I would love to say that its nice to be back in London after a week of traveling in the Alps, however I would be lying.

After a whirlwind tour of three countries with snow aplenty, its back to the grey, sombre landscape of Londinium, for a whole 5 days…

A quick report on the last week -

Highest altitude – 3883m at Klein Matterhorn viewing platform (highest lift in Europe) – followed by a descent down the highest piste in Europe on the Matterhorn glacier.

Favourite skiing/riding – Courmayeur (monday) – fresh powder empty pistes. OR La Thuile (saturday) white-out followed by blue skies and deep powder on the St Bernard Pass pistes.

Favourite meal – Fillet steak at Munchie in Chamonix (sunday).

Favourite wine – Barolo – Mont Frety, Courmayeur.

Favourite hotel – Hotel Dora – La Thuile, 4 star, 1 year old, fantastic.

The Timeline…

Sunday

Fly into Geneva – pickup car, drive to Chamonix.
Stay in Gustavia Hotel 1 night – heavy snow – leave early the next morning for Courmayeur. Fantastic meal in Munchies – Greenland Prawns starter followed by Fillet steak.

Monday

Arrive Courmayeur – excellent snow conditions – drop bags at Edelweiss Hotel and head to the lift to go riding, weather is overcast, but fair, snow is fresh, powder on and off piste. Pizza lunch on piste at Bar du Soleil. Meet Marco at hotel at 6pm, collect Liam – go for dinner at Piazzetta – amazing selection of fish over 5 courses. 1200m.

Tuesday

Head straight to the piste, ride, shoot and film in near perfect snow conditions, weather mixed with blue skies and cloud – turns poor after lunch. Powder snow. Lunch at Piste restaurant Maison Vielle – 2000m – great array of local meat, cheese, pasta and wine. Off the hill sightly earlier, to allow a visit to the Pre Saint Didier Spa – a restored and modernised Roman baths. Dinner in the evening at Mont Frety – tasting menu of local meat, cheese, anti-pasti, desert, wine and digestife.

Wednesday

Lift up to the top of cable car to Mont Blanc – 3700m – stunning panoramic views of the Alps mountain ranges as far as Tignes and The Matterhorn, shooting and filming for cable car company web-video-advert, -10 degrees – back to the hotel to drop of Liam – some work in town before driving to Cervinia. Check in at Edelwiess Hotel, Crevina, dinner at Le Vieux Grenier – great pizza and wine. 2050m

Thursday

Riding, shooting at the Matterhorn glacier cross the border into Switzerland and then back again on piste. – 3883m – lunch at Bar Baita Cretaz – cheap piste food , sausage and chips – shopping (new bindings – Crevina 2001) – dinner at Ymeletrob (new hotel/restaurant – russain ?) – Argentinean fillet steak cooked in the room, followed by Creme Broule.

Friday

Riding the main pistes of Crevinia, mostly red runs, all very quiet. The snow is good, but thinner than Courmayeur. Leave the piste at 2pm, checkout, do some further shooting and get on the road for La Thuile where we check into the Hotel Dora in the middle of town. Amazing. On the road back to Mont Blanc, destination is La Thuile. Check into Hotel Dora. Dinner at Pepita – Tex-mex and pizza restaurant and bar – fajitas and pizza shared. Cold conditions, -10 in the village at 1400m.

Saturday

In La Thuile, woke-up to overcast sky and white-out conditions on the mountain. Not boding well for our last day. After a couple of runs down in terrible conditions, went up the top to see what was happening there. Once we found the St Bernard Pass side of the hill, everything changed – blue skies, deep powder and empty slopes awaited. Skiing into and out of France/Italy. Picked up some of the best powder runs we had, got some of the best photos of the trip, and even sustained a minor injury to recall later in the pub. Dinner at La Bricole, grilled cheese starter, fillet steak with sauce and mash, and semