If you enjoyed the Mamma Mia movie then please do come down to The Station in Chantemerle for another performance by Almost Abba, quite, possibly Serre Chevalier’s greatest Abba Tribute band.
It’ll be a bit late about 10:30pm as Cookie is doing his pub quiz first.
Almost Abba are Bjorn Stupid, Benny Von Crossroads, Frida Prisoners and Agnetha Feltchcock.
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I just had an email from Carole from the UK who has a neat studio apartment in Chantemerle. She says,
“I have three weeks to fill, they are….
- Week beginning 27th March,
- Week beginning 10th April,
- Week beginning 17th April
I’ll be able to offer some very good deals for people wanting those weeks.”
If you can make it out to Serre Chevalier for some sunny spring skiing please get in touch with Carole at Ski Studio Alps or call her on 07976 874185 ASAP.
To make sure you get the discounted price, please mention SerreChevalier.ORG when you get in touch.
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The weather is looking decidedly chilly this week. I think this is fairly normal for March. My friend down in the south of France near Perpignan was gleefully saying what a lovely spring day it was, bit hard to imagine really.
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Here is a screenshot from the Serre Chevalier iPhone app, showing the web cam at the top of the Prorel.
As you can see the sun is shining and the wind has dropped. It is looking like a great day to be up there.
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You can get free mobile phone insurance here. It occoured to me when I found a phone the other day how many devices we carry around with us these days that are worth a ton of money. For years now we have been taking mobile phones, ipods, cameras, camcorders and laptops on holiday with us, but these things are now very small and expensive.
I think nothing of carrying an iphone around with me, but I’d be crapping myself if I had a wallet with €700 of cash in my pocket. Anyway, I decided to look at some ‘gadget insurance and I really like thuis UK company who do international mobile phone insurance.
We rely on our phones so much that it’s easy to feel lost without one. Also, as you’ll still have to pay for the rest of your 12-18 month contract, even if your phone is stolen, it makes sense to have it insured, just in case. Besides, mobile phones are the most frequently lost, damaged or stolen electronic item, so it makes sense to make insuring them a top priority. Best of all, the FREE 3GB Data Backup service means that you’ll never lose your important data and, to help you recover fast, in the event of a claim we’ll deliver a replacement to your door within 48 hours.
Insure your phone against theft, loss and accidental damage.
Get 1 month free. 12 months mobile phone insurance for the price of 11
Don’t wait until it’s too late. Insure your phone today!
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Oh my goodness, someone threw Barbie on the barbie!
Other random stuff, anyone see Eddie Izzard trying to complete 39 marathons in 42 odd days on BBC3 last night (to be continued) what a nutter! Was reminded of it tonight when driving home, passed a jogger running up the hill, its blooming freezing!
Blue sky day today, but a chilly, strong wind forcing a record number of hot chocs and coffees to be bought at the Grotte. The snow is getting a little icy now.
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Free Barbie! Yes indeed Barbie has been imprisoned, but today at The Station in Chantemerle, Serre Chevalier 1350, Barbie is Free from 4pm onwards!
So why am I talking in such a weird way about this?
Well when owner Clive Day was running La Grotte in Villeneuve he did these Free B******es every Friday in the summer and it would always be terrible weather if anyone mentioned the word for the hot things that you lay your sausages upon. So I’m not going to, it’s a sunny blue sky today albeit a bit windy.
So if you are in Chantemerle this afternoon, I’ll see you for one of Ash’s lengthy sausages, a splash of Ross’ special ‘ball’ sauce and an abundance of Mamma Mia’s rather too healthy salad. There’ll be some live music too.
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Further to Fergus’ post yesterday, about using snow chains, I just wanted to add a bit of high-tech snow chain advice and recommend these Kevlar Snow Chains as an alternative to the 30€ steel chains you get in the supermarkets here. The ultimate in ease of putting on is definately these Kevlar Snow Chains by Michelin. These are about as high tech as snow chains get, a bit pricey, but for anyone who has been stuck up the Col du Lautaret in a blizzard fiddling with snow chains you will understand how anything that makes the process less hideous is well worth it.
