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FRANCE Page 2

In February 2006 I went to Les Deux Alpes to do a bit of skiing.

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This was my first snowy holiday since Livignio in February 2004. On that holiday I tried boarding for the first time. I decided to go back to skiing this time. Not only that, but I decided to buy my own gear for this time. That will save me a bit of money in the long term. Whether I'll rather I'll really notice the difference is another matter!

     I still have those mauve salapettes.
I was with the same three people as I was when I went to Livignio, that's Ed Rowland, Tim Dilks and Neil Chatterjee.  I was with a few others this time as well. including Simon Banks, with whom I went to Salbach-Hinterlglemm in April 2000. There was also Robert Calvert, a colleague of Tim and also friends of Tim Karen Shepperd and Mumta Kassim. Tom Baggs, another friend from Manchester University was there, with his friend Claire Akbar. Last, but by no means least there were also the ex-colleagues of Ed at The HSC bank, Jo Pike, Sarah Moore and Emma Hardwick.

So quite a gang.

Looking from left to right here are Rob, Mumta Kassim, Tim, Ed and myself (with all my jacket strings dangling).

  

 

On left here is Jo, in the red boots.

Here's Rob, Simon and myself. Simon acquired some snowblades half way through the week.
 
 
 Here is Tom, a novice skier, with some red skies.

In the background is part of the glacier.

The village is called Les Deux Alpes because it is in a valley between two sets of mountains.

I think that's the case with most ski resorts.

I rather like this view, looking across from one side of the valley to the other.

We had sunny weather virtually the whole week.

 

 Here is a typical-looking glaciated valley.
The valley here is rather obscured.

H
There's an interesting road map at the top of the Diable gondola. 18982km to Queenstown!
  


It's time for some action photos. Ed is leaning into his turn, as one should.
Here is a sequence of photos.

Sarah is nearest, followed by Tim, who's shifting a lot of snow, and then Rob.
  
   
   Tim's now a little closer. Has Sarah gone back up again?

No, it's Jo, they wore identical suits.
Here's Rob, looking a little sinister.
 
Here's Sarah again. Her trails look quite neat.
 Tim follows along, followed by Jo.
 
  
Then follows Simon.
 Ed brings up the rear
 
  
I then follow all of them (except the taker of this picture)
  Here is an interesting pair of paintings showing a museum containing all of the interesting places in Rome, ancient Rome on the left and modern Rome on the right. Shame you can't see it in more detail here
  Here's Tom doing a bit of snowploughing. He seemed to be doing pretty well after his first week.
 
  
Those tentacles did wave a bit.
Here is another excellent view, with Ed and Tom in the foreground.
 
Although we were staying in self-catering residence, we ate out on most evenings.
 
  
There were so many of us that we couldn't fit on one table on this occasion.
    One evening at the restaurant Bleuets, we indulging in some adventurous starters (snails and frogs legs).
 
  
    As well as eating, there was a fair bit of drinking. Here is Rob and Sarah.

      As most of us were either in our 30s or approaching the 30 mark you might think that we would all act responsibly.

Not so!
  Here's a nice photo of Tom, Claire and Tim.
 
I quite like this one of myself and Karen. Karen was a novice skier. Unfortunately I didn't get to see her on the slopes.



Admittedly I didn't do much drinking myself for health reasons. It was nonetheless amusing watching everyone else getting sloshed.
 It seems that in Les Deux the don't remove their Christmas decorations until February, or later maybe.
 
 
Perhaps they just save time by leaving them there all year round?
 T he holiday ended with Tim buying some saucisson sec to take home. He wanted to show it off at every opportunity!
  
So all in all an very enjoyable holiday. As there were so many going there ought to be plenty of opportunities for join in a group skiing holiday in future years!

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