February

Jenny spent a couple of days with us in Switzerland before flying home. Michelle was back of to Germany for the second part of her course. The course will take the whole year with one weekend a month. It makes this winter very busy with working skiing and studying she doesn't really have any time just to relax and do nothing. This is a really bad year for shoulders, we heard from Peter before we left, he has injured his shoulder and can't ski. A real shame because his son is in St. Anton to ski with him. The middle of February came and saw Michelle back in St. Anton skiing. Duncan was only able to get a couple of days off so joined her mid week. We finally got to meet Peter's son Duff, great guy, lots of fun, he struggled in the deep snow because it was his first time, but he learnt really quick, and by the end of the week was putting in some really nice tracks. As usual fantastic snow, Alois had to work hard to find it though, and we had to do lots of walking. We started the week doing Kalteck, not a good sign as he usually saves that for the end of the week when everything else is tracked out. We then did the hour hike up to Rendlscharte. Poor Michelle really struggles on this because it is an hour of steep steps kicked into the snow carrying your skis on your shoulder. We did the run from Kappl (near Ischgl) down through the Malfontal, we even found a nice sheltered spot and celebrated the run with Champagne that Michelle had carried with her all day. She was a bit concerned with the mornings crusty snow, all the vibration and falls that the champers might explode. Alexandra managed to join us for a weekend of skiing, as we haven't skied together for a couple of years she has greatly improved. Its nice to see her so happy again.