Boo Hoo !

  It snowed a little last night but only a tenth of what we’d been hoping for.  Nevertheless some of us went down to the meeting point with our All Mountain skis hoping that we’d be able to get the higher lifts that weren’t open yesterday and still be able to find untracked powder.

  Unfortunately our ESF coaches had other ideas and we were to spend the day on the Méribel Stade, race training, so I had to go back and swap my skis…  Back on the stade my calves were more painful than yesterday and were getting worse rather than better so I decided to call it a day and went how to arrange an appointment at the physiotherapists.

  The diagnosis was that my Achilles tendon is OK as is the Soleus muscle but the problem lies with both sides of the Gastrocnemius muscles, particularly in the lower section where they join to the Achilles.  I probably suffered some micro-tears and it was very tight, probably simply from over-use (or at least more use than it’s been accustomed to).  So I had some massage and ultrasound and was given some advice on using ice, stretching, massage and anti-infammatories but basically what it needs is time to recover or in other words, rest.

Woo Hoo !

  It snowed overnight – about half a metre at resort level (1600 metres) and probably more higher up.  We were supposed to be slalom training on the Méribel Stade this morning but that was never going to happen with all that fresh powder so we went out with our All Mountain skis on.

  The coaches this week are Laurent and Yannick, who are billed as Méribel’s top race coaches so it’s a bit unfortunate that the forecast is for snow all week as that will make the stade virtually unusable although if there’s fresh snow on the day of the Test Technique it will still go ahead so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get some practice of racing in those conditions.

   Initially we all started off as one big group and went up the Plan de l’Homme chair and set off down Bosses, a black run that was already beginning to get a bit chopped up so we peeled off to ski off-piste down a steep route between the trees.  Fantastic powder, mostly knee-deep but waist-deep in places and you had to be careful to look ahead for gullies, boulders and bushes, all of which were disguised by the snow.

  I lost count of the number of times I fell but the snow was so soft every fall (except one !) was cushioned. Because so many people were falling, waiting for everyone in a big group was causing delays so we split in two.

  Laurent’s group took the Saulire gondola up to the first station (it wasn’t open above this point) and down Mauduit which although a red run might as well have been off-piste. The hardest parts were where the piste surface had been exposed – it was slightly mogulled and with the tracked out powder was very unpredictable.

  Hard work, exhausting in fact, and the visibility was bad, and it was still snowing to boot.  All in all it was not great for my strained achilles/calves so I packed it in after a couple of hours to go back to the chalet and put an ice pack on them.  The treatment seemed to have a positive effect so after lunch I put some ibuprofen gel on them for good measure and then got my slalom skis because we were going to the Méribel Stade this time.

   However when we got there we found that although it had probably been pisted last night the snow was so soft we couldn’t set a course because it would have cut up so badly as to be unskiable within a half a dozen runs.  So we just worked on technique for an hour until Laurent said we’d finish with an hour of free skiing, which meant more variable conditions, so I decided I’d save my sore legs for another day and went back for a bath and a hair cut (a number 2, since that’s the only choice).

   Another 40cm forecast tonight !

Leading the class (just like a real ski instructor)

  We started the morning by taking Truite down to Méribel; some of the class had gone down it yesterday afternoon when it was hard and rutted so were rather wary despite the fact it’s a green run.  It was in reasonable condition this morning having been bashed overnight so everyone found it easier than they expected (always good for confidence).

  Then we went up the Plan du l’homme chairlift for an easy blue and back up a button before I had a crack at leading the class down a rolling blue back to Mottaret – fortunately I didn’t lose anyone 😉

  I don’t think I’ll be with Loic tomorrow, which is a shame because I’ve learnt a lot from just observing him and he’s involved me in the instruction side much more than I’d anticipated.

   So a big thanks to Loic.

