Well, some of you may have noticed a very abrupt end to my blogging to the season … yes, as you may have guessed, the injury monster came and paid me a visit … again. Same knee, same type of injury but this time, I’m gonna be a good boy and get it seen to properly, so its keyhole surgery for me in 2 months time!

So here are a few of the last moments had in Vallandry … hope to see you all again next year and in the meantime, if you want to stay in touch you can find me on Facebook under Jan-Erik Paul or you can aways visit my business site at www.e-creation.co.uk. All the best and wishing you an amazing year next year …

In spite of a good fall of snow, I do appear to have the amazing ability to find every exposed rock available to destroy the bottom of my board with … nothing a sharp knife can’t fix in this situation though.

This is what I’d been trying very much to avoid - but thanks have to go out to the mountain guys at Les Arcs for getting me off the mountain with the minimal of fuss - and to Filip for helping me to sort everything out afterwards when I couldn’t walk - I could have easily starved to death (actually, not really, not given the size of my belly!)

And thanks to everyone who came to say goodbye mid-March - I can’t believe I missed all the snow!

And the party was super fun in spite of the cripple who attended (though I do think the crutch was discarded by the time half the bottle of vodka was gone?)

Here is the last of the good times, before the pain started. Incidentally, for those who are wondering what actually happened … well, remember the cliff of death? I decided to take an easier route down into 1950, and unfortunately, even though this snow looks super amazing, there were some ‘bald’ patches - actually, there was one bald patch, under a lovely cliff, which I happened to go off, expecting some lovely fluffy white stuff (good job I wasn’t going for a front-flip again) … and it wasn’t there … nothing … just rock and ice. Not a good thing when you land with a straight leg … so, Tibia gets pushed into the knee and its game over for the season - BBBOOOOOOOOOOO! But one last memory of the fun of spinning 5s in the park …

The snow is finally here - it took a while to arrive, a fair amount of snow dancing - and most probably some serious re-arranging of the jet stream some 5 miles above our heads. After 6-7 weeks of scraping around on ice in the morning and slush in the afternoon, everyone has been out playing in the 30-40cm of powder on offer and off of a sudden, areas that were previously inaccessible have become open game, so my friend, Filip & I decided to do some exploring.

First up was the face next to the 1950 to 2000 gondola, the Cabriolet - I have mentioned this little run several times before, but it was epic - deep and soft, the perfect way to start the morning. Of course, thing never end up staying simple, do they? And this is without the influence of alcohol in any shape …

So it all started with a rather innocent comment regarding a cliff face under the Bois de L’Ours chairlift that all season we’d been saying you’d have to be insane to attempt. Well, while taking the chair up on this morning, I happened to say “that looks really well covered - you know, I am sure that I have heard of someone doing that face once…” So as it happened, 10 minutes later, we were hiking up the side of a rock in order to get a view over the ridge to see how ’serious’ the face was when looked at from the top (things always seem to look different when you have to fall down something, rather than climb up it!).

Ok, so it was pretty bad. But if trees can grow on a face, its always a good sign, isn’t it? So, one last chat to my friend before I start my decent into onto the cliff of doom. However, Filip at this point is not a happy bunny - ”Um, is this a good idea?”

I have to admit, that at that moment, I did agree to a certain degree, but given the rather precarious position on the cliff, the most sensible approach did appear to be to simply go down. So I started my climb down … what I didn’t realise, hear or recognise from this point on, was that some of the mountain security had seen us climbing onto the cliff of doom and had come to get us.

So they were shouting (supposedly) “get off, come back, its too dangerous, too dangerous” … Filip heard, I however, was now 40 metres down, and simply heard “I’ll film from the bottom” … in fact, what Filip was shouting back was:

“I’m not going … f*** my friend!”

So, down the face I went. It has to be said, it was some of the scariest riding I have done, but all that ends well is good as far as I am concerned. So, is there a moral to this week’s blog? Firstly, there is lots of snow in the alps again - yay! Secondly, lots of snow does not make a bad place good … in fact, when the snow starts falling off the mountain, it seems worse than bad.

