Skiing/Boarding in Val d'Isere, February 2005
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Top of the lift in Val d'Isere
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I never thought that I would become one of the perennial ski vacation junkies, but that was before I started learning how to snowboard, and also before I started hanging out with a group of powder-worshipping engineers working for Schlumberger in Paris....

2004 in Val Thorens was the year of the "big snow" and the in-house sauna, but with less time prioritized to enjoying the local nightlife.  The sauna and ensuing giant dinners seemed to sap our remaining energy each night.  2005 in Val d'Isere was bestowed with a big snow just before our arrival, and subsequent cold temperatures and blue skies to keep the powder fresh during our visit.  Plus, enter Mike's friend Chad and "evil Andy" into the equation, and important priority was returned to the local nightlife.

Several key ingredients were again combined into an excellent week - 10 people sharing a great apartment, good snow, excellent nightlife, group cooking at home, and new gadgets to explore, break, and even idolize.

Mike, Rich, Cecilia, Jen, Kane, Chad, Heini, Paul, "good Andy", "evil Andy" and I arrived in Val d'Isere early on a sunny Saturday morning, fresh off the overnight train from Paris.  The "couchette" sleeping train was not as luxurious as desired, but earned us a full day on the mountain while others were still in transport (Saturday is traditionally a transfer day for all ski week packages in France).  After an icy experience two weekends previous during the SRPC ski trip in Valloire (I still have grass stains from certain pistes), I was happy to find that the rumor of a huge snow dump was actually true.  A few images from the slopes:
 
Andy refusing hands up
GPS abound
Cold day, hot pizza

 
Paul's thumb injury

 
The view below
Paul on the everlasting search for powder

Our daily formula for the rest of the trip was quite simple:

  1. Boarding and group lunch on the slopes (communicated via the four Garmin radio/GPS that we brought), followed by....
  2. Apres-ski beers at Victor's bar, with nightly entertainment provided by a Swedish rock band trying to pay their way through the season, followed by....
  3. Group dinner at home featuring classic meals representing the various nationalities in the group, followed by....<>
  4. <>An excursion to one of the local bars/clubs.  <>
<><>The highlight meals were as follows: A few images from off-the-slopes:
 
Adrian, Cecilia and Jen at apres ski
Group dinners at home
Apres ski sing-a-long
Rich's head sweating from Paul's curry
Special song requests at apres ski
Heini's shiner
Fondue before
Fondue after

Thanks to Kane and Mike for choosing the lodging and organizing the entire weekend logistics!  Doug set the gold standard in Val Thorens in 2004, and Kane and Mike were able to match it with ease in 2005.  And thanks to everyone for a week of great boarding and fun!  A few more good images from the week:
 
Adrian leading the march
Travolta Mills

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