The promised snow storm arrived yesterday. Shed-loads of snow. 50cm at least in my back garden. It was a bit of a race for me to get down the valley to Carrefour to do a big food shop before I got snowed in. A race I lost in fact. My van (which is full of office furniture) got stuck on the road from Argentiere to Le Tour and I had to put the chains on just to get home. I’m rubbish at putting chains on, it’s a dirty horrible business which you invariably do at the side of the road, inappropriately dressed in a snow storm. But I got home in time to cook a meal for my first dinner guests.

The reality of living in Le Tour – officially the snowiest village in the French Alps – is sinking in. This is what my van looked like this morning.

So rather than digging it out, I thought I’d ski down to Argentiere instead. It didn’t take long. It’s around 5km and gravity was on my side. The buses are running, so I didn’t even have to skin back up, which I think would have tested my enthusiasm a little. As the first ski of the season it was an unusual one. I didn’t get many turns in – only when I got to a stretch of road with a nice flattened covering. At that point I even overtook a struggling van. Chuckling as I did so I might add. Skiing began as a mode of transport & today it proved to be the best form of transport available to me. That and the bus for getting back up the hill.

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