There is still snow in the Espace Killy!

Although it hasn’t been a bumper snow season this year, we have still had some great conditions. The alarm bells were ringing loudly last week as temperatures soared and the most sun affected slopes began to get greener and greener but we have just enjoyed a relatively cold few days with good night time freezes which will see us nicely to the end of the season. If you stay high there is some great touring to be done, with spring snow on smooth open slopes. These shots were taken today on the Genepy ridges between Tignes and Val.

From From Paul
From From Paul
From From Paul

24 hour ski challenge

A big thank you to so many of TDC’s clients for having sponsored Paul, Giles or Ben for their forthcoming mammoth ski on the Bellevarde mountain. The event starts at midday on Wednesday 20th April and finishes at midday on 21st and will see a team of 6 spend 24hrs skiing the mountain. When the lifts close for the day, the guys will don their skins and will spend a good 16hrs walking up and down. Original plans were to be based on the Face but with the conditions as they are the pisteurs have stepped in and for safety reasons we will now be lapping up and down from La Daille.

From tdc various photos

If you haven’t already done so and would like to support our efforts have a look at the website that explains the event and the charities involved. Along with off-line donations we have raised almost £15000 so far.

Thanks again for all your support and generosity.

YSE and TDC Special Offer – March 27th 2011

YSE Val d'Isere

TDC special offers in conjunction with YSE

Sun 27th March – Sun 3rd April 2011

YSE is delighted to be teaming up with TDC for a second year running, offering a YSE holiday in Chalet Chez Savoy, a six day ski pass and five half-days of TDC clinics at a very special price of £995.

This represents a huge saving of £300 on the public prices of all three elements.

(YSE Holiday, TDC Ski Lessons, Vald’Isere 6 day lift pass)


YSE Chalet Savoy£995 for the week this includes
– flights
– transfers
– 6 nights accommodation with YSE, in a catered chalet
– 6 day Val d’Isere lift pass
– Five half days ski lessons with a TDC coach.
TDC will operate a choice of four clinics from
Monday 28 March – Friday 1 April – choose your level below

discovery – discover your talent, ski with confidence …for strong blue run skiers…
development – develop your performance, feel your skiing flow …for strong red run skiers…
development Plus – take on steeper and varied slopes …for strong red run /ok black run skiers
challenges – take on new goals, challenge yourself …for strong black run skiers…

TDC & YSE Special OfferInorder to take advantage of this great offer then here is how to book –

Book the whole package through YSE, then choose a suitable clinic by contacting
TDC direct. If you aren’t sure which clinic will suit you best, please discuss the levels with Sara in the TDC office +33 6 15 55 31 56.

We hope that, having looked at this fantastic offer, you will decide to book with YSE and TDC. Please telephone YSE on 0845 122 1414 (local rate – max 3.36p per minute), or if you are ringing from overseas, please dial +44 (0)1935 816550, or email YSE on [email protected] for any further information.

YSE are open from Monday to Friday, 9am until 6pm and on some Saturday mornings from October to April. At all other times, please leave a message on the answer phone or send an
e-mail, and we will reply as soon as we re-open.

There is good snow in Val and Tignes

Just a few words to contradict completely some of the rubish that is being circulated in the UK about the lack of snow in the Alps.

I can only speak for the resorts of Val d’isere and Tignes, but there is good coverage on the pistes, the entire area is open and we have been enjoying some brilliant skiing the past few weeks in bright sunshine.

It is true that we have not had a lot of natural snow this season and a great deal of thanks must go to the STVI and their team responsible for making snow and preparing the pistes.

That said, the off piste is still there and it is skiable. Check out the link to bumps skiing in val d’isere only last week. There has not been a lot of fresh powder to be skied this season, but this is not a reason for lazy journalists to write off our resorts as being low on snow. Just not true.

Snowing this week too!

Tignes Glacier skiing

Whilst the final touches are being made to the renovated chalets and Hotels in Val d’Isere and Tignes, the glacier is being put to good use. Not only are TDC coaches running pre-season BASI prep courses and slalom training, but national teams have been up on the hill making their final preparations for the World and Europa cups.

See how the slalom training is getting on at: http://www.youtube.com/thedevelopmentcentre

All our coaches regularly use video analysis as a tool for teaching and all you need to do is ask you coach. You may even feature on this site!

Ski Clubs Unite

Thank you very much to the members of the Ski Club of Manchester and the Ski Club of Great Britain for their enthusiasm and good humour at the Chillfactor in Manchester over the past week.

We have run nine sessions together and they have been really well attended. Over the nine sessions there must have been a few thousand runs completed. We have covered topics like balance (a lot), rotation, edging, pole plants, relaxing, flowing, skidding, gripping, jumping, arcing, carve turns, short swings, short turns, punchy turns and more. Thank you for listening, talking and asking questions, the sessions have passed really quickly.

We all need to extend warm thanks to John Weatherell for organising everything, a great effort.

We are back next year so if you are around next September then put the dates in the diary. Unless i see you in the Alps, until next year.

See the videos on our youtube site http://www.youtube.com/thedevelopmentcentre

Giles x

Ski Club of Manchester kick off the season

What a good start to the winter season!

The Sale Sharks were improbably victorious against the reformed but unloved Harlequins at Edgely Park and the Ski Club of Manchester were enthusiastic and dashing at the Chillfactore indoor snowdome in Trafford Park.

The combination of these two events is becoming a much loved fixture in my diary and the dates for the SCM 2011 are already confirmed. The skiing was good and the Chillfactore was busy. More dates throughout the coming week. On snow dates for BASI prep and preformance training available on the website.

Mountain Triathlon

For those of you who have been following the progress of Paul and Giles in Pontis Mountain Triathlon, or indeed for those who have donated to the cause – here is an update. If you haven’t heard about our fund raising event please have a look at www.pontismountaintriathlon.com

Well, what a day. We were rolling by 0945, slightly behind schedule but we can blame Justin for that!

The ride along the valley flew by; a 400m climb but very gradual and the boys were all riding well. Some beautiful scenery and some welcome cloud cover as we made our way towards Bourg St Maurice for a quick sandwich stop. We had been joined by some new recruits John Langridge and Paul Alcock who both rode impressively. John being less experienced and with fewer miles in the legs set off before us. Not knowing quite what to expect he showed great form and put in a sterling ride, finishing well before the rest of us. We quickly worked out that Paul had some pedigree when it comes to endurance events and were very grateful to ride in his slip stream until Bourg…then he was gone!

Piers and Tom joined us at Bourg (great effort Tom…first alpine col and in trainers on a hire bike, very impressive) and then locals Jules and his mate Nicholas rode the final leg from Val to the col to add a Gallic flavour to the day.

We always knew the climb would be hard and it didn’t disappoint – it was gruelingly long. Just shy of 50kms of steep alpine road from Bourg to the col, everyone fighting their own battle to arrive exhausted at the top.

We had some great support on the road and in the pub afterwards, which really added to the occasion. We’re looking forward to the run now…after a little bit of a rest! and look forward to seeing many more friendly faces in Malvern on Saturday 9th October.

Thank you, thank you to everyone who has donated, we can’t believe the total and with two events still to go hopefully we’ll smash the target. Keep an eye on the blog for more photos and training stories and finally a big hand to Jon who rode like a Trojan and then drove 16hrs back the UK today, I bet the hamstrings has something to say about that!