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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2884 |
11th March 2016 Skiing: Lelex Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: 33.15 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 34.25 mile (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Friday 11th March – ski ***** Lelex – sunny ( 34.25 miles, 33.15 kts ) A very mild night in the van but windy. We woke to what seemed like a sunny calm day :) It is our last day here before we move on – 5 nights in the same place must be a record for us and we are in need of a Lidl as supplies are running low! So we need to make a decision buy a full day lift pass or just three hours as our poor old legs are suffering a little! The next couple of days here is big for Lelex as there is a U18 male skiing Championship :) We were treated to a team of youngsters practising on the kids piste just along from our van:) After breakfast and packing a picnic we were still heading toward the telecabine at 9:30! There were people everywhere including kids from all over the Alps, we saw teams from Tignes, Aix la Bain, Morzine, Les Arcs, Meribel and Courchaval to mention just a few - many travelling many miles in mini buses to get here! When we got to the lift pass office we realised the reason for so many people standing about was that the cable car was closed due to high winds at the top – 70 km!!! – So after watching the competitors throw snow balls at the houses on the far side of the road for a while we decided to walk back to the van for a cuppa and a chapter from our great books:) All the time I was keeping an eye on the cable cars with the binoculars to see when the lift opened, by this time two coach loads of about 100 children had arrived for a day’s snow shoeing!!! After about an hour the skis appeared on the outside of the cars meaning it was open so we gave it several minutes to let the rush die down before heading over to get our passes at 11:15. As the resort was late opening, the slalom course cut the pistes in half and the Crozet chair was shut we thought they might offer a reduction for the day but no it was still full price:( so we went for three hours saving the princely sum of 10 Euros meaning our pass would run out at 2:23 - more than enough. As my gps has been playing me up I wanted to try and ski as many of the runs as possible to test it! So on reaching the top we started with the lovely green Lys down to the six seater and then up to the top of Monthoisey (1689m) where it was windy and chilly but great fun watching all the action as they set up the course for a Giant Slalom held over two red runs – the Rhodes and the Oeillets – we watched them drilling the gates and even spraying the piste blue to mark the course and it was a steady stream of lads skiing the course but everywhere else was very quiet and we had several runs all to ourselves, even the school party of snow shoers headed over to the kite area right out of the way! We thought the green Anemones would be shut as the slalom course went right through the middle of it but lucky there was a small gate left and you could ski across the course when free of racers! The next run down was by far the best run in the whole of the resort, the steep banked roller coaster run that is the Asters red :) and you can fly down here! This is our favourite run and we did this many times today. We also skied as many runs to the left as possible but it was very windy at the top and Lac Leman cloudy! We stopped in several places to watch the racers whiz down and saw some bad crashes but luckily no one seemed to be injured – no blood wagon despatched from the top:) With our time running out we had our last two runs down the Asters just missing a couple of old time Ski tourers walking across the piste ! We stopping at a picnic bench at the top of the telecabine for our picnic but it was too chilly to read as the sun keep disappearing behind the cloud! We then spent several minutes watching round two of the slalom and I managed to get some nice action pics before heading to the bottom on the now slushy green Fieret. We stretched our 3-hour pass to over four and a half hours making it another 5-star day! It was then back to the van for a well-deserved cuppa with bread and jam even managing to sit out in the sun for a while before having a wander up the town to buy postcards and look in the ski shops. No skiing for a couple of days as it’s the busy weekend and we need to shop so are heading to Lac Leman:) Saturday 12th March – travel, shop and sightsee – mainly cloudy :( We had a lovely lazy start to the day with a cuppa and read in bed. Around 8 we started to hear a few car doors opening and shutting and they were definitely getting closer. Soon our deserted car park was nearly full and there were skiers everywhere. By the time we had finished our breakfast we were beginning to wonder if we would be able to get out of our parking space because people were, in desperation, beginning to leave their cars along the snowy bank opposite leaving only a single carriageway for people to drive through the car park and nobody could actually get out of a parking space! Cars were coming in the no entry end of the car park and it was total chaos. What a difference a weekend makes to our sleepy Lelex!!! Amazingly the person next to us had left quite a gap (probably to avoid our doormat!) and we were able to escape quite easily. The chaos lasted until we were out of the village and then we were treated to our usual deserted roads and even three chamoix feeding in a field further down the mountain:) We visited Lidl at Bellegarde, it is sad that we know exactly where to find it!! After stocking up with food and goodies, filling up with diesel further along our route past Geneva and also filling all our water bottles too, we are set for the next week! We drove to Corsier on the banks of Lac Leman and on the outskirts of Geneva. We probably should have a swiss car toll sticker in our windscreen to even be here but we chanced it and ate our lunch right next to the lake. Had a wander along the little quay but it very soon turned into dense residential areas with no access to the lake so we turned back. The houses go from one extreme to the other, huge palaces to what look like council semis but probably cost an absolute fortune because of their location. Most of them can’t even see the lake and are so packed in it is ridiculous. The walk was bucked up no end by the perfect view of a tree creeper busily working his way up various tree trunks and branches:) We returned to the van and drove back the way we had come, stopping at Hermance where we cheekily stopped overnight on a visit last year. We wouldn’t get away with it now as they have clamped down on all the parking in the village. We parked and had a wander, watching a poor kite surfer struggling back to shore when the wind dropped and also watching planes making a steep rise into the sky over the lake, taking all those skiers home!! Carried on on the road which follows the lake to Thonon Les Bains where we know we can park along the lake road. Spent the evening people watching until it got dark – there was even a windsurfer – probably formula gear – out until really late. Photo Gallery here |
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