Kathmandu 11/12 February 2009

Flew with Jet Airways http://www.jetairways.com/ from Heathrow. managed to blag an exit row for the overnight flight to Delhi - the extra leg-room more than made up for the child being sick before takeoff necessitating a cleaner to come on board an mop up. Easy conection at Delhi with staff hovering to make sure we didn't go astray.

Kathmandu airport, apparently shoe-horned between houses and mountains, provided light relief in the shape of a post-colonial civil service bureaucracy. Thi required us to queue first to pay for the entry visa. The you mut take the two recepts you've been given and queue at a second desk where one person checks the receipts, a second writes out your visa details and a third signs it, when he gets back from the loo.

The drive from the airport proved that the crucial skill for drivers is to be able to deliver a rapid staccato on the car horn to warn all and sundry to get out of the way. He who hoots loudest and longest has right of way. Miraculously this seems to work and we arrived in one piece at the baroque splendour of the Shanker Hotel http://www.shankerhotel.com.np/ Under the circumstances it only added to the sense of the alien that Nepal drives on the left like the UK.

After a shower we went for a wander round the Thamel district of the city. As well as the usual shops selling tourist tat (Tourist: "What is he making?" Guide: "He's making it old.") and trekking essentials, there are money-changers. These are semi-legal but well-controlled and all offering identical rates, taken that morning off the internet. There are also the ubiquitous internet cafes, as well as normal bars (with and without "shower dancing girls") and restaurants.

After the third offer of hashish we retreated to a rooftop terrace for a Gorkha beer and a vegetable curry as night fell.

Winter Park, Colorado 9 January 2009

Heavy overnight snow. Perfect powder conditions for making first tracks on the higher slopes.

Skied all around the resort, sticking mainly to blues as the weather alternated between brilliant blue skies and white-out blizzards as wave after wave of snow-laden clouds came over.

Total descent for the day: 6185m.

Winter Park, Colorado 8 January 2009

Bright, sunny morning with more overnight snow. Took the opportunity to try out the off-piste area over the back of the Parsenn Bowl that has previously been closed. Followed in the tracks of a single previous skier (and hoped I wouldn't find them disappearing over a cliff!)

Spent the afternoon on blues through the trees and in the Parsenn Bowl.

Even managed to ski from the highest point accessible in the resort back down to the village in a single run (approx. 1000m vertical drop) in 15 minutes. Total vertical descent for the day: 6610m.

Winter Park, Colorado 7 January 2009

Weather continues to get warmer - it's now warmer than Bristol was yesterday! There has also been an overnight fall of snow. Pistes have a 6 inch covering of powder. Moguls have about a foot. So another day mogul bashing on narrow runs between the trees. Can't help but notice the number of dead or dying trees. Apparently it is caused by the larvae of beetles which are spreading through the forest at a tremendous rate as the climate gets warmer. Another victim of global warming.

Winter Park, Colorado 6 January 2009

Weather overcast (unlike in pic taken earlier) but warmer. Only -10 centigrade.

Higher lifts closed so took advantage of overnight snow to bash more moguls on the slopes around Mary Jane. So much easier, and more fun, to take faster through the foot or so of fresh powder snow.

The wind got up again after lunch creating blizzard conditions at the top but lower down, sheltered by the trees, the additional snow made conditions near perfect.

Total descent for day: 4665m.

Winter Park, Colorado 5 January 2009

Caught shuttle bus to slopes. Distance about 150m as the crow flies but nobody walks in the USA, particularly across Interstate 40 which separates the hotel from the lifts.

Spent the morning mogul bashing. Very satisying but tiring on the legs.

Had lunch at the top of Mary Jane then spent the afternoon doing the blues of the Parsenn Bowl - the highest point open in the resort (3795 m). As the wind got up later in the afternoon, the temperature dropped to below -30 centigrade with wind chill.

Having completed vertical descent of 6570 m, Mark called it a day and retired to the hotel pool with fabulous views out over the slopes.

Winter Park, Colorado 3/4 January 2009

Another rogue entry as Mark jetted off to Winter Park, Colorado without Jennifer Susan. Clearly something will have to be done as there are definite signs of a trend starting...

Mark booked through Crystal http://www.skicrystal.com/to stay at the Winter Park Mountain Lodge. http://www.winterparkhotel.com/ He flew with BA to Denver, a flight of 9 1/2 hours and two lunches, five hours apart. http://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_gb?source=TOP_home

After manfully staying awake till 9:30pm local time (4:30am UK time), Mark turned in. He woke at 7:30am local time and organised a ski pass through Crystal ($370 compared with the internet price of $468 and the ticket office price $550).

The temperature was a bitterly cold -27 centigrade (though it did peak mid-afternoon at -16 centigrade) so the face mask and thermals were essential.



Mark stayed in the Vasquez Ridge area for the morning, sticking mainly to blues and blue-blacks (reds), though there were a couple of interesting black diamond mogul trails. Snow conditions were excellent with a 6 inch covering of powder over a firm snowbase. Mark was second down most of the runs so enjoyed near perfect conditions.

After lunch at the Sunspot mountain restaurant, Mark moved to the Lewis Carroll inspired area around the Olympia and Looking Glass lifts then moved to the lower slopes, closer to the village as the sun set and temperatures dropped again.

Total descent for the day: 5855m.

50 laps of the hotel pool and a jacuzzi eased aching limbs.

Flavanol packed dark chocolate snacks to sustain Mark through the day (2 squares a day recommended to reduce anti-oxidants, so Mark opted for 4 squares on the grounds that this would do twice as much good).