Its raining - booo. So I am afraid that every-one’s snowdances haven’t worked … yet. Because there are rumours again of snow arriving next week and they seem a touch more substantial. So when its raining, what do we do? Well, firstly, I would not suggest sending your friends out to buy you food in the morning if you are hung over …

Bread and pate are a great way to start the morning, so I think “yes please” and when asked by the guys if I wanted anything from out, replied with “please grab me a small piece of pate, maybe Foie or duck, whatever you can find, and I’ll give you the cash when you’re back”. So, when they came back 20 minutes later looking a bit white, I was confused … in a hushed voice the asked “ummm, do you not find pate rather expensive out here?” - “no” my brain answered, thinking of all the wonder pates I’d had for 1 or 2 Euros - that’s 2-3 breakfasts!

“Why, how much was it?” to which they answered “16 Euros!” - “What?!?!! You crazy skiers! (I assumed at this point that it was a skier mistake or hopefully a skier joke to try to make me fall out of my bed and hurt myself) How much did you buy?!” - to which they brought out the smallest block of pate I’d ever seen … so, all I can say, is if in the Alps, be careful when ordering pate, cause somewhere in France, there is someone living in a castle … with a pool … and tennis courts … and 9 Ferraris … and 12 butlers … and probably his/her own private ski resort actually … who makes pate.

Right, anyhow the ShowLove party in Vallandry started off with lots of love being show (although I didn’t show much love for my body when I started the evening playing a game of 4 finger and a thumb with a very sharp knife. For those of you who don’t know the game, get you hand, put it onto a table, spread fingers and thumb, then get a a knife and see how quickly you can stab the spaces in-between in 1,2,3,4,3,2,1,2,3,4 order - but don’t make the mistake of finishing the bottle of toffee vodka beforehand like me … one stabbed thumb, lots of blood, not the best start to evening).

So anyhow, Alli and Kurt were showing lots of love, though I am not convinced that Kurt was so happy with the public display of affection.

But every-one’s goggle marks are looking good over here, so that’s all super cool, though worrying for Feb time. Don’t worry, I won’t go on about global warming again. So, of course, in normal Alps style, the evening degraded quite significantly as the alcohol flowed. I have to admit, that things are a little hazy, but my current recollection is a follows:

1. Finish toffee vodka at home 
2. Stab thumb with knife
3. Finish toffee vodka in Mont Blanc
4. Lick peoples’ necks in Mont Blanc (this I only know from photos)
5. Go back to make smoked salmon, Noilly Prat & caramelized shallots over pasta
6. Go to small jacuzzi party - so small, I can’t find it
7. Go to next jacuzzi party with 15 people - again, no jacuzzi
8. Play guitar in public for 20 mins (I don’t know how to play the guitar)
9. Video some swingers (thankfully just introducing themselves, rather than live in action)
10. Get involved in a car accident
11. Make it home and lose remaining barcards for Mont Blanc in game of poker
12. Discover I’ve been wearing a pink and grey hat all night - not mine
13. Wake up naked except for a fluro orange wristband - I assume I did not lose my clothes in poker, I was responsible

So, yes, that’s another night in Les Arcs - scary bit is I haven’t been boarding since (mainly cause of the rain, or that’s my excuse anyway). So, bring on the snow - and let the riding begin again!!!!

Ok, I’ll admit it - I’m desperate and in need something really badly.

Snow … its been close to 4 weeks and the lovely people at the weather forecasting offices around the world (I am guessing that the forecasting is being done from the other side of the earth as reflection of their current accuracy) have been promising snow for about 2 weeks now, but then as each 6 days forecast becomes the 3 day forecast, the snow seems to magically vanish from their little charts. Do they not understand the psychological damage this inflicts on those of us waiting for our next fix? Great for our tans though - we are all starting to look as if we’ve been to Greece rather than the Alps - though the panda marks are perhaps a bit of a give away.

In all seriousness, the snow situation is not good. Yesterday, it was 22 degrees at lower elevations and I’ve seen several people riding in t-shirts at higher elevations! Surely this can’t be February, can it? Whilst all the slopes are rideable, little rocks and stones are appearing, along with some patches of earth on the sides of the slopes. Higher up, the snow is holding up, but its not going to be too long before the ride down becomes not just slushy, but muddy.

I could go on about global warming - Finland has been having one of its warmest winters ever, England is having record highs - but there just isn’t anything funny to say about it. I guess the best thing is to hope for a scorching summer in the UK this year!

We still have snow though - don’t get me wrong. So if you’re coming out to the alps, bring some lightweight layers, lots of suntan lotion & sunnies - but please, please, please do a little snow dance before and let the snow gods do their thing. But I’ll leave you with one final photo taken about 2 hrs ago on our night ride home from 1800 … any ideas what might be creating this effect?

There have been many dark periods in the history of man but the many of us forget the most recent one - the 80’s. After all, this was the time of Dallas, shoulder pads on ball gowns, Richard Simmons, t-shirts with suspenders & a suit jacket, monoskis, headbands and a whole host of general fashion disasters.

However, there is one horror of horrors that has recently revisited the slopes of Les Arcs … and my eyes are still bleeding … the 80’s “onesie”. The “onesie” I hear you say, but what can that be? Well, in the colour blind, fashion blind, money driven, insane world of the 80’s, not only were snowboarders considered uncool, but the one piece snow suit was the height of fashion … so my morning of terror began first thing in the morning at 10am when my sleep was rudely woken by the the slight humming sound and the feel of powerful, ultraviolet rays on my face created by what appeared to be a small radioactive experiment in progress in my living room:

Now I am never one to criticize a friend for what he or she might be wearing, but on this occasion, my natural sense of propriety felt sufficiently attacked that perhaps, in my haste, I uttered a few choice words, perhaps “if god hadn’t meant for humans to have eyeballs then maybe what you are about to inflict on the world again could be justified”.

But it got worse, escaping from my flat in fear of suffering some form of mutated sunburn, I found that the infection has spread onto the slopes …

Ok, now I have to admit at this stage I was starting to feel slightly left out. So back to the chalet for a quick change of clothes, into a rather fetching and  elegantly simple outfit courtesy of Burton and a one Mr. Sean White …

So as you may have guessed, its been a little while since we have had snow. All the pockets of powder that we thought were secret are now gone and the slopes are started to show brown patches and rocks - and its Feb. This global warming thing seems to have quite some merit to it. We are expecting 2-3 cm of snow tonight thankfully, though it won’t be enough to last more than 1 hr with the French holidays on now … but at least it will be nice to see some snow falling from the sky. If your coming out to Les Arcs soon, try to stay high and bring your sunnies, cause it looks like the high is here to stay for a while …

Snow - that wonderful, fluffy purveyor of pleasure is back in fashion this season after a 2 week hiatus - so its all good news - except the dastardly sun is wreaking its powers upon is turning it into ’sludge’. So how come, we always seem to want what we can’t have?! When its snowing, everyone is saying “I really wish I could see what I am riding in … that’s enough for the day” and is off to the closest place that sells hot wine or something stronger. Then, the next day, when the sun is out, all the snow is scraped off the slopes into large piles of femur snapping pleasure, everyone is waiting for the next snowfall?

I guess its just our nature … we always seem to want what we can’t have - however, as I look out of the window at a blue sky, freshly pisted runs & a ticket back to England this evening, I don’t think like that. Today will be a day of spinning 5’s off cat-tracks into powder, followed by a quick drink with friends, a drive to the airport & a chicken korma from my favourite Indian back at home. With flights being so cheap, its easy now - you just head back to the UK for 4 days, enjoy some creature comforts (why is it that takeaway Indian is one of the things that everyone seems to miss the most about England?!) and then back to the snow before every destroys all your secret off-piste powder stashes.

I guess what I am saying is that although being out in the mountains is amazing, its always nice to come home … so for those of you off to the Alps now or in the next few days, enjoy - because the snow is awesome and its due to be sunny for at last a week, and I’m actually not jealous … 

Arrhhhhhuuugggh. Not feeling 100% right now - but that will all be fixed by snow, sun and sliding in about 1 hr when I get back on the slope. I know, its 1pm already, and I am being LAAZZZYYYYYY … but its been a crazy 24 hrs.

Yesterday morning met up Jo, a skier friend, to hit some more aggressive lines (Jo has been teaching since the age of 18 and is a pretty sick skier). Some bits of piste exploration led us over to a long traverse under the Varet in 2000 towards a big powder field - all great till the cliff.

So now what? Being the industrious sort of lad that I am, I figured out that there was a ‘do-able’ drop-in, but rather than risk taking everyone else with me, they headed off to the left down the slope whilst I had the lovely job of dropping down this …

After doing a bit of filming above 1950 of some wind-lip drops (which incidentally, for those of you going out to 1950 or 2000 and looking for a really nice bit of off piste that is steep, aggressive yet very, very accessible - try the face next to the Cabriolet lift that connects 1950 with 2000 - its awesome), it was time to head home for some dinner and preparation for our visit to 1800.

A 40 minute walk across pistes is actually not that bad when you’ve had half a litre of vodka - come to think of it, most things are not that bad, including dancing like a lunatic, jagermeisters, kebabs …

However … this is one thing that is bad - very bad.

Losing control of a bum board at 4am on a cat track, bouncing off the nice gentle blue run and onto a black run you didn’t realise was there, getting to 60 mph (roughly give or take 2mph) and then taking off into off piste in the dark. Come to think of it, all of this was in the dark! Of course, in this situation, your natural instinct will be to thrown yourself off the bum board - this is not correct. Do not allow your self preservation to prevail - thats just boring - after all, I am still here writing this … just about and with minimal damage.

Yep, its all fun - even in the morning when the evil god of head crushing pain arrives to tap you in the face … because its another day and we can still ride …

Seasons - they can go one of two ways - they way of the drunkard who drinks his/her season into oblivion in a series of hazy nights followed by days of brain-pounding torture which precludes riding across snow that wants to rattle every last brain cell till your head explodes, or the more reasonable, sensible drinking approach which enables 9am starts followed by full days of riding. Luckily for me, being half Finnish genetically, I have the advantage of not really getting hung over.

That said, last night was my last ‘big’ night for the month (or so my brain is saying today) … why? Well, like all good social evenings, things always seem to start off sensible and quiet in resort. Ok, the opportunity to win a bottle of tequila for the best mustache at the Flying Squirrel did perhaps hold the slight promise of things progressing in the wrong direction - further not helped by a 1 Euro a shot happy hour at 1am (who has happy hour at 1am?! Its just not natural!) - but we were just starting with a home cooked ‘take-away’ curry for 7 - so how could it go wrong …

I guess I figured we were in trouble when the hat making process was overtaken by the suggesting that we skin ’shrewy’ and use him for a mustache. Perhaps that needs more explaining … the other night, we discovered a shrew in our bathroom. A lovely little chap he was, but not in the best shape (maybe it was the climb up our stairs - we are talking 8 flights here), so after given him a little food and some warmth for the night, we let him go outside, only to find him dead later that day. A memorial service was proposed and ’shrewy’ came back upstairs with us while we made dinner.

So as the wine flowed, skinning ’shrewy’ came up BUT just for the record, was not enacted upon - thankfully.

And that was last night, previous night being the poole competition which ended in us having to push a van up a mountain for 45 minutes (I have have to figure out where I lost my car - I know I had one 4 days ago, but I seem to be missing it now), arriving that the club 10 mins after it closed, taking photos on the chairlift at 3am, someone doing naked snow angels and then a weird, bizarre crazy ’supercrab’ dance-off at 4am … you can see the videos on my Facebook profile (Find me at “Jan-Erik Paul”).

However, I guess a few photos here at this point wouldn’t go amiss …

However, key to this story is that the riding was brilliant today … although we are due a warm front, really warm this weekend, so we’ll see what happens to the snow.

JP over and out and saying - loving it out here!

It had to happen sometime soon and today was the day. Blue skies and 50cm or so of powder at the top. Had a brilliant day doing a bit of photography (which can be seen above). Most rocks are now covered, so drops are now possible … but still slightly dodge. With the holiday period over, the snow stayed untracked for a good amount of time and the pistes now have great packed powder cover.

Ok, so anywhere else that might sound like a contentious comment, but given that I am in the mountains, perhaps its more understandable and innocent than would immediately appear. Its been snowing for past 36 hrs heavily, and whilst powder is amazing to be on, its perhaps not the best thing to be ‘in’, at least when you are travelling at 50km an hour, and its turned the slope into a minefield of invisible bumps and jumps, whilst also trying to batter your eyeballs into a slush puppy.

So as I listen to the snow ploughs doing there thing in the street, I am please to note that all the weather reports are suggesting tomorrow will feature blue skies. There is at least 30-40cm of powder in the alpine now, so there are plenty of powder runs to be had in 4 hrs - if only I could sleep in preparation for it.

So here is a reminder of what it was like before the snow arrived - and by tomorrow I will have the transformation shots! And given that it sounds like all the snow has been cleared from around the apartment (at least its ’slushily’ quiet) its time for me to return to slumber. Till tomorrow, I bid you a good night …