Where's the mountain? and Mer de Glace!

Zipped through my presentation without a hitch - went a bit quick though so didn't quite fill the 2 hours - the audience and organizers weren't too fussed though - wanted to get skiing I think! While Morfar took the kids to their lessons, Jen, Cynthia, Mormor and I threw on the gear and stepped out the door to explore the Brevet - Legere adjacent our hotel. Weather looked a bit dodgy towards the top but seemed better than yesterday at first glance. Straddling that fine line between bravery and stupidity we decided to head up the chair called Cornu which takes you to the top of the Cornu Piste - one we avoided yesterday due to the visibility issues and harder runs for the kids. As we approached the top the clouds seemed to close in on us as if we were being smothered with cotton wool. Jen was not impressed as her visual cues essentially keep her upright. Needless to say there wasn't much 'visual' at all as we descended a seriously steep pitch on feel alone - you could just make out another skier or rider maybe 10-15ms ahead - but just barely. Mormor came unstuck and inverted herself down the mountain - skis flay-ling and seemingly unable to stop. It was like a purple blur cascading into the abyss of white around us. I quickly put the trusty Fat Bob (my snowboard) in gear and trusted I was on a flat surface (more or less) and took a quick turn to intercept but fortunately she had already stopped - giggling I might say - without any injuries. We eventually made it down and decided to explore the lower reaches of the mountain  where visibility actually existed. We called it quits around noon and joined Morfar and the kids for some lunch. We planned to go up the cable car to Aguille du Midi and to the summit of Mt Blanc where the views of the valley and surrounding mountains are touted as 'incroyable' but were frankly informed by the ticket operator that it was a total white out and not worth it. Plan B went into action - we decided to head to the ice caves - otherwise known as the Mer de Glace. A train takes you up the mountain at a reasonable pitch and then you catch a cable car to go into the valley where the Mer de Glace - a glacier - has been tunneled into and caves created. They've also carved massive polar bears, bedroom settings and a fire place into the ice - no bar though - so we couldn't get a drink. It was quite amazing really - tres incroyable (French for  very incredible - but sounds better). We're hoping for some better visibility today as have booked in with some guides to take Jen, Cynthia and I off-piste - we were hoping to do the Valle Blanche - a 20km off-piste route from the top of Mt Blanc - but it looks like this may not happen as weather and visibility is going to get worse over the next 48 hrs. Hopefully it will hold together today and we'll get a good run in wherever we end up.

Les Planards, Socked in on the Brevet and Fondue

Some morning snow gave the tracks a fresh frosting but not enough to assuage the packed conditions beneath. We started with the boys on the Ecole de Ski hill called Les Planards - I think it must translate to "the plains" as they weren't too steep or long - good for learning I guess. The boys jumped up a group and are now with a couple other Aussies and picking up new skills quickly. Jen, Cynthia and I did our best to attack the new snow and then took the boys across town for an afternoon ski on the hills adjacent our hotel. It's a massive ski area linked by a gondola and terrain not dissimilar to Whistler - runs a bit shorter. Problem was we were in a bit of  a low pressure system and clouds were hanging to the slopes leaving us with very limited visibility at times. Jen, who needs her vision to help with balance, struggled to stay upright, while Aidan - who remains a cautious skiier (unlike his brother), had his fears overcome him on one run where visibility was limited to your hand in front of your face, had to be coaxed down the trail. Needless to say, we ended the day early and whilst Jen and others took the kids sledding, I headed into town for some needed supplies and a look around. It's a beautiful little town with very narrow streets and a section dedicated to pedestrians only. Lots of old historical looking buildings and French-style chalet motifs. At the grocery store or "super marche" there were posters advertising Australia Day festivities at some local bars - inclusive of Australia Day Shots and Anzac Cookie chasers! There were numerous Chocolatiers, cured meat and cheese artisans, and then all your typical retailers (even Billabong, Quiksilver and Roxy have outlets). I naturally hit L'univers de Bon Bons (a shop I'm sure my brother would love) and took home a mix of assorted lollies to the kids - sampling a few on the way of course. After my evening conference session on Hyperbaric Medicine and Toxicology we trussed up the kids and joined some other conference goers for a meal at a local fondue restaurant - La Caleche. It was getting quite late for the kids as we got into the meal and by the end of this cheesy, meat and potato feast, both Cole and Piper were deeply asleep and required cartage back to our residence - 4-5 slippery blocks away. "Heavy lump" almost characterizes them both when they are fast asleep and both Jen and I definitely got some good weight training in hauling them home. Not sure where we'll be headed today - perhaps to the other end of the valley or an afternoon of sightseeing instead of strapping on the boards? I have my first session today - am  talking on Dermoscopy - wish me luck - hopefully all will go smoothly!

