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La Grave, France 2006
February 27, 2006
Via Ferrata’s are a recreational pursuit derived from a military past. Long ago the military placed ladders up cliffs so they could access the heights quickly. Once this was no longer a military necessity the general public began to use them for play, and now they have started to spring up all over. There is one just to the N.W. of the town of Briancon. It’s about 1700 feet in height and takes us around 3 hours to navigate. Essentially there are pieces of rebar which are bent into rungs and then drilled into the side of the cliff, one rung every few feet, just like a ladder. Next to this ladder is a half- inch thick steel cable that you can clip into when wearing a harness so if you happen to let go of the ladder, you will simply be caught on the cable. It’s a close cousin to both hiking and rock climbing, with the exposure of climbing, and the safety of hiking. The greatest thing is that you get huge views of the Briancon valley every step of the way up. All the kids loved it and after 3 hours up and 1 down they were ready to call it a day. No skiing today, but a terrific day in the hills none the less.
February 26, 2006
Sorry for the long absence. There have been a number of days now post storm and we have been recuperating. Basically we skied 7 days straight, 7-9 hours a day during the storm cycle, and the end result was some tired legs. We took one half day on Wednesday, then a full day off on Thursday. The last couple of days we have been battling low visibility along with high avi danger so the skiing has been slow and limited. We got a little snow last night and the weather is supposed to clear during the coming days. That, combined with a settling of the snow pack and we will hopefully be able to do come touring. Keep tuned….
Cheers,
Sam
February 20, 2006
A picture is worth a thousand words they say, so here is a novel. This was one of the best days I have ever had in La Grave and they still have not opened the top of the mountain!!!
Enjoy,
Sam
February 19, 2006
Folks; it's dumping/puking/blizzarding here!!! I have not seen it snow here this hard in my 5 February's that I have spent here! This update was written by CVA Sophomore, Cam French. It's a little story about his powder day yesterday.
"My day today was amazing. The day started off great right off of the bat. We went down a run that was just amazing, the deepest powder I have ever boarded. Sending myself off any little jump I could or any drop, with no fear of hitting anything because there was so much powder. Later that day we decided to make a huge traverse through the deep powder to get to a couloir. This traverse was difficult because you couldn’t get any speed and it was just constant. What was at the end of the traverse made up for it. This couloir we went down was just packed full of snow. More than there was the other runs of the day. We started making our way down taking turns having amazing rides. It was like nothing I have ridden before. Just the fact that you were getting sprayed in the face constantly and having the snow at least up to your waist was incredible. When you weren’t getting sprayed in the face there were sloughs shooting off the cliffs above sending powder in front of you. We took this run all the way down to a road where Boucher had to hitch hike back to the van. This wasn’t as easy as we thought though because no one was picking him up. He finally got picked up after about 45 minutes and brought the van back to go ride some more turns. When we got back to the top of the telepherique we decided to hike up to a couloir called The Second Antenna Couloir, that hadn’t been ridden yet. Miles, our guide, went down first to see if it was safe for us to ski and then he went off to the side. Then he told me to got down first. I was speechless there was so much untouched snow. So I didn’t ask questions and just let my board rip down this slope. At the end of the couloir there was about two or three football fields worth of riding of just fresh powder. It was amazing to just take as many big turns as you wanted and to go where you wanted with no fear of rocks or any terrain and no one else around. It was heaven! After this epic ride and constant powder shots we made our way back to town with some more great skiing to top off the day. This day was perfect and I still don’t know if I fully explained how good this skiing was. Thanks for reading."
