It's March, It's BASI Level 2, It's Snowing, It's Val d'Isere…

It's that time again, to let all those back home the going's on in Val d'Isere, and to hopefully not make you to jealous. Again it's been a great 10 or so days here. We have been blessed with sunshine, warm tempartures at last, which have been great but have been making the slopes a little slushy in the afternoons. However, all is back to normal, as I was at the lifts this morning at 8.30 putting up the Basecamp flag, wishing all the Level 2 BASI Skiers and Boarders good luck and introducing them to their trainers with no gloves on in -8. So the cold is back and the snow has arrived in perfect time. My snow shoes were buried this morning whilst walking the lifts, so I reckon we have had 10-15cm of the fresh stuff in resort and probably 20cm up the hill… Tomorrow is the day! It almost feels like it did at New Year and it's great to have a fresh dump again.

Last week was awesome, everyone enjoyed the sun, took advantage of their worldclass coaching and the trainee instructors were getting involved in their last week of coaching before their level 2. I am confident in everyones ability, whilst the next 2 weeks is going to be tough, I am looking forward to seeing some stoked faces in the taxi next Friday night on the way to the final of the Winter X Games Ski and Snowboard Super Pipe. There are some big names coming to Tignes this year and it's set to be an awesome few days. 

On Friday we went bowling in Tignes which was great fun and is proving to be very popular, it's a great way to get the group together and always causes a few laughs and of course a few complete misses… Ash Padmore took gold this week with a very impressive 151 on the score board, comfortably ahead of anyone else. On Saturday, we had I think the most fun day we have had yet. We decided to do a swap over day, so the skiers took to boards and the boarders took to skis. It was a day full of laughter, sunshine and a few tumbles. We headed to the nursery slopes as I thought this would be most ideal and it gave our trainee instructors a great chance to teach real life students, something that is very worthwhile a few days before the exams. The newbies all got on very well and I was very impressed, as a skier and boarder myself, at the progress of everyone. Have a look at the video and pictures to see what a good time we had. 

We have all found a new love in a band called The Ram Raid. They play at Le Chalet (an apres venue in town) every Monday, and when I say play, I mean play. They cover some of the all time clasics and enterain 50 or so people for at least an hour. I think I may have to pop my head in this afternoon for some air guitar and maybe even a cheeky beer. The next few weeks is going to be quiet with the level 2 guys all focussing on their exams, but it's a good chance to really get on the slopes, enjoy the new snow and gear up for this weekend and the next. 

This Saturday we are having a Basecamp Ski day with some igloo building and a session in the Follie, something to look forward to and a good chance for the BASI guys to have a bit of a relax. 

Until next time,

Enjoy the video, the song (one of my favourites) and photos… 

Tom