Kevlar Snow Chains Technical Details:
- Exclusive structure, interlaced with steel chips, guarantees an optimal driveability on snow and ice.
- Compatible with both ABS and ESP devices, and does not generate any excess noise or vibration during use.
- Lightweight materials make these snow chains easier to handle and fit.
- Easy Grip Snow Chains are equipped with the Night Vision System, increased lateral car visibility in the dark.
- Fully approved for use in European Ski Resorts.
These new Michelin Easy Grip Composite Snow Chains offer optimal driveability on snow and ice, while remaining lightweight for easier handling and fitting. The composite chain material also ensures that these snow chains wont generate excessive noise or vibration during use. Designed to be kinder to the road surface as well as your vehicle these composite chains are also fully approved for use in European Ski Resorts.
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Due to a number of factors, mainly laziness, i havent been up the mountain for a while. The weather has played a part in this laziness, with the combination of snow, rain, rain, snow, sleet, snow, rain, dumping it, rain. Today its snowing again, i cant even see the mountain from my bedroom window. I was going up though, but i have another reason why not. This is an injury gained on Sunday from playing rugby. Maybe i shouldnt have been playing, the day after my 41st birthday, but the team needed me to make up the numbers, so i played. I even scored a try, which made my birthday. We won a match, which doesnt happen very often. I gained an egg on my leg, from a tackle, which is coming out in a bruise now. The bruise is right where by boots have to fit snugly, so no mountain today. By various accounts the powder was immense, but knowing where to go helped as those that didnt found it too much. One day ill make it up!
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Inversely those who live in Serre Chevalier full time dream of going on holiday. Sounds mental, can you have too much of a good thing, skiing around in the sun, eating at lovely restaurants and checking out the ladies in their loose-fitting salopettes and formless clothing?
Well yes, yes you can, we’ve got bills to pay too. Don’t worry we’re not looking for a handout, although 42% of all you give will go to some sort of charity – it sends cabin fevered long-term Serre Che residents to a place where nobody knows you name.
Usually the twitching starts in the inter season, but can flare up at any time.
I had to leave the valley for a bit the other day, but nature tried to thwart my egress with an air traffic control strike in France, no problem just pay Ryan Air another Eur130 and jet out of Turin instead of Grenoble, but even before that the fates were against me – and I was not alone.
Usually, even in heavy snow, the pass from the Braincon end of the valley to Turin, up and over via Montgeneve, is open. Not like the Lautaret which is frequently, albeit temporarily, and the Galibier which hibernates for most of the winter. So when I left Monetier at 7am, despite there being a couple of fresh inches of snow I wasn’t unduly worried.
Oh I was also in a teeny-tiny Fiat 500 with some lovely Brits – Stuart and Kelly – shout out – who gave me a lift, that’s the kind of lovely people who ski here (and she’s a copper), but that held no fear for us.
So we started down the valley (there will be a point to all this, so don’t click off just yet – you might learn something) and had begun our climb up to Montgeneve when we noticed the car wasn’t heavy enough, even with me in it, to really bite through the snow to the road.
It hated it, so a way in we decided we would have to put the snow chains on. These are obligatory if you rent a car in the winter, and they generally charge Eur10 for having them.
I’m not super manly, I can change a wheel, but for my hetero needs I usally call on Aaron, but he wouldn’t have fitted in the car, so we were on our own.
Stuart smokes Bensons so I thought he’d know how to do the chain things, but after 10 minutes of pulling, pushing and profanity we both decided they were duff and had probably been broken by a former user.
Oddly enough another bunch of Brits in the car behind had also stopped to try and fit their chains at the same place. They too decided the chains were defective and gave up.
What are they chances all the chains in the world are defective? So why not (and here’s the point) take a couple of minutes to check and fit the chains at your leisure as you rent the car to see if you can work them.
It will be easier to have a dry run under cover than up a bleedin’ mountain in the snow.
Oh yes, we made the flight with 2 minutes to spare, thank the Lord a snow plough came past and we slip-streamed it all the way.
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