23 January 2004

Very quiet on the gossip and scandal front. I blame it all on the fantastic snow conditions - no one has the time (or energy) to misbehave with all the time spent on the mountain.

The injury count is mounting up just with the bar staff - James’ broken pubic bone, Christoph’s broken wrist and Chef Rob’s severe bruising which may need an operation (at least one of these was an actual winter sports injury).

Toff goes Husky racing
Myself and Bozel resident Sandy received a birthday present of dog sledding for our 40ths back in January. So with 7 others tagging along we finally got organised thinking it would just be like a sleigh ride with someone driving the dogs through the forest.

It was however, quite mad, hard work and scary in places. Each person had their own stand-up sledge with 3 Huskies who were completely mental. The down hill sections were a full on blast and we all loved it. The dogs are fantastic and I’d really recommend it for an hour or so of fun for anyone who’s reasonably fit, got a sense of balance, adventure and fun.

La Tania Old Gits Association
The La Tania Old School and Old Gits (the over 40s club) had a great outing around the Three Valleys last week - this even included Tim and Deb Wall, owners of The Ski Lodge who reckoned they skied more this day than in the last 8 years!

With 16 of us going really hard in to Courchevel, then Mottaret, up and down Mont Vallon, then Les Menuires and a race down to St Martin for lunch at Brewskis it was great to see the oldies have still got it and show up some of the “kids”. Comments such as “These old 210 Super GS skis still go quicker than these new fangled short carvers” etc etc etc ...... were heard frequently.

Personally I was on my brand new skis - Dynastar Intuitive 74s. I love ‘em, very solid, go anywhere, cut through anything, but float, carve and grip too. Thanks Ski Higher, I’m almost looking forward to the slush in April....

After a long lunch, the trip back to La Tania - still at only 2 speeds - flat out and stop - saw us all get stranded at Meribel Village (although many had their trainers in their backpacks and had planned this all along) in order to see Shibboleth play their acoustic set at Lodge du Village.

After a rather lack lustre set on Tuesday night at the Ski Lodge they responded to some criticism in the only way possible - A demand for a bottle of Absenthe and then they really went for it, playing for 2 and a quarter hours solid with an acapella version of Mary’s Child while they took it in turns to rush to the toilet. Finishing with T Wall on his horn and I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) - certainly the best set I’ve ever seen them play, well done boys.

Eventually back to the Ski Lodge until the early hours, many still in Ski and Board boots - Another perfect ski, another perfect day

Report from Toffa - Natives Resort Reporter in La Tania
With Redeye - Natives reporter beanie sponsor

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