Daily Archives: January 16, 2004

Mikey comes round and helps our attempt to finish our booze and
Pringles. We’re eating in again, mainly due to the number of unopened
wine bottles that need attention.

Before bed we do most of the tidying up – we’re being collected at
9am tomorrow.

We return our skis, boots and poles to the hire shop, arriving as
it opens (we’re a touch too enthusiastic to stop skiing, I
think). Divested of kit, it’s feet up with the Chablis back at the
apartment.

Chef puts on Buffalo 66 from the video collection. After
a shower I start to pack.

Vin chaud time. Then five or six more runs of Les Esserts before we
stop for lunch (cheese omelette for me). Melanie gets a call from Chef
– he’s given up and is waiting for us outside the apartment (we only
have one key). We finish off and ski back to the bus stop, the bus
arriving as we do.

Clouds bubble up and down the valley below us, and, sometimes,
around us. Scenery disappears.

There’s an occasional glimpse of Les Ruinettes up the hill. Sometimes
it beckons me towards it, teasing me with its visibility; then it
disappears into the mist and I regain my lazy sense.

I play instructor to Andy, making him perform stupid tricks like
jumping in the air along a traverse. Whenever he stops I urge him to
keep skiing. I tell him (and Melanie) he needs to try harder runs to
get better, and luckily nobody responds with “So why are you
here then?”.

Out of the window I see a slice of mountain and grey skies. Another
changeable Verbier day, with a high avalanche risk, for our last on the
slopes. I’m torn between going up the Médran cable car again
with Mikey et al (or wherever they’re going) or being lazy. Lazy wins:
I go with Chris, Melanie and Andy to Les Esserts.