A Day in the Life.

I have to start with a shout out to Jeff and Katie Peak for the birth of their son, Huxley Atturio Peak. A future river rat and NBA All-Star. Congrats y'all!!!

My week started with free skiing to Les Arches through untouched trees and seeing the biggest tram in the world. Yep, holds 200 people. You'll never see me on that thing with 200 people. The day was also sponsored by Kate McAtavey's Birthday Mix, if you don't have it, get it.

The next day off was spent skiing another ridiculous route to Champagny. Along the way we assisted in a helicopter rescue and drank white wine at a refugee that sleeps 46. I hope to spend a night here with some good friends to remind me of Polar Star.

The patrolling in France has proved again why I have the best job ever. After 40+ cm's of new snow fell a couple nights ago, we've been out working in bluebird skies. Loving every minute too. After O.B. and I finished our route we skied the line below. I went first. Then hauled ass to the left to outrun the avalanche I started on my third turn. Good times!!!!

Today we continued the PIDA work needed to get the Glacier Sector open. Overnight we had a lot of wind and it made for some good sized avalanches. Almost every charge had results that ran to the basin floor. My morning ended with some fun. Olivier Chenu and myself went to do a route under the Traversee TS that put us in a tight spot. Olivier couldn't get the charge to slide on the top of the snow as far as he wanted it to. He tried for a good 30 to 45 seconds to replace the charge. With only a minute and a half fuse on the charge, we had to grab what we could and hold on. I grabbed the flat rock I was standing beside and got a real nice hold of nothing. At this point the charge is only 15-20 meters away from us and I'm thinking the ride over the cliffs below us isn't going to be pretty. BOOM! We weren't moving, but the slide poured over the rocks we had knelt down behind and gave us a good white washing. Nico said he wished had remembered his camera when he finished watching us get blasted. The fracture line had broken above us and around the rocks where we were standing. When I looked down my skies were just the edge of another fracture. Man I love this job. The slide went over La Combe piste twice but without any riders, thank god!

Membership has its privileges.

Work ended on a good note last week. My last day of work we received 3o cms and the glacier was closed for the day. That next day was one of my best days of skiing.

Nico and I woke up fairly early and headed straight to the Glacier Chalet for coffee and cake. As we made it to the top of the gondola the crew working that day was just finishing up the PIDA. Long story short. We had the glacier to ourselves, the snow was stable, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The view was amazing. The snow was even better.

Our first two runs were non stop to the bottom form the outpost. Both lines were through a couloir with an easy foot of fresh blower. The first line I went "White Room" twice. The smile didn't come off my face for the next three days. The rest of the day continued as it started. We worked away from the the roast beef, and skied amazing lines with no other tracks in sight. EPIC!

Day two I skied alone. I went back to an area were we had done some work a couple days before. (Black and White photo). Again the sky was bluebird. Seeing the area without snow and clouds just dropped my jaw. After gape'n it up a while, I realized no was alone. Not a soul for as far as I could see. I made another great run and enjoyed the solitude.

My last day off I met up with Quick to ski to Champagny. Quick is another patroller working on the glacier with me. He also lives in Champagny, so I think he knew the good lines. We took the Glacier TS up to the top and the rest is history. Bluebird skies, good folks, excellent skiing, plenty to drink, and views you'll only see in France. This type of skiing really puts the soul of skiing in perspective. Great weekend.

The weather has been beautiful for the last few days with only a couple of inches of new snow. Looking forward to my next three days off. A couple free skiing days and another adventure to Champagny with Quick should make for a good weekend.

Helicopters+France= "Thanks! Opps I crapped my pants."

The snow just keeps coming. It's getting exciting and sketchy all at the same time. Yesterday (Saturday) the weather broke for a bit in the evening and it looked like today would be bluebrid. With the clearing came the colder, no freezing, temps and wind. La Plange's snow is changing daily and keeping ahead of the danger is tough. The plan was to get some P.I.D.A done before the danger went up anymore.

Our neighboring resort, Les Arcs, had 3 avalanches fatalities in a huge slide this weekend. 9 meters deep! It had been 24 hours this morning since the slide happened and they still hadn't found the third body. The area where the slide occurred is almost inaccessible, so no cats to help move snow. Lots of digging. Val Thorens, near Courchevel, also added a death this week.

I think the "higher ups" were getting the picture. The danger is going up and the snow keeps falling. Thursday, Nico and Jean Eves set off an avalanche that was 3 meters deep and at least 300 meters wide. That was just one of the two it took to clear the whole area between the Roche De Mio and the gondola mid-station. HUGE!

Friday morning the weather was partly cloudy and clear enough the get back at it. Olivier and I were paired up again and headed to the Traverse Chair for a round trip of dropping charges off the chair. Our next mission was up the Bellecote Chalet chair for another round of air bombs. Those three charges set off two big avalanches a meter deep under and ran below the chair. On our way back down we did another route in the same area under the Chalet chair. We were less productive this round but the good sized slide we did have broke above us and I almost shit my pants. Remember Thursday?

That day the rumor was that we were going to use the helicopter (heli, bird, ship, chopper, huey, etc) for some P.I.D.A work. YES! I was stoked to say the least, but it didn't happen that day. The weather changed again and no flying.....Until today.

We came into work early and packed up everything we needed for the morning rounds. Met the bird at the base and flew to our drop areas. I was in a crew with Olivier and Vins. The areas we covered were above the Traverse Chair on the southwest ridge line of Bellecote, and the area above La Combe.

I don't mind flying and I had been in a helicopter before. I felt like things were good and sat back and enjoyed the ride. It was when we circled the "knife" ridge where we were to land when I started to think. The pilot took a loop of the ridge line and I hadn't seen any "good" landing zones. Good thing I'm not a heli pilot, cause our asses would have been hiking. The L.Z. he did choose wasn't really a landing zone, rather a hovering zone. As I jumped out of the bird I noticed only one scag was on the snow and I'm standing on a knife ridge with three people. The heli takes off and the fun began. I couldn't stop thinking about the snow we were standing on. What's under it? What's stopping us from falling off this ridge with the snow? Which way do I fall if I fall? I don't know what was under the snow, the snow didn't move with us, and...you couldn't fall. We were all carrying 10 to 15 pounds of nitroglicern on our backs. We made our way down the ridge (I was last, and on both skis) to an area big enough for three grown men to put explosive charges together.

We weren't very productive today, but the trip was amazing. Our last area to control was a section above La Combe that's filled with coulior after coulior. Once our last charge went off we climbed down into the same coulior we had just thrown the charge. To ski. To access this last coulior you have to climb down a 15 foot ladder. IT WAS AAAWESOME!!!! I had been looking at this line since I first rode up to the glacier, and it was everything I imagined. Skiing down an avalanche path you just created is pretty cool too.

The forecast is for snow the rest of the week. I'll keep you posted!!

I almost forgot! Today a patroller in the Roche de Mio sector found a goat. Not a mountain goat, a farmer's goat that disappeared over the summer. The goat was found at 2000 meters in elevation. A lot higher then the farm he's from near Montchavin. La Plagne is thinking of using it as a avy goat.

Check out the video below!!!!

My Lucky Day!

I thought I was done with writing new posts today but mother nature had a different plan. I got out on the hill late today after taking my time to have some breakfast and write a bit. My plan was to ski back to Plagne 1800 from Bellecote and just enjoy the day to scout out what I hadn't seen yet on the mountain.

The sun came out as I hit the hill and right away I noticed the amount of avalanches that had happened around Plagne Centre. I made only a couple runs off piste. The snow was good and I felt good skiing. After a few long chair lift rides I noticed one more spot I wanted to ski before I went home. I should have gone home.

I finally made it to the Verdons Nord quad and saw some off piste snow that looked good on the way up. The angle wasn't to steep, less than 35 degrees, and the snow looked great. The line would be fresh snow for less than 200 meters until I would be back on a piste(run). It was going to be a great way to end the day. On the way up I watched 3 tourist ski and snowboard just to the right of where I wanted to ski, and thought how dumb it was to ski with 3 people at the same time off piste today. I was the dumb ass.

I headed over the start of the line and realized it was still a little boney at the top, so I was being a little careful for the first couple of turns. I made one turn and it was a bit rocky, but the second turn was butter. The third turn though, made this rumbling sound like a truck coming down the hill, but with the truck came an avalanche.

After I heard the rumble and saw everything around me fracturing and cracking, I tried to ski out to my left to no avail. It happened quick. I was caught, and all I could think of was SHIT. My skies were already under the snow and pulling fast. I was thinking to myself "stay up above the snow as best as possible" and just hope I don't get buried over my head. The ride lasted just a few seconds and only took me about half way down the slope. The rest of the slide carried into a gully or run out below me. I was buried almost up to my waste and couldn't believe I had just been in an avalanche. I moved quick to get myself out, while people yelled from the chair to see if I was alright. I told them I was and moved quicker than I ever have to a safe spot. My skis stayed on and my poles were somehow still in my hands. Hello adrenaline!!!

Afterwards I couldn't stop thinking about how Leo said that I would eventually get caught in a slide in France, I didn't think it was to funny. He made it sound like it was part of the game, and everyone had been in one. I had no plans to ever, in my life, get caught in an avalanche. And I know for sure I never want it to happen again.

I was very lucky that the slope was short and had a good run out. Or the ride would have been longer, with more chance of getting fully buried. I was wearing all my gear and my beacon was on. I took a pretty big risk today and don't plan on making the same mistake twice. The danger was only at a 3, which is still very dangerous. I let the draw of the snow and that famous cliche "just one more run" influence my decision. I'm still shaking.

This experience will forever influence how I ski off piste or in the backcountry. I was rushing to ski and didn't think out the consequences. Nor did I make a good plan of attack. SO HAPPY NEW YEAR, and BE SAFE OUT THERE!!!

In these pictures you can see my first few turns, before the avalanche started. You can see the fracture width and depth. The debris plied up down the gully. I stopped right below the top of the debris pile, you may be able to see my tracks coming out of the pile. If you click on the photos you get a better view.

Christmas Gifts!

The hat is from ski patrol and the Euro Cup is for winning the money twice. How sweet it is.

BEAUCOUP NEIGE!!!!

As I'm writing there are bombs rattling my windows. Heidi brought a ton of snow with her to France. Sorry Colorado!! Ever since she's been here the snow keeps piling up.

A couple of days before she arrived we had a pretty good wind event that left a 3cm wind crust on most everything. Vins and I had a good run early in the day, but it was tough skiing. By noon that day the clouds had moved in and it was on.

Plagne 1800 didn't get to much snow the next morning, so I thought it was going to be a normal work day with no new snow. After the morning routine of coffee and fresh bread in Belle Plagne, we rode up to the glacier on the Bellecote Gondola. To all of our surprise we had received about 30cms of new snow up on the glacier. POW DAY!

Remember the wind event? Not good. After the management types did their phone calls and we ate jambon and bread. It was decided no explosives were going to be used today, some agreed, most didn't. So it was decided we'd ski the most used areas and check the conditions.

The conditions were ridiculous.

Olivier(O.B.) and I were headed to check La Chiaupe. A black run with some surrounding aspects that had the potential to slide. All good. We skied some of the lightest powder I've skied. France's snow has a much higher water content than Colorado, so I was stoked when it was light and soft on your face. Colorado Style!! The rest of the day the French guys argued about policy and safety, I skied as much as possible.

Heidi came in the next day so I was planning on sleeping in a bit. Nope. At 7am I awoke to the avalanche control starting for the day around the Plagne 1800 area. AND another 30cm's of snow. Windows rattling, I had a quick cup of coffee and started digging Nico's A4 out from the parking lot.

The next couple of days it snowed on and off, with about another 10-20cm on Christmas Day. The glacier had been closed while I was off. In the locker room it sounded like we were going to do some P.I.D.A (avalanche control) that day since no one had a chance to do any control work the last couple days. We had our morning coffee and jambon before heading to work on the glacier. The glacier wasn't going to open today either. Only for control work and lunch.

Vins and I went together to do a route along some chutes skiers left of Le Chaiupe. We had no big results with any of our charges. Meteo and Jean Yeves were across the slope form us and had a couple good slides through the chutes below them, but nothing to serious either. Back to the top to ski and eat.

Everyone was back safe to the outpost by late morning, and the discussion started about the snow and how safe it really was. While Quick and Lionel were out on their route above the lower chairlift that serves our sector, they had a big avalanche release with only one small charge. Quick told me he thought the fracture line was about a meter thick, and 300 meters wide. And ran for at least 500 meters. HOLY SHIT!

The snow kept falling through the week and the mountains were really starting to look good. One day I went with Olivier S. on a cool route that starts by skiing a nice couloir, and then covers an area overlooking the la Combe area of our sector. See pics.

A day before Heidi left we got some rain below 1800 meters, and it put a mental damper on things that day. Then yesterday when I took Heidi to the airport it started raining again down in the valley. Not good. The whole drive it poured rain to and from Lyon. In Bourg St. Maurice it was full on springtime raining, cold and heavy.

I made my way back to Plagne 1800 and got about 4 switchback up the hill and it was DUMPING! 10-20 cm's had fallen since we left for the airport. Talking to Nico after work he said they didn't get up the glacier until 10:30am and it had already snowed 30cm's by then on the glacier. I asked what the avy danger would be today and Nico thought it would be at a four. That's 4 out of 5. Dangerous! If it hits 5, you just stay in bed.

It snowed all day yesterday and it's still dumping this morning. The bombs have slowed down and I'm itching bad. Over a meter in the last week, I think it'll be good. Happy New Year! to everyone. And come visit any time, it'll probably be worth it.

Mon copine arrives.

Heidi was here for the holidays last week. She arrived a couple of days before Christmas and was a real trooper. She was only scheduled to be here for a week, so I thought she'd get hit hard by the lag. No jet lag for this girl. Other than the first night she didn't feel too tired for anything.

The day after she arrived we hit the hill. We slept in and started late morning. It was 1pm before we got into skis. The bus system wasn't quite the same as it is first thing in the morning for employees. So we waited a little longer at the wrong stop, ran after the bus when we didn't need to, waited again in Plagne Centre, and finally made it to Plagne Bellecote. By this time, we were ready for food and cafe'.

Finally on the chair. Nico calls me to say that the glacier had closed that day and the crew was near Champagny having lunch. The visibility was pretty bad so the skiing wasn't great, we headed to Champagny for lunch after only one run. Heidi was thrown right into the French way of skiing. That means you ski when its good, or not, then eat with friends and maybe ski more if you can still stand. This day was about the eating and drinking. After a great plate de jour of duck filet, potatoes, and veggies we headed out to meet Sandy for a beer. A run down to the bottom of Champagny and up was perfect timing to meet Sandy. We also met up with Mikey Hovey. Mikey grew up in the Vail valley and is also living in La Plagne for the winter. Couple more beers and we we're headed back home to get ready for Christmas Eve dinner with Nico's fam.

Nico's family had invited Heidi and I to holiday dinner. Dinner was at Nico's mom house on the other side of the valley from La Plagne. Anyone who has been away from their family during the holidays can tell you how much it sucks. So having Heidi was amazing, and Nico's family made us both feel very welcome for the holidays.

Before dinner we all had some duck and goose foie gras with wine and bread. The foie gras was actually really good, I think Heidi and I agreed the goose was the better of the two. After some fireworks for Nico's niece, literally fireworks in the house, we exchanged some gifts. Actually, Heidi and I received a few gifts from the family and were very grateful. Of course we weren't expecting anything and only brought a bottle of red wine for dinner to give the family. It was very generous of them.

For dinner we had a boat of seafood. Crab, snails, muscles, shrimp, oysters, crayfish, more shrimp, more snails. All this stuff was in a small Styrofoam boat you could have put the baby in. I don't mind shellfish, so I housed as many shrimp and crab as possible. The snails/urchins were a bit hard to eat, but I managed to eat at least one of everything. Heidi, not so much. When I saw that boat I knew Heidi was in for a challenge. She likes an occasional shrimp or two, but a boat was going to be hard. She said the bread was really good.

Christmas day we decided not to ski and just take it easy. I hadn't really seen much of La Plagne other than Bellecote, we decided to do some walking around the resort and see what we could. We had plans to have dinner with Nico and Mikey, so we did some shopping for dinner and gifts in Plagne Centre.

The next four days I was scheduled to work. Nico had those days off and showed Heidi around the mountain. She skied some of the powder we have, ate calf head, drank wine, and really enjoyed the French culture.

After skiing each day we spent more time eating and drinking. A couple nights this week we went to friend's houses for dinner. Fondue with Jean-Yeves and his girlfriend, CiCi. Then Rochlette with Sandy and Emily. And of course Liv. Sandy is a very proud father and loves being with his daughter.

Having Heidi come visit so early was awesome. She made missing home, friends, and family much better. Knowing she'll be back soon helps too. Having a visitor who speaks English eases the pain of bashing my head into the wall because my French is still lacking.

I know Heidi had a great week and many times didn't want to go back to the U.S. Those teachers at Edwards Elementary are lucky they have such a dedicated principal, or at this very moment she'd be here on her 3rd cup of coffee and second pain au chocolate. LOVE YOU BABE!