Cameron French '08
February 17, 2006
Yesterday the snowboarders and I embarked on an adventure that was truly amazing and will forever be etched into our memories; the kind of day that will be relived and told to future generations. Our day began with me digging out our van at 6:30am because we received about a foot of snow over night, and it was still dumping! After corralling the kids, all crusty eyed and half awake, into the van we headed to Briancon to catch public transportation to Bardonecchia, where the snowboardcross event was being held in Italy. The drive typically to Briacon takes about 35 minutes and goes over a large pass called the col du Lautaret, needless to say due to the snow the driving was sketchy. We arrived in Briancon an hour later and found a place to park. We then boarded a large tour bus that shuttled us to the main hub where busses depart to all the different venues. They don’t allow the public to drive to the venues. We sought out the proper bus to bring us to Bardonecchia, only to discover after a long one way conversation in French that we had missed the last bus. Our options were to hop on a bus that would eventually get to where we needed to go over 2 hours later and 3 bus transfers later, or to drive to Oulx and take a bus from there. We opted to drive to save time, so after a quick stop at McDonalds, a fuel stop and some amateur van repair, (a whole other story) we were off. The drive to Italy from Briancon included another extremely large pass and at this point all the kids were wide awake and cinching their seat belts tight, it was still dumping! We arrived in Oulx without incident, found a place to park and hopped on a bus that would finally get us to the event! Finally we were there, you could feel the competitive vibe in the air, and also the rain that was falling. The security checkpoint provided our next mini adventure because Cameron “forgot” he had two pocket knives in his backpack and Kyle had “misplaced” his ticket. Crisis solved, it was 11am and we were finally behind the gates and all experiencing an Olympic event for the first time. Surprisingly, almost instantly we ran into John Ritzo, CVA’s headmaster. He filled us in on what we missed on the first qualifying run and gave us a mini tour of the venue. After some photos we parted ways and claimed our spot in the standing room only section. The whole scene is hard to describe in words the energy that surrounds such an event. People are very passionate in supporting their country and go out of their way to express their enthusiasm with chants and songs, ridiculous outfits, bells and horns, and of course flags and banners supporting their medal hopefuls. After the qualifiers were over Seth Wescott, our home town boy and CVA alum, was sitting third and we all looked like a bunch of drowned rats. After a lunch consisting of hotdogs and a coke, the sky began to open up and the sun was bright and shining down like a gigantic spotlight. This spotlight was now on the snowboardcross finals where Olympic medals would be awarded in this event for the first time. There were 32 individuals that qualified for the finals and would now be sent down in heats of four at a time over the one minute and twenty second course that included gigantic banked turns and large jumps. Seth easily won his first two heats, and came in second on the third advancing him into the final for all the glory. Each time you watched Seth compete your heart rate would rise and the vocal cords would become progressively sorer from the cheering and shouting. Then finally, the last run of the day that would determine the champion, the crowd was now fully energized and going nuts as the competitors left the starting gate. We watched with eager anticipation on the jumbo screen as the athletes worked their way down the course, Seth was in second. They came into view up the mountain and Seth was now in first, your heart was in your throat, over the final jump they went with our own Seth Wescott crossing the finish line just inches in front of next competitor, taking Olympic gold! The crowd erupted and American flags were waved to the chant of U-S-A. We stuck around to watch the flower ceremony and tried to digest what we just witnessed. The journey home proved to be uneventful compared to our epic over. It was not until dinner that night as we sat and told the rest of the team and visiting parents about our adventurous day, that it truly set in the amazing experience we all had together and will be sharing with friends and family for years to come.
Kevin Boucher
CVA ALPS Coach
CVA Class of '95
February 16, 2006
The ALPS team breaks the curse! It actually snowed in La Grave last night. This is the first real snowstorm that the ALPS team has seen in here in almost 6 weeks of living here, including this year and last. It was a minimum of 8 inches of cream cheese. Exactly what we needed in order for the bonding to take place between the older layers that have now been sitting on the ground for a month, and the new snow. Up high there was more, how much more we don’t really know as the wind plays a big role in how much snow ends up where. The avalanche risk was high, so they only turned the bottom lift (which means the top will be preserved for another day). There was a bit of a feeding frenzy as it’s been so long since there has been fresh snow so all the locals were out. However, Miles and Liz (his fiancé who is a guide in training) found us fresh tracks almost every run. We skied all morning and finally took a break for lunch at 1:30. When we were in eating, Doug Coombs dropped by and told us that he would like to ski a few runs with us for the afternoon. So, now we had all the expertise that could be mustered and we proceeded to take some untouched runs in under the ever clearing skies. It was a gorgeous afternoon as you can see in the pictures.
The snowboarders on the team were not here today as they went to the Olympics to cheer on Seth Wescott, WHO GOT GOLD IN THE BOARDERCROSS!!!
Cheers,
Sam
February 15, 2006
Tough day on the hill today for the main group. Finally the clouds moved in, however this morning it was just clouds and wind, no snow. The visibility in the main runs was horrible, and there was just enough soft snow blown in to give you a little confidence, then when you could see the least, you would go cruising into set up moguls and have to slam on the brakes. There was also enough wind that it took us 40 minutes to get up the upper part of the lift ( a ride that typically takes about 18 minutes). Four of the kids headed off with Miles and Boucher to ski a long couloir run called La Voute. This is one of the La Grave road runs that comes out lower than the base of the lift, so if you ski it from the top of the mountain it’s at least 8,000 vertical feet. It’s really a series of shots, from wide open glacier to constricted couloir (down to 10 feet wide), all this with a couple of rappels thrown in as well as a little hike. Skiing runs like this is the real La Grave; we like to call it adventure skiing. As the day wore down the snow commenced to fall, and as I write this it’s falling hard. If the predictions are correct then we are supposed to see 5 days of pretty steady snowfall. Cross your fingers for us!
Cheers,
Sam
February 14, 2006
We took the day yesterday and skied Les Deux Alpes (DA). This is a major Euro ski resort that shares a summit ridge with La Grave. One can get to DA by simply walking/skiing across the ridge for about 15 minutes then dropping into the main runs of the ski area. DA is the antithesis of La Grave. It’s a large, wide open area with a huge variety of groomed slopes. At this time there is a large percentage of the French population on vacation. And since skiing is one of the national past times, the huge resorts like DA are packed. It’s a great eye opener for the kids. We spent a few hours over there skiing the terrain park, then we had a huge lunch which consisted of an 18 inch baguette stuffed with two hot dogs and then with about a pound of fries. Please see the pics of Cam French for details.
