| It had been 14 years since I last skied in Europe. May be
nothing to be proud of but I was looking forward to seeing what changes had occurred.
Memories of long lift lines, people jumping queues, exotic food and no holds barred
out of bounds skiing were mingled with the horrors of the long hours to be spent crammed
into a airline seat made more for sardines than humans. Some things never improve. While I arrived in Geneva to meet up with the Tomasi Tour group, my skis lay on the tarmac at Munich (not to be seen for another 50 hours).
The pleasant surprise was to find only minimal lift lines and very little of the push and shove. Those uncivilised enough to think it cool to cut in on orderly queues spoke another European tongue (north of France). Our hotel (a short walk to lifts and free shuttle buses) was - how should I say - quaint. Breakfast and dinner were included which meant putting aside an extra roll or croissant for lunch as well.
Bar prices were steep and the recent drop in the $AUD didn’t help. Mind you supermarket prices were excellent for wine - not so good for clothing.
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As we approached Val d’Isere (France) in
our coach, it appeared that time had stood still since 1986. The narrow access road
winding up through the avalanche tunnels past Tignes had remained unchanged. The villages
in the valley had grown a little but nothing like the expansion seen in so many North
American resorts.
The lift system has had some major upgrades - 2 underground
trains in the La Daille and Tignes area and a complex dual loading 6 seater chair in
Tignes helped enormously in getting skiers & boarders up onto the slopes. Apart from a
couple of quad chairs, all other lifts looked pretty well unchanged since my last visit.
During our week we used a variety of surface lifts
(including a snow cat with tow rope attached), 2, 4, & 6 seater chairs, gondolas,
trams and trains. 
On piste (300+kms) conditions were generally pleasant although
some runs had rocks coming through. We did receive a couple of falls of new snow during
the week and the boot deep off piste looked inviting but unfortunately my ski bases took a
severe thrashing from the underlying rock and grass base. Generally speaking, the snow
base was well down for the first week of February. From what I heard this was pretty much
the case right across Europe.
