Skiing in Les Menuires (2010)

This year we went skiing in Les Menuires (in Les Trois Vallées area) for the third time. I took some skiing lessons at home so that I would be well prepared on the slopes. This year I was planning to get some skiing done on black slopes as well as on the other ones (green, blue & red). During our holiday Fenneke and I took a private lessons of one hour and thirty minutes during which we got lots of technical tips and an explanation of the inner workings of a carve ski. This lesson opened my eyes for the technique behind the skies and allowed me to make better use of this technology.

During the first few days of our holiday it was very cold, at the summits of the mountains of Val Thorens the temperature was around -30°C. We bought masks to cover our faces in order to prevent freezing. Despite the temperature the weather was great: clear blue skies and lots of snow. After the first couple of days the temperature rose to around -10°C which made skiing just a little more pleasant :-)

Last year I explored lots of red pistes, this year I was planning to do the same for black pistes. During the first part of the holiday Fenneke and I did two black pistes which both went great. We planned on doing some other black slopes, but after four days I fell and twisted my knee. After this fall I wasn't able to ski like I am used to so we decided to leave the other black pistes for next year.

This year I took my GPS unit with me almost each day, which leads to some nice facts and pictures. I tried to ski a little bit faster this year which led to a maximum speed of approximately 70 km per hour. My brother-in-law is a very good skier, he reached a startling 110 km per hour. Bellow you'll find a GPS track log of a day of skiing from Les Menuires through Meribel to Courchevel together with a height profile.