Daily Archives: January 12, 2004

We join Barrie and Mikey at the humorously named Wonderbar a
hundred yards or so down the road/hill. Jugs of beer. Chef et al try
to persuade Chris and me to do something harder tomorrow. We say we’ll
see. It depends on the weather (forecast to be as bad as today) and,
for me, how my back feels. Chris and I agree to (maybe) take a look
outside at 8am. I’d like to do something harder and more interesting
than Les Esserts, but I’d prefer to do so when I can see where I’m
going. Barrie reckons it’ll clear up on Wednesday.

We try a local creperie for dinner. We’re the only customers. In
fact, the only member of staff present has to phone the chef to get
him to come and cook for us. He does, then leaves again. No seconds
for us then! I have a leek gallette (tasty!) then an apple-calvados
combo that’s still on fire as it’s placed before me. The waitress
confesses she only learned how to make crepes this morning.

It’s a quiet week in Verbier I think.

Chef’s back – today they went down the Le Chable cable car, waited
45 minutes for a bus to Bruson, skied that area (as did almost
everyone else in Verbier), waited another 45 minutes for a bus back to
the Le Chable cable car, and came home. Sounds like fun…

We head out to try to find some late lunch. Snow. Rain.

We fail to find anywhere snacky, but don’t want a big meal this
late if we’re eating out tonight. Fallback position is to pick up some
wine and stuff from the supermarket. Bread and jam (and wine) for
lunch, aah!

Back at the apartment, it’s stopped snowing. Clouds are flying in
and out of the valley. Oops, it’s snowing again. Make your mind up!

Andy must be thirsty, he bombs down – doing pretty well, actually.
Chris and I follow. Mmm, vin chaud.

After one more run we give up and decide to head back to the
apartment. We ski down to the bus stop. Right by the end of the piste
one of my snowblades submerges into some powder, the other one doesn’t,
I start to lose my balance, and fall over. Typical! (Snowblades aren’t
that good in powder, and neither am I.) Andy chugs past me, Chris giggles.

I expected Les Esserts to be quite busy, but it’s emptier than
yesterday. I guess people aren’t skiing, or they’re locals and at
work, or they know the secret places to go.

It’s easier to get the snowblades on today.

The piste’s a bit powdery at the bottom, and the drag is pretty cut
up. It’s icy and cut up at the top of the piste. Andy’s
nervous. Chris is a bit crap by his own admission; he notices he’s
still got his boots on “walk”, but fixing that doesn’t fix his
skiing. We go up and down half a dozen times, it’s OK actually. The
snow gets heavier, visibility drops. At the bottom we agree that on
the next run we’ll scoot off to the cafe.

Chef’s gone already, but he’s left us some baguettes and croissants
for brekkie. Melanie thinks he’s been replaced by a pod person from
Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

It stopped raining and started snowing overnight, and it’s still
snowing now. The Televerbier channel on TV suggests many pistes are
closed. The radio says it’s going to be unsettled like this for the
next few days. Melanie decides she’s not well enough for skiing
today. Me, Chris and Andy return to Les Esserts – there’s not a lot
else we can/want to do.