Season Diary - Day 4
Updated: Dec 19, 2024
Friday December 6, 2024
This was a day of two halves unlike perhaps any other I have skied. Howling winds and a lack of visibility started the day, but we finished with powder and glorious bluebird conditions.
Quite fitting, therefore, that the next stage on the Reps’ Course was all-terrain leadership. When a big part of planning your day is considering the weather, having all kinds of weather thrown at you is a perfect path towards planning perfection.
The day started with a worrying development – my transceiver stopped working. I nipped into the Maison du Tignes to add an extra layer, and accidently knocked by transceiver onto the floor. I heard the three beeps that it makes when turning on and knew straight away something wasn’t right – a quick fiddle with the battery compartment and it was clear the batteries were not working as described. Rushing to the guide we were skiing with he was able to provide his spare unit for the day.
What was especially worrying was this happened after the morning transceiver check. If I had put my transceiver away, there is every possibility that my transceiver could have been impacted when caught in an avalanche, turning itself off and stopping my ski group from being able to find me.
The moral of the story? Buy better batteries. Some brands, such as Duracell, have been criticised by Mountain Guides and avalanche safety experts for not complying with normal tolerances, and this is basically the sole reason for the recent PIEPS IPS PRO recall.
Anyway, on to the skiing. With only one lift and one run open, we were forced to lap this a couple of times, stopping often to discuss all-terrain leadership. The run was busy, as the entirety of Tignes le Lac was out on that run. But picking our way between punters, we found the snow to be good quality and pushed ourselves off piste more and more.
As more lifts opened, we moved over to the Val Claret sector, lapping the run under Grattalu and Tichot chairs. Again, these were best placed on the leeward side of the wind to create some excellent conditions, and we found some delightful pockets of wind-blown powder off to the side.
And finally, after lunch, we re-appeared to clear blue skies and sunshine! Perfect for a nip off into Chardonnay Bowl to score a really nice off piste run.
Today was a lot of stopping and a lot of talking but was probably one of the most important days on the course. Managing and leading a group in a variety of conditions is critical to the safety and enjoyment of any group in the mountains, whether thy be friends of strangers such as Members of the Ski Club of Great Britain.
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