2 Alpes Summer 2011 Review

And what a slightly bizarre season it's been. Seriously deficient snowfall all winter would have boded (is that a word?) ill for the summer if it hadn't been for some serious work on the part of the dameurs, who spent large parts of the season stealing it from all over the hill and stashing it in big snow larders on the glacier

Thanks to their sterling efforts there was plenty of the stuff both to open the snowpark and keep the kamikaze race kids happy in June and early July, and some frankly hideous weather in July kept it topped up for most of the season, a poke in the eye for the doom and gloom merchants who were convinced there wouldn't be a summer ski season at all and we'd all be out of a job. Ner to you lot, I say.

Torrential rain and arctic temperatures in the middle of the summer didn't do much for our other activities though, and on several occasions even the mountain bikers got rained off.

Things perked up a bit in the middle of August though, with blazing sunshine and temperatures heading for the 30s. This was more like it, we thought, and clearly so did everyone else, because suddenly they came out of the woodwork in their teeming hordes and cluttered up the pool when people on their lunch breaks wanted to go swimming. Humph.

But no-one was really complaining, except for some of our orthodox Jewish visitors, who claimed it was impossibly hot, though I can't help thinking this is always going to be the case when you walk around in long sleeves and a black overcoat in the middle of summer. I was tempted to suggest shedding a bit of clothing until my mother pointed out that this would be a bit like going to Papua New Guinea and complaining about the heat, only to have the natives tell you just to take all your clothes off and walk about starkers. It's a perfectly reasonable suggestion, but somehow you just wouldn't really feel comfortable doing it.

The Tour de France came and went, leaving the usual trail of destruction in its wake in the form of a tailback of traffic more or less from the Barrage de Chambon all the way through Bourg d'Oisans to Grenoble. Abandoned cars littered the laybys as most of the local population got out and walked in a bid to get home sometime before they had to start work again the following morning, and Bourg d'Oisans bars and restaurants raked in more cash in a single evening than they usually see in a month.

Last minute visitors are still providing a bit of occupation and entertainment for the hut-sitting cashier, but the whole thing is winding down towards the end of the season on Sunday, at which point everyone will either scarper off on holidays of their own, spend three days asleep or trek off into Le Clerc to kit the sprogs out with endless kit for the new term. And respectable pyjamas for those starting at big school and boarding during the week - wouldn't do to be seen in the dorm in those Spiderman jammies you've had since you were 11.

Next up is Toussaint, when the lifts will open from October 22 to November 1 as a taster for the upcoming winter season. Pencil in your pre-winter warmup now - you know it makes sense.