 

French Lesson

  The morning was spent shadowing again (which meant I got to wear an ESF jacket again !).  This time we took a chair lift up to an easy blue, which was the first time on a chair for half the group.  No-one had any problems getting on the lift although there was one faller getting off and two others had a coming together on dismount but stayed on their feet.  The blue run, though easy, had a road section in the middle which proved quite threatening to a couple of the group but they eventually got to a steeper section where they proved that they could turn where and when they wanted and in a narrow corridor when the piste is wider – didn’t do the road again today so hopefully they’ll remember tomorrow that they can do it.

  Most of the morning was spent on an easy blue with a button lift alongside doing exercises.  As the morning progressed so did the pupils’ skiing and we got off the lift higher and higher up until we were going to the top.  Because we were going higher, to steeper parts of the slope, the skiing seemed more challenging so we had to remind everyone how much their skiing had improved.

  For a few their snow plough turns are naturally becoming more parallel without being specifically taught to ski parallel.  It’s not quite the BASI way but for most of the group it seems to be working.

  After the lesson was over I went for a few runs for myself, while the slopes were quiet during the lunch hours.  Then it was back to the chalet for a lazy afternoon until 5:30 when we had our French lesson.

  I think my French is pretty poor, after all I did my O-level 30 years ago and haven’t had a lesson since but everyone else was struggling much more than me.  Nevertheless I’ll have to put in a fair amount of effort to learn all the conversational phrases we were taught so we could make small talk with our clients.

Shadowing

  We were asked to wear our BASI jackets while we were shadowing but mine hasn’t been delivered yet so last night I had to borrow one from someone who is shadowing in the afternoon.  Then I had to get myself over to Mottaret by 9:15, which meant the first lift from Méribel.

  As it turned out we were then given ESF jackets to wear while we were shadowing.  Cool !   I was placed with an adult beginners class with an age range of 14 to 40 and abilities ranging from complete, never skied before, beginners to 1 week 10 years ago beginners.  Mostly English and all English-speaking so I won’t be picking up much French vocabulary in this class although the instructor, Loic (low-eek), does talk to me in French half the time.

  We started on a very gentle slope with a rope tow and everybody quickly got the hang of sliding (straight running) and snow ploughs.  Rather than simply observing I was about a third of the way up the piste and the real instructor was at the bottom so we could keep the pupils more active by sending them back up to me as soon as they’d done their run.  With 14 in the class it would have been tedious to collect everyone at the bottom and go up all together.

  As the class found they could steer and slow down when they needed to we started going higher up the rope tow and getting longer runs.  We soon set up an easy slalom course using ski poles and I took over at the bottom, giving some feedback to the pupils as they finished their run.  We kept the course up for over an hour, using increasingly difficult exercises to get the pupils to go a little faster and to steer more.

  Then we were off to a drag lift alongside a steeper piste.  For at least half the class it was the first time on a button lift but fortunately no-one fell off.  The piste though proved more challenging; for some it was because they were getting tired after 2 hours skiing.  For one or two it was because they hadn’t mastered the snow plough turn enough to cope on a steeper slope and for a couple it was a matter of confidence.

  However everyone made it down and went around for a second run which was good – it gave me quite a buzz seeing everyone improve in just two and a half hours.

Chamois on the Méribel Stade

  Back to race training today; on the Méribel Stade, which fortunately was a lot firmer than it was a couple of days ago.

  The Méribel Stade is a lot steeper than the Mottaret Stade and I think I need a fair bit more practice on the steeper sections because my performance in the morning was pretty poor.

