Val D'lsere - Snow Report

I met up with Jason in Feltham the night before we left as we had arranged a coach to pick us up and take us to Gatwick.

I met some of the team of 10 at the "club" in Feltham that night and the rest the next morning on the bus. We arrived at Gatwick and snubbed the check in queues as we headed straight to our VIP check in agent. Once through security the whole team headed straight to the pub! It was 7:00am! I headed to "Eat" instead and had a sandwich and smoothie.

We were sitting in first class on the plane and the beer was still flowing! The team started to get rowdy....

Sitting on the transfer bus some of the guys pulled out the duty free Vodka and JD! They all started drinking.... the coach trip to Val D'Isere is 3.5 hours long... it felt like 7. By the time we pulled in to our hotel everybody on the coach hated us. I had not even taken a sip of alcohol but I was tarnished with the same brush. A lot of the guys the next morning could not even remember arriving at the hotel....

Things improved from here.

The much promised snow started falling and would not stop for three days. The first morning we met up with the guides in a huge group - they took us all to a slope and we had to go down one by one to be rated. There were four groups: Beginner, Advanced, Expert, Insane.

I was classified as insane as were three of my team making a total of 8 boarders in our group. A few of the guys didn't make the cut and were a little gutted - good thing though as our group was hard and you had to be quick! I was absolutely exhausted at the end of every day. Our guide was amazing and our time on the piste was almost non-existent. All day every day he would find untracked powder! I had some of the most incredible runs I have ever experienced in waist deep powder!

This hotel was amazing! Board-in, board-out and all drinks were free - Spirits, Wine, Cocktails, Beer, Coffee, Espresso. All food was free - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Bar Snacks - and we are talking gourmet here! The selection was incredible!

I somehow broke my ski pass and it cost me 5 Euros to replace. I paid 29 euros for a wax and edge for my board. All up - the only money I spent on the holiday (Apart from the inclusive package) was 34 Euros. If I was staying in the UK next year I would definitely never ever go independently ever again! Club Med all the way - you just cannot beat the value for money.

The last three days of the holiday was intense blue sky with no clouds and deep untracked powder (Although getting harder to find towards the end of the week).

One of the guys had a camcorder in his bag which was hooked up to a bullet cam attached to his goggles. We have about 3 hours of footage - once I get a hold of the DVD I will post some footage on facebook.

It was a fantastic way to say goodbye (for now) to the European Alps. The next time I board will no doubt be in New Zealand - something I am quite excited about...

Check out the photos here...