Quack or Pow ?

  The room seemed colder than usual when I woke this morning and oddly my roommate was absent, as was his duvet.  It turned out not to be the cold that had driven him away but my snoring.

  The snoring was possibly related to what felt like a tennis ball sized lump under my left jaw (although on closer inspection it was actually more like a third of a golf ball).

  Anyway I resolved to see the local quack without delay.  That plan was promptly abandoned when I looked out the window and saw around 20 cm of fresh powder covering everything in sight.

  I’ve come here to ski and this was an opportunity not to be missed.

  In view of my new and exciting disease I dressed extra warmly (just as well considering the temperature had dropped to around minus 15) and headed out for an excellent morning’s skiing.

  This is the first time I’ve skied the Apache Recon’s in decent powder and had the confidence to make bigger, faster turns; the skis didn’t disappoint (definitely more of a freeride ski than the Rossi B2’s that I used to ski).

  The fresh snow had given the mountains a much more rounded, gentle look and everything was softer in the muted light.  Even the chair lift was quieter as we rose into the merest hint of a cloud composed of millions of frozen fragments, sparkling all around us.

  Magically beautiful.

  Seems to have been good for my lump too as that had shrunk considerably by lunchtime but I still stopped in to see the quack and got dosed up with anti-biotics and other powders and potions.  Roll on recovery.