Chaos, Le Tour (for skiing.boarding) and Crepes!

After an early start we sluggishly organized the troupes and managed to find their ski school instructors et al at a local hill called Les Planards. It was chaotic as usual on the first day - moreso here as organization seemed to be fairly loose and our French isn't great. Aidan and Cole seemed to remember their ski legs pretty quick and were slotted into a group with a French speaking instructor and other kids - so if they don't learn much skiing they might pick up some French, mais no? Piper wasn't so sure - joining the chorus of the other 3 year old who wanted their mommy. She seemed to get into it once we were out of sight though. Jen, Cindy, Mormor and I ventured to the end of the valley to a ski operation called Le Tour. It was a little skied out but we were just taking it easy on the first day anyway - didn't want to break a rib or anything like that. The mountain crosses the border into Switzerland at its furthest lift so we naturally had to do so - no stamp in the passport though and if the truth be known - it was a bit icy there! Aidan and Cole joined us for lunch and skied with us for the latter half of the day. Some difficulties with the Pommell Lifts ( like a T-bar but with a round seat/anchor instead of a T which goes through your legs and pulls you up the hill) - eventually lead us back to the main chairlift and a few runs before the end of the day. No injuries and a genuine good time had by all. We ended up at a Japanese restaurant for dinner - how untraditional I know - but sushi is sushi! For dessert we wandered around the central township of shops and found a creperie in which to indulge! The conference starts today and we're off for Fondue ( more traditional) tonight. Haven't chosen where to go today but will soon get it sorted with all the logistics of the day. Au revior pour maintenant!

Nous Arrivons a Chamonix!! (We've arrived!)

4 Flights, 2 transfers, one re-fueling stop and a bus ride later we finally made it to Chamonix  in the French Alps. It took over 35 hours and resulted in very little quality sleep for Jen or I as seats are made for 3 foot dwarfs with no legs. Trying to sleep on these flights (in economy - b..stard Business Class!) is akin to Chinese Water torture - try as you may, no position makes the numb bum go away, then the legs or knees stiffen up and if you lazily push them into the aisle some good fairing steward/stewardess or hapless traveler inevitably kicks, trips or swears at you. Given the kids fit (more or less) into the seats, they tend to splay themselves all over you and given which child you've had the fortune of  sitting next to, they may or may not serve out a few random kicks just to keep you aware they're still there - usually just as you've crossed into sleep territory! If you're not trying to sleep or get comfortable the stewards are plying you with food and at pretty much all hours so by the end you feel like an exhausted, under-exercised, bloated blimp with a day and a half of facial growth (unless you're Jen of course). Driving into the Alps though made it all worth it - this is beautiful country. You actually feel like you've landed into the Tour de France in wintertime - previously this mystical place - seeming to exist only on television! Amazing! With a second wind we managed to meet up with Jen's parents and Fraser at the hotel - Les Balcons de Savoy. It sits just on the edge of Chamonix proper which is essentially a small town at the base of 4 different ski areas. Our view from the balcony looks out to Mt Blanc and this side of Chamonix. Found I haven't totally lost an ear for 'la Francais' and had to use some Spanish last night to help a co-conferencer organize his ski lessons! Should be at least somewhat bilingual by the end of the trip (wishful thinking!) Auntie Pinny joined us late last night so we've only caught up this morning and will hit the slopes today! It's only minus11 Celsius - a bit of a change from the +42 at Adelaide Zoo only a couple days ago! Conference starts tomorrow so we have a day to rip it up! It's all good!

