Trip Report - Ski Trip 2010 - Couchevel 1850, France

A "Full" report from the slopes by Kelsey Alcock

The trip started on a very early Sunday morning at 05:30 in at Gatwick airport where 20 sleepy people were raring to go. There were 22 of us in total but 2 were on different flights. Once on the plane, most people either slept or chatted excitedly about the coming week. It's very difficult to sleep when you have Alan Chilvers next to you and Andy Hine right behind you, which was my unfortunate situation! So, no sleep for me. We arrived at Geneva airport in Switzerland, and for once, there was more than 1 carousel operating so our luggage was easily collected, and quickly. The only downside was a 3 hour bus journey to our resort, Couchevel 1850. Once in resort, we had a small walk up to our chalet, Coq De Bruyere. However, we didn't have to carry our bags, they were driven up to the chalet in mini buses and then our luggage was left outside of our rooms which was great. We arrived just in time for tea, coffee and cake so everyone met in the lounge/bar area and chilled out. Some people went off to find a ski hire shop for their equipment but most of us this year used a company called Edge to Edge for our ski hire. We phoned up in the UK and ordered what we needed and then all of the equipment was brought right into the chalet for us. This service was one of the highlights of the trip and made things so much easier. It was also half the cost of ski hire shops in resort!

After freshening up and unpacking, people made their way back down to the lounge area where we discovered it was happy hour, every day from 5-7pm. Needless to say, this was great news as with the euro being so low these days you normally end up paying 5 or 6 pounds for a beer. Happy hour prices were 3.50 euro for a beer and 2.50 euro for a whiskey and coke. Some of us made better use of this than others. We then went into the dining area where we were split between 2 tables. Dinner included a starter, main, desert, cheese selection and tea or coffee to finish. Also included was unlimited white, red or rose wine. The first night is always the messiest night, as everyone is excited and normally overdoes it a bit on the free wine. Step forward Alan Chilvers, who was completely out of it by the end of the night and was singing along to Rolf Harris songs! Oh the shame! A good time was had by all though and we even celebrated a fake birthday!

The first day skiing. We all arranged to meet at breakfast for 08:00. Myself and roommate Stacy Harper made it down for that time, but only found 5 other people there. The usual early birds who were raring to go. We were all wondering the same thing after last year's trip; will Alan make it down in time? Amazingly, he did. We were all shocked, although he did look a little worse for wear. We arranged to meet on the slopes at 09:00. Most of us made it but a few got left behind for faffing too much. We didn't know what had happened to Andy so we left without him, but picked him up half an hour later with him saying he had got held up by the manager of the chalet! There were 11 of us in 1 group that day. Myself, Alan Chilvers, Stacy Harper, Steve Frost, Andy Hine, James Hume, Haydn Haynes, Jonathon Dempsey, John Friend, Mike Atkins, Keith Wakeland and Rob Gaffeney. So, that's 12, but unfortunately we lost Frosty early on because we took a wrong turn and ended up on a red run on the 3rd run of the day! Some things never change. Well done for trying though Frosty. There were a few smaller groups that went out together as well. Linda Dodd, Christine Hine and Harry Bryant cruised the green and blue runs. John Musk and Dave Wells were together somewhere! Carol Hedges enrolled in ski school for the week as it was her first time. Bob Condon should also have enrolled in ski school as he too was a novice. However, he decided to go it alone and just went for it! We were all sceptical but he actually did ok by all accounts! So all groups went their separate ways. Normally I am the only girl in the big group but this year I had company. Stacy Harper joined our group and she did so well throughout the week. Not quite as fast as me yet but she had a lot more stamina in her legs than I have. I really need to prepare for next year. But it was great to have another female with our group so well done Stacy.

That evening, after dinner, 8 of us decided to leave the chalet and go check out one of the bars that the chalet staff had recommended called Refuge. Apparently, it was the only bar where prices weren't too bad. Just after we arrived there was a fight and someone got dragged out! Good start. We only stayed for a short while, just a cheeky drink and then returned back to the chalet in 2 groups.

Day 2 on the slopes. One look out of the window told you it wasn't going to be a great day for visibility. You couldn't even see the tops of the mountains. However, stupidly we still got on certain chairlifts that took us into the fog and the bad visibility. Some of us were not very happy about it but once you are up there, the only way is down. We could see about a metre in front of us and everyone was going very slowly. After we got down a little, the visibility did improve and then so did our speed. Not entirely a fun activity though. Our group grew in size today and we now had John Musk and Dave Wells with us. We had lunch at a place called La Tania, and to get there, we had to ski a particularly hard, long and icy run that was partly red and partly blue standard. When we arrived at the restaurant at La Tania, it was absolutely packed. We then found out that it was Australia day and it was an Australian bar/restaurant. We found a table outside, but after we had cooled down from skiing, we all began to feel really cold. Eventually though, we all ended up inside! It was like musical chairs but amazingly, the food actually arrived at the right place! After lunch it was getting pretty late so we started to make our way back to 1850 and made a quick stop off at one of the fun parks. Fun parks are good fun and they have mini slalom runs, rollers and mini ski jumps. After this it was back to the chalet as again, the weather had turned quite bad and was a bit of a white out.

Day 3 on the slopes. Hurrah! We woke up to find beautiful blue skies. About time too. We were told this may be the only sunny day we would get so we all decided to make the most of it and ski right over to the 3rd valley Val Thorens. Couchevel is the 1st valley, then you have Meribel and then Val Thorens. We had 14 in our group today as we were also joined by Harry Bryant. We managed to get over to Val Thorens by about 11am which let me tell you, was pretty good going. We hardly stopped all the way there. It was nice to get the goggles off and wear the sunglasses for once. We got the cable car to what we thought was the highest ski point in the Alps, only to find out later on that there was a new ski run 20m higher! Oh well. We had lunch at a self service restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. Alongside us were some skiers dressed up as Banana Man and Buzz lightyear which was quite amusing. Then it was time to head back towards Couchevel. The last run of the day was a very long difficult red run with some icy patches. We were all exhausted and my legs were really tired and hurting. Then I fell over, only a small fall but I jarred my knee and after that it was really hurting. I think I fell a further 4 times in the space of about 10mins. 1 of the falls was a classic, a complete forward roll but I managed to keep my ski's on! I thought if I ski really fast then I will get back quicker so less pain for me, but that was a bad idea! I eventually made it back to resort with the help of Alan and Stacy and a few others. Thanks to everyone for staying with me. Knee support was definitely going on for the rest of the holiday! Today, in total, we travelled 54 miles. Well done everyone.

Day 4. Stacy and I decided not to ski with the big group today. We were both pretty tired and wanted an easy day and my knee was still a bit dodgy. So, we skied today with Linda Dodd, Harry Bryant and John Sowle. It was a later start which was nice but the weather was back to its usual dire state. We kept to the lower slopes most of the day though and it was really nice to do some of the greens and blues (the easier slopes). We even stopped for hot chocolate as well as lunch! Linda did her first blue of the week and she did it very well as there was some tricky steep and icy parts on the blue we did. Towards the end of the ski day, Linda and John went back to the chalet and Harry, Stacy and I decided to do 1 more run. Onto the chairlift and then into the mist. Damn, maybe not a good idea after all. It was freezing, -13 plus wind chill and we could hardly see a thing. We did a blue run called the Coq which was a lovely run once we got part way down and we could see again! The same day saw Andy and Christine Hine go off on their own; and Christine completed the red run down to La Tania, which is not an easy run so well done Christine. That evening was the chalet staff night off so we had booked a table at a restaurant in Couchevel 1650, as prices are much more reasonable there. We all had to get on the free ski bus down to 1650 but it was only a 10 minute ride. We ate at a pizzeria and the food was really good. After dinner, about 8 of us decided to check out the bars down at 1650. It was pretty quiet but we found a bar to have a few jugs of beer in before returning back to the chalet.

Day 5. Stacy and I were back with the boys today, but the weather was still lousy and the visibility was not great. The big group split into 2 after the first few runs as people wanted to do different things. So our group consisted of me, Stacy, Alan, Andy, Jonathon, Keith and Mike. We did some nice long red runs today though and Stacy did her first ever black run. The black run we did was fairly steep but very quiet and very smooth. No moguls thank goodness. It's always an achievement when you do that first black run though so hats off to Stacy who skied it very well and didn't fall once. After lunch near Meribel, we started to head back to Couchevel. However, the only run open was that horrible red run where I hurt my knee on Day 3. I was not happy! But, it didn't seem as bad today and I got down it ok this time. My knee was still hurting a bit though so I decided to call it a day. Didn't want to push my luck. The others went back up the chairlift to do another few runs. On their way, they stopped off at the fun park and Andy Hine, Jonathon Dempsey and Mike Atkins participated in the ski jump there. A straight run downhill onto a 10 foot ramp and then a jump onto a big inflated air bag. Back flips were attempted but not achieved! There are some videos doing the rounds on facebook so make sure you check them out. That evening, several members took part in downhill tobogganing. It was snowing very heavily but they all came back saying how exhilarating it was. I was tempted to do it but was concerned about my knee. From previous experience though, tobogganing is always great fun and if you have never done it then I highly recommend it. After dinner we had quiz night at the chalet. You couldn't have more than 5 on a team so we all split into smaller teams. In my team along with myself were Mike Atkins, Jonathon Dempsey and Haydn Haynes. We were ahead at the half way stage by half a point. Second position was Linda Dodd's team. At the end of the quiz we were all on tender hooks wondering who would win, and I'm happy to say, my team won by 1 and a half points. The prize was a bottle of champagne and pride of course. We were called the A Team, obviously.

Final day of skiing! We woke up to the worst weather we had seen all week. You could not even see the mountains, at all! I wasn't sure if I even wanted to go out there it looked so bad but with it being the last day, we had to give it a go. We had a slightly later start and we all met at the usual meeting place, only today we couldn't really see much! The chairlift that we used to get first thing appeared to be shut so we took a red run down to 1550. Visibility was shocking all the way down. Oh, and I forgot to mention, we had had around 2 feet of snow overnight so we were skiing through really thick snow and powder. Good for falling on but makes it harder to ski and you have to slow down. Once we made it to the bottom, we got the gondola back up and by this time, our normal chairlift had opened up so we got on that. Big mistake! Once at the top, you couldn't see a thing and it was -16 plus wind chill. There was also a snow blizzard blowing in from one side and the pistes were not groomed or bashed so we were skiing through freshly fallen thick snow. We took one of the blue runs from the top with one fairly steep bit. Everyone made it down without falling except poor old John Musk who fell over and lost 1 of his poles in the thick snow. He eventually found it after about 10 mins and carried on down, only to fall over right in front of the group to erupting cheers. The next part was worse, even if it was flat, and this was due to the cold blizzard blowing across and the lack of visibility. It really wasn't nice but no one moaned about it, we all just got down as fast as we could. The motivation was hot chocolate at the bottom and that's exactly where we ended up, in a warm bar with a well deserved rest. We had all planned to meet for lunch since it was the final day, all 22 of us. However, we couldn't get to the place we had arranged due to the bad weather so we chose a place lower down and all met there instead. After that, the weather improved dramatically and the sun even made a welcome appearance. Some of us wanted to have a go at the ski jump that some of the others had tried the previous day, including myself. But we got there and it was all shut down. I was very disappointed because it looked really good fun and I hadn't been there the day before so I lost out. Guess it will have to wait for another year. That afternoon, a few of us decided to have another go at a black run. John Musk's idea as he hadn't done a black yet. So, me, Alan, John, Jonathan and Mike made our way over to one nearby and we met Stacy and Phil on the way who joined us. The start of the black was nice and didn't seem too bad at all. Then we came to an incredible steep bit with moguls. I just got on with it as I've been down worse blacks, like the one we did last year. Stacy was a bit worried about it but once on it, she was fine. This was a proper black, but we all got down in one piece and that finished us off for the week. The last night was pretty quiet; most people went to bed really early as we had to be up at 04:00. Then it was back to the airport and the end of skiing for another year. Roll on ski 2011 and everyone who wants to have a go should definitely join us next year. More ladies needed!