A smaller than usual group, numbering 21, gathered in the early morning mist at Bristol airport. Having queued to check in for seemingly forever there was little time for anything else except getting on the plane to go. The flight to Geneva was pretty hassle free and having found the transfer bus Carpy immediately claimed his usual central rear seat and began emitting the evil smelling green forcefield to protect his domain. This was a tactic he had used with great success in previous years and obviously didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work again.

The transfer to Tignes was straightforward and on arrival we were greeted by plentiful snow and bright sunshine. After dragging our luggage up several flights of stairs we found the Hotel Tignes 2100. The hotel was basic but functional, well located and matched the standard we had experienced in Les Menuires and Alpe d'Huez in recent years. The equipment hire fitting room was located in the basement of the hotel and the standard of the equipment was superb. The hire shop also provided the opportunity for those with their own gear to hire the latest kit for a day at a nominal fee.

The first morning was bright and sunny and we headed off to explore the mountain, we had heard that inclement weather was forecast and decided to try and pack as much into the first day as possible, and duly did so with lengthy excursions throughout the Espace Killy into Val d'Isere and the surrounding Tignes districts where we found the snow to be excellent. Towards the end of the first day we noticed a few flakes of snow falling but did not anticipate what was to come. Over the next four days The Alps region experienced it's biggest snowfall for five years. We managed to ski everyday during the snowfall but were constantly frustrated by extreme temperatures, poor visibility, blizzard conditions and closed lifts, not to mention too much snow!! Such conditions often resulted in several hounds retiring early to the bar. During the blizzard we kept up to date with conditions via the Internet and heard about the avalanche casualties in Switzerland and the four stranded skiers who survived in a makeshift igloo for four days before being rescued.

Thankfully on the final morning of our stay we awoke to glorious weather and headed out early to take full advantage of the conditions. The plan was to tackle the famous le Vallon de la Sache black run which falls 1400m from Le Fornet to Les Brevières. There are many conflicting descriptions of it's length ranging from 10km to 19km and none of the hounds were entirely sure which was accurate, however, what we were completely sure of was that it was scary. One of the best descriptions found of the run is as follows "isolated Vallon de la Sache black mogul run winding its way serenely through the pine trees. This superb run descends from high alpine scenery through lower wooded slopes and finishes at the small village of Tignes Les Brevières" On arrival at the bottom the triumphant posse of Bud, Bunny, Carpy, Caz, Fez, Hensh, Martin & Maz retired to a local café to consider their achievement, but decided not to do it again, not on that day anyway.

In the afternoon of the final day we took the funicular railway and cable car to the top of the Grande Motte Glacier adjacent to Mont Blanc and skied all the way down to Lavachet, great fun.

We had a couple of skiing virgins with us this year in Saffron's Nick and Olly but their intentions to get the best out of ski school were hampered by the poor weather conditions and the cancellation of some lessons. Olly did spend his spare time attempting to get down some of the higher slopes and as a reward for his efforts he managed to get a little frostbite in his cheek (facial cheek, that is). James, Maz's stepson, also joined the group for the first time and stated before we left that he would out-ski us, out-drink us, out-party us and even out-fa*t us (impossible). James didn't disgrace himself on the slopes but unfortunately once in après-ski mode his earlier pronouncements were found to be sadly lacking. Evidence of this can be found in the gallery in a picture of James tucked up in bed well before 10:00pm. We could understand his exhaustion from skiing but the reasons for finding a painted man in his room clutching a banana in one hand and a tub of Vaseline in the other are unclear!

Away from the piste the hotel food was adequate without being spectacular, the free wine with the meal was neither plentiful enough in supply nor quality. Clarkey saved the most explicit descriptions of his body piercing experiences of both male and female genitalia for the dinner table, which dramatically reduced the appetite and therefore intake of the crowd.

Away from the hotel we were regular visitors to the Yeti bar and made friends with a load of Belgians! The bar de la Roche underneath the Yeti was due to have British live bands on for at least one night but unfortunately they didn't make it because of the heavy snow in the area. The Red Lion was frequented for Sky TV football that wasn't screened for some reason and 2-dart plastic darts was the highlight of the gay bar. So, overall the local night lift was not exceptional. Thursday night we frequented a nearby French bar that was full of locals and probably had the best night of the week.

Finally the bags were packed and we headed off for Geneva airport at some unearthly hour stopping to collect additional passengers at a small back street hotel in Tignes. The coach driver then set about the task of manoeuvring his 52 seat coach along narrow streets and round tight corners which boasted tons of additional snow which make them even narrower than usual. Such a vehicle was never going to get round the corners, a fact that was immediately understood by the tour operator reps and all the passengers but unfortunately not the driver. After 30 minutes of to-ing and fro-ing on the corner the driver finally reversed the distance back to the main road and set off.

Once on the plane home the captain urged us to take our seats quickly to allow us to meet a fast approaching time slot offered for departure. All the passengers managed to make it in time but unfortunately the baggage handlers failed miserably leaving 45 bags on the ground in Geneva as the plane lifted off. When we arrived back in Bristol we discovered that some of those 45 bags belonged to Adey, Bud, Carpy, Fez, Jenks & Turk and they would be following on the next flight. We hung around for a couple of hours waiting for the subsequent flight which duly brought the missing bags. Turkey then completed a day of baggage hell by wandering off with someone else's ski bag leaving his own in the baggage claim area. Thankfully further hassle was averted when Maz spotted Turk scouring the car park for his car and alerted him to the fact that he had got the wrong bag.

So ends another year of the Powderhounds on tour, not the greatest of weeks skiing owing to the adverse weather conditions but still a damn good week away.

Until next year………………………