After a disappointing Sunday when the mountain was closed due to high wind and there was continuing confusion over constraints being imposed on lift passes, this afternoon turned out to be perfect. With other glaciers closed this autumn and the French holiday period in full swing the mountain was obliged to split up the day in to 4 hour blocks (some overlapping) to ensure everyone would have to opportunity to train or just ski. Ineffective communication made it tricky to find clarity on the limitations and the organisation - but a calm, clear sunny afternoon and excellent training snow/ice conditions made all of that stress evaporate with the sort of magic than only mountains can manage.
Bernie assisted me in getting the course set up quickly while Alex had some free skiing to warm up. He'd already had a telling off for predictably not dressing for mountain (winter) weather - but today he was lucky because the sun would keep us warm despite the cold maintaining good snow conditions. The new drill was excellent on the boilerplate ice and the high tech poles are very rapidly deployed. (The new key for removing them at the end of the day was brilliant too - all great time savers) Thanks to Bernie also turning up a bit early at the end of the session we were able to take down the course in 10 minutes flat and make the final lift with 4 minutes to spare!)
Full technical report for Alex here: data encrypted/password protected
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