A Zoo Day - for the kids

Packing up the Caravan and getting organized to store it away for a couple weeks took a little longer than expected so we missed the start in Unley by mere minutes. Instead - we headed to the Adelaide Zoo for the day as the novelty of watching masses of riders speed by for a few seconds was wearing thin. The Zoo was great with new Pandas - Wang Wang and Funi in attendance. It was heating up though and by the end of our tour around the park we were in dire need of a cold drink and a cool place to rest our weary legs. Naturally we ended up at the bar - well the bar of the hotel we had pizza at a couple nights previous. The Barley nectar never tasted so good! The mechanics area of the marquee for the Tour was open as well - so we went to have a boo at some of the bikes and equipment. The kids lucked out with some professional water bottles - complete with ice cold water! The boys, Bailey and Jen had a go on the cycle-ergometer and Jen managed to top the list of females for the day - getting about 590 watts! The day was quickly fading away so we headed back to the Caravan park - cooked up a feast and then quickly got back on the road to meet up with Hugh - an acquaintance of the Coddingtons, who was going to caravan-sit for a couple weeks. He had booked us into a hotel near his home called the Camelot Castle - guess what - it was an actual castle - the kids and Jen had a tour of the dungeon and some of it's other features while I went with Hugh to park the van. We were the only ones in the hotel so it was a bit eerie for the kids. There was a lifesize chessboard out on the veranda or court as well - so I had the kids take the places of the King, Queen and Knight for some pics this AM- they were all about the same size as the pieces! We're off to Singapore, London and finally Geneva today - 30+ hours of travel - it makes my head hurt just to think about it! We'll get there in the end!

The Adelaide Hills and 3 flats!

Lance seemed to look longingly into her eyes as she snapped his photo just before the big climb of the day - at least that's how Jen saw it. Actually, she didn't know who she was snapping at the time as they were going by quite quickly - but the photo does suggest he did give her a glance! Stage 2 of the TDU took us to Checker Hill Road and then to the tourist town of Hahndorf, steeped in German history and buildings. It was starting to heat up during the day with a high of 34 degrees celsius predicted. There was only a slight breeze though and once we had made it to Hahndorf to catch the finish the riders were flying. We were about 600 metres from the finish and they were barrelling down vying for position - just like on tele! You could feel the wind being pushed towards you and hear the surge of power as they went for the line - it was incredible! Phil thought he saw Lance in the front group - sitting up and taking it all in. We hung around in Hahndorf for a play, some ice cream and treats then Phil and I started the bike ride back to the Caravan Park while Jen, Tamra and the kids did some more play and shopping. As bikes weren't allowed on the M1 freeway, Phil and I made our way along the scenic route following our Google Map directions. We were making great progress to Woodside - averaging 31 km/h but then found out we needed to go back to the last town to take Green Hill Road back to Adelaide (just another 27kms by the sign). It wasn't long before we were in the hills and doing it hard. The switchbacks seemed never ending. After two punctures to Phil's rear tire near the summit of the climb we started the descent. The Adelaide side of the "hill" was majestic and thrilling to boot going 60+ kms an hour round corners and hairpins. At one point you could see the entirety of Adelaide stretched out before you - absolutely breath-taking and hard to describe without expletives. Concentrating on the road rather than Phil (without another spare tire) I flew down to the bottom of the hill...only to find out he flatted about half way down!! It was a great view though so I headed back up in rescue and managed to beat the sag-wagons (Jen and Tamra) to him with a spare (which turned out to have a slow leak as well!) We managed to race the girls and kids back to the Caravan park (but just barely) and get organized for a well deserved pasta dinner.. and an ice cold beer of course! Today we have to pack up and drop the caravan off at friends of the Coddington's before our trip to Europe - hopefully we'll get in some of the race and maybe the Zoo!

Stage 1 and the Giant breaks again!

Bit of a sensational title I know - the Giant is our untrusty roadbike which we've had to fix on 3 occasions for a broken derailleur stay - Jen seems to have a knack for destroying this piece of metal and did so 20 mins into a ride last night. (Mind you I've done it twice before as well- bad design I think). So today - we're going bike shopping!
Yesterday was the 1st stage of the tour so we trucked the contingent of kids to Nurioopta and Tanunda to catch the riders as they climbed Mengle Hill Road - one of the King of the Mountain climbs. Phil and I rode some of the course in the area (with about 1000 other riders!) and did the hill, meeting up with the rest of the crew at the top. Just prior to the riders coming through Cole was interviewed by Channel 7 and was well cued to say "Lance" when asked who he was watching for. We traveled home through the Baroosa Valley  past Jacob's Creek, McGuigans, and a few smaller wineries. Phil and I passed Penfolds, Cockatoo Ridge and some others en route to Tanunda as well. The Valley of the Wine Gods! After a seemingly endless drive back into Adelaide (I hate city traffic!) we made it back to get Jen set up for the planned evening ride with some friends of Tamra. The fated ride that left Jen derailleurless! Dinner was at an inner city pizza place with good beer on tap (Belvedere's Best? - a Scottish Ale - very nice and Guinness - of course)!

Today we'll take in Stage 2 for some more excitement! Go Lance! Go Cadel! Go Robbie!!