  It didn’t improve in the afternoon either – we did the Chamois and my time only qualified as Bronze standard; I’m going to have to improve considerably to pass the French ‘Test Technique’

Fatigue

  I’d decided yesterday lunchtime that I wouldn’t go race training today to allow my right calf to recover but I almost changed my mind when I tested it and found I could walk without any pain and it was only slightly tender when I prodded it.  In the end though I decided it was probably best not to aggravate it and that one day off now might prevent me having to miss more later.  Anyway, it meant I could have a bit of a lie-in and ski with Felix all day.  Yesterday morning only 8 out of the 18 turned up for race training, which was pretty poor.  Today there were 9 in the morning but only 6 in the afternoon.  It would seem that fatigue is beginning to affect attendance but it’s not physical fatigue so much as mental; I think many of the maladies are merely excuses and some people are finding that maybe it’s not quite as much fun as they thought it would be and they haven’t got the commitment to keep going when the going gets tough.

  Well it’s going to get tougher – the final weeks of the ESF training is going to be a lot harder and probably a lot less fun than it’s been so far.  Fortunately we have a ‘rest week’ next week, when we’ll be shadowing ski classes for half the day and have been advised not to ski the other half.

Dead Legs

  We did another timed slalom this morning.  As we improve so the courses get longer and more challenging.  Today I found it particularly challenging as my legs simply refused to play.  In fact an increasing number of people having been skipping sessions over the past week for no good reason and yesterday afternoon we were down by nearly half.

  The ESF coaches have recognised the increasing level of fatigue and have scheduled a ‘rest week’ for the week after next.  It won’t be a complete break, we’ll probably be doing half days possibly shadowing or snowboarding or even both (if we do full days) but we won’t be race training.

  I’ll be easing up a bit earlier as Felix is arriving in Méribel tomorrow so all next week I’ll be race training in the mornings and then skiing with Felix in the afternoons.  I’ll (we’ll) be staying in a different chalet and I’ve no idea if I’ll be able to get an internet connection there, so it might go rather quiet on the blog for the next week…

Technique

  This morning most of the group were back on the Mauduit piste for another GS course but four of us got special training. OK, we needed to work on improving our carving.

  Which suited me fine because my knees had taken a hammering yesterday and because frankly I do need to improve my carving.

  It was a good session and I felt that I did make progress (although there’s still a way to go).  It was also less stressful on the knees but even so I decided to take the afternoon off to allow the knees to recover (before they put me out for a week).

  So this afternoon I’ll write my blog (!), do some washing and maybe stroll into town.

Training

  This morning we went up Saulire and our coaches closed off the Mauduit piste and set up and GS course for us.  Mauduit is marked as a red run on the map but black on the map at the bottom of the Combe drag lift.  The course started below the steepest pitch (which definitely looked like it qualified as a black) but the slope was still fairly steep.  As Alain put it, we’re training and we have to give 100% every run.  We also have to take risks but then it’s sometimes quicker overall to take a wider line in parts of the course to set up the right line in a subsequent part.  Now I’m starting to get confused and I still have to remember to adopt a wider stance, get my weight forward and more on the downhill ski and get pressure on the front of the boot while angulating (with the knees) more while separating the upper body from the lower… Sod it, I’ll just take a wide line for the first couple of gates, then give it 100% and get into a tuck before I hit the flat section.

  Seemed to work quite well but before the next run the radio crackled into life and Alain was telling me to take a tighter line through the early gates.

  Having just watched two of the previous three starters fall quite spectacularly I wasn’t that keen but I gave it a shot anyway and was pleasantly surprised at the extra speed, until I hit the last three gates where the line I’d previously taken wasn’t so good at a higher speed but I got away with it.

  In the afternoon we were back at the Mottaret Stade and back on a slalom course.  As a result of the morning’s exertions I was making heavy weather of it and then the weather closed in and we found ourselves skiing down a slalom course in thick fog with tired legs.  Not a good combination so I was quite relieved when the session was over.

  Tuesday is the chalet staff’s day off so we have to eat out.  Last Tuesday we went to La Flambee, where, for €25, we had a very nice pizza but pretty awful wine.  Tonight we went to La Galette and eschewing the galettes I had tartiflette and a very nice cider; and for the same price it was much better value.

  Now I just need my poor legs to recover before tomorrow.