Morzine 2010

Maz’s holiday — with friends — in Morzine 2010!

December 15th

Eurostar tickets arrive in the post.

December 18th

Morzine ski-season begins.

December 30th

Bags packed.

December 31st

New Year’s Eve at Slimelight!

January 1st

Walking near West Byfleet.

January 2nd

Departure, and a long journey.

Arrival with guest and Justine.

La Flamme for take-away pizza.

January 3rd

Shopping for provisions, equipment hire, purchase of passes.

January 4th

Walking around Lake Montriond in snow shoes: panorama 1, panorama 2, Justine. After the successes of last year, these snow-shoes or “raquettes” were bought from Le Caribou.

January 5th

Walking from Super-Morzine to Avoriaz (and back) in snow shoes: panorama 1, danger cliff, Justine and raquettes, helicopters, panorama 2, HDR, paraskier. Justine and I ended up quick-marching back to the Super-Morzine cabin lift down a cross-country “black” run. Hard work!

January 6th

Cross-country skiing from Pleney to Chavannes (and back): Justine modelling equipment, panorama at Pleney summit, Pleney sunset. My first time doing cross-country (of course, we hired the equipment from Le Caribou).

January 7th

Cross-country skiing from Super-Morzine to Avoriaz (and back): view above Les Lindarets. I navigated us the wrong way, so we never made it down the “red” cross-country run (which was actually a closed road).

January 8th

Rest day!

January 9th

Taking it easy, walking along La Dranse: pony 1, Justine and pony, pony 2.

Martin arrives: snowy England.

Piquard at La Flamme.

Geneva airport closed — too much snow causes the longest closure of the airport in 25 years. Lyon airport also closes after struggling with the weather.

January 10th

Justine departs: a video of her time in Portes du Soleil (password protected; you’ll have to ask her).

Carving up Les Gets: Martin happy in the snow, I get stuck in a waist-deep snow drift.

Runs: Crocus, Granges, Gentiane, Violettes, Ambresalles, Reine des Prés, Campanule, Eglantine, Choucas, Freux, Lièvre, Piste N, Piste B.

January 11th

Bollé glasses are too scratched to be of much use. Goggles!

Runs: Seraussaix, Proclou (many times, off-piste), Boulevarde des Skieurs, Bleue du Lac, Aller Chavanette, Fornet, Retour Chavanette, Combe à Floret, Les Tannes, Abricotine, Parchets.

January 12th

Food poisoning!

Martin hits Seraussaix, Super-Morzine and Avoriaz.

January 13th

Took it easy today on account of convalescing and very heavy snowfall.

Runs: Crocus, Granges, Gentiane, Violettes, Ambresalles, Reine des Prés, Chevrelles, Freux, Lièvre, Retour des Nants.

January 14th

The promised “return to Chatel”, with much off-piste at Les Combes.

Runs: Seraussaix, Combe à Floret, Les Tannes, Les Rochassons, Les Blantins, Les Combes (many times, off-piste), Les Rennes, Grd Plan, Proclou (off-piste), Q’mont, Tetraz (part off-piste).

January 15th

Lots of off-piste with “Marty” near Proclou for the upcoming video…

Celebratory meal as guest and Martin are soon to depart: assiette de charcuterie.

January 16th

Guest departs.

Video: Marty’s Snowboarding Antics. The video was shot entirely on an old Panasonic NV-GS27 and an iPhone 3GS, then edited in iMovie ‘09. Music was bought from iTunes. Sound effects come from Logic Pro Studio, iMovie and iLife packs. I filmed the off-piste “chase” scenes wearing my racing skis, but most of the footage of me is from the Chatel day on my monoski.

Morzine begins to melt.

January 17th

Martin departs.

The temperature in Morzine today is about 4°C, and after 12 hours of rain the snow conditions are suboptimal for skiing. Rest day.

Experimenting with my Canon EOS 350D, MacBook and QuickTime, I have managed to create a Time Lapse to Dusk in Morzine.

January 18th

All alone; gosh, it’s quiet!

Laundry and shopping day.

Morzine is melting in the sun.

The electric heater in the lounge area of the studio apartment has gone fzzt! so I’ve been trying to sort out an electrician.

Experimenting some more, I created a Time Lapse to Nightfall in Morzine, and include some time-lapse “howto” instructions.

Further experimentation in the realms of high dynamic range (HDR) imagery: Morzine by Night (-7 to +7 stops).

January 19th

Work day!

January 20th

Wax monoski.

Go to Caribou Sport to repair broken ski brake.

Snow! panorama 1, panorama 2, HDR.

January 21st

Pleney, Les Gets. Lots of off-piste action around Rosta.

January 22nd

Super-Morzine and Avoriaz. Further forays around Chavanette.

January 23rd

A day off from skiing, sadly.

Mucking around with electrics and heaters. Getting an electrician in Morzine is problematic.

January 24th

Hard day’s monoskiing around Chavanette. A couple of nasty tumbles attempting some of the trickier snow-cross areas, but all’s well. Expect to ache badly tomorrow.

January 25th

Took the Volkl P30 racing skis out today towards Les Gets. Poor visibility.

Support call at La Roset’taz, hampered by the heavy cloud and snow cutting most of the 3G data signal.

I suspect a data security breach at iContact.com.

January 26th

Slept really poorly the night before. Woke very late. Random support calls, HMRC nonsense to deal with, it was 11am before I was on the slopes!

Monoskiing technique today kicked arse. I felt really confident and it just came together beautifully. Tackled some trickier runs around Les Gets.

Really poor visibility.

January 27th

Invaded Switzerland! […photographs to follow…]

Returned to a purple sunset.

January 28th

Paperwork day.

January 29th

Paperwork day.

Rest day.

Photos around Morzine.

The electrician visited. A new heater will take two months to arrive.

January 30th

Blizzard conditions in Morzine, blizzard clears, overnight snow fall.

Mum and Dad arrive.

January 31st

Skiing near Les Gets: hot air balloon becomes a piste hazard, lunch stop.

February 1st

Skiing on Mont Chery: panorama from the top.

Another time-lapse video of Morzine.

February 2nd

Skiing around Les Gets: Tulipe.

February 3rd

Skiing around Avoriaz.

February 4th

Last day of skiing: dad’s awful lipstick technique, panorama at Les Rennes, sunset.

Videos of my parents skiing and me on a monoski.

February 5th

Mum has fallen ill, possibly with the same food poisoning that I had earlier in my holiday. My novelty French vocabulary is useful at the doctor’s surgery.

February 6th

The journey home: time to leave, dawn in Morzine, road to Thonon, Bellegarde SNCF, TGV rushing back to Paris.

February 9th

Mum and Dad leave, having recovered from their bout of illness… but they forget their house and car keys in Le Lézy!