Today we had another day on the slopes running the trade routes here in La Grave. We managed to find a few powder turns, which I have included for your viewing pleasure. The weather folks here tell us that we are to receive up to a meter of snow in the coming five days. Please do your best snow dance for us.
Cheers,
Sam
February 13, 2006
If you are weak of heart you may not want to look at these photos. As you know we have been spending this entire last week talking about avalanches in the abstract. We practiced ad nauseum with our beacons and talked forever about how to avoid getting caught in a slide. However, it's difficult to impart just how incredibly powerful a slide is, and therefore how much you need to fear and respect them. Just days after we finidhed up the avi course, we were graced with the sight of a slide that was at a safe veiwable distance. Chris (aka Flash) Krouse was skiing with Brian Boyle and they were coming along a traverse that brings you back to the mid station when they heard a noise coming from the east. They looked up just in time to see a dry powder slide rolling off the Glacier de La Mieje. The cloud that was created by the slide billowed across the valley and Flash had the time to take both still and video of it. This put a sharp point on any of the "tedium" that the kids had endured this past week while learning the nuances of sliding snow. They all get it now.
We are still waiting on the snow. Supposedly we are going to get at least 6 inches on Wednesday through the weekend. Cross your fingers for us.
Cheers,
Sam
February 10, 2006
It’s hard to believe that we have already been here for 6 days! Wow the time flies the first week when you are trying to get into a routine. The kids have finished an intensive Avalanche course with our guide Miles. After the day in the classroom they spent a day in the backcountry digging pits and studying terrain and route selection. Then, yesterday we spent almost the entire day running everybody multiple times through beacon drills and finally the entire group through mock scenarios. For the beacon searches we set up four stations and had the kids search for a single beacon at each station. We then skied a run and had lunch, and came back to do our scenarios. For the scenarios we split the crew into two groups of six and submitted them to a couple of mock rescue situations where there were four victims who had been caught in a slide and the kids had to organize themselves and determine the fastest and most efficient way to identify and extract the survivors. It was an intense scene with some of the mock victims being real people (me and Kevin) and we were screaming and uncooperative at best. The kids did extremely well and the whole thing gave them a lot of practical experience and made the coaches and guides a lot happier about the prospect of taking them into avalanche terrain.
Today we spent the day free skiing. The kids have been hard at work and have had little time to explore the mountain, so we let them roam around the basic terrain and ski their legs in a little. It was another bluebird day with temps in the teens. Perfect skiing weather, but we are still eagerly awaiting snow here!?!?!?! The French vacation week starts so we expect to see more crowds, which always bring out the most fantastic neon one piece ski suits you have ever seen. So that will keep us entertained if nothing else.
In addition to all this the kids have been focusing on their homework obligations for three hours a day. They have already gotten a good handle on what needs to be done and are plugging away quite diligently.
Cheers,
Sam
February 8, 2006
Check out these pics.
February 7, 2006
Back in the saddle again…… (according to your musical tastes you can hum that to Aerosmith or Autry). Being in La Grave feels like déjà vu all over again, home away from home. With a healthy crew of veterans in the group, it’s no trouble sliding into the routine here. We have chosen to have the Level 1 AIARE avalanche course front loaded into the trip so the kids can get the basics under their belt, and hopefully have the skills in place for the powder when it comes (not if it comes). The base depth of snow is similar to last year, for those of you not in the know that means not enough snow. However, what is on the ground is very edge-able thus really fun to ski. And, there is a even coating of snow from the top to the bottom which means we can ski 7300’ runs all the way to town. One down side is that there are lots of little rocks sticking through here and there so the skis are at risk for a bit of damage, but that’s what p-tex is for.
Yesterday, all the kids sat in the classroom for a total of 8 hours of slide shows and lectures on avalanche issues. Today we split the group into skiers and snowboarders and the latter went for the day with Miles (our guide) on a tour to do the practical in the field, and the skiers came with Kevin and me up on the hill for an introductory tour. We took about 4 runs (before you scream “slackers!” bear in mind that one of those runs was an hour and 40 minutes long J ) and spent a lot of time going over the basics of how to move safely through this aggressive terrain with the minimum of risk. It was a beautiful day for the most part, almost 30 degrees at 3200 meters. We had our first lunch of cheese, salami and baguettes. All is right in the world. There will be some tired legs in the group tomorrow.
Cheers,
Sam
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Spring Fundraiser - CVA Biathlon5/17/2008 2:00:00 PMStudents, parents, alumni, and friends are invited to be a part of the annual student spring fundraising event - this year it\'s a biathlon of running and biking. To sponsor a student hit the "Click Here" above. Enter your name as the Attendee, enter your payment option, click the amount of your sponsorship. Also please enter the name of the student you are sponsoring in the
Annual Fund Year End
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