refreshing change that I got into it this time, especially the steeper stuff. This is good.

Overall I think I'll do some more practise before going next time, to set myself up a bit better.

It's all good tho...