still more

Avalanches around the chalet last week 

Icicles on the washing line

Lea enjoying a forest walk

snow everywhere

where it's sheltered the snow sticks to everything, beautiful.

The latest news from the Pyrenees is that it has the number ONE resort for snow fall this year, Cauterets has over 5 metres so far, beating the number two position of Mammoth Mountain in the US of A.  Impressive for such a small mountain range and challenging for the maintenance teams here to keep the ski stations open and running.  

We’ve just had another good 48 hours of with strong winds, closing the resort for another day and the road down to the valley for fear of avalanches.  So far, close to the chalet we are OK, though they didn’t bother to clear the snow from the road, concentrating their efforts on the other side of our little valley.  

I did get an amazing day on the slopes yesterday, blizzard conditions but great fun none the less.  There was hardly anyone out and very few lifts open, but the pistes that opened were knee deep in powdery snow.  Our baker, from down in the village had a day off and asked if I fancied skiing, it was great to hit the slopes with someone new and a good skier who knows the resort well too.  We made the most of the morning, returning to the chalet for a late lunch, one of Mark’s amazing curries before heading back out to finish the day.  

I’m finally mastering the skill of skiing in new snow, it’s been an ideal season for it so far, and very different from enjoying the flat groomed surfaces that are usually there.  I got the last bus home, tired and a little achy from trying too hard just in time for a shower, change and dinner.  

Today has been entirely different,  I started at 7.30, baking croissants and sorting out breakfast for our guests, followed by an hour of ironing whilst the snow howled past the chalet.  The wind dropped, giving me the opportunity to start clearing a bit of snow.  I’ve given up trying to calculate the volume of snow that I move to any exactitude but am guessing a good 30 cubic metres each time it snows.  The wind blows and all the access paths get filled in and then the sides get higher.  It took a good two and a half hours today to clear the necessary paths and also uncover one of the cars, it ended up being a pointless exercise as the car couldn’t gain traction with it’s snow tyres and ended up remaining in it’s place outside the chalet.  My fear of not getting enough exercise is well and truly put to bed for the moment.  I’ll surely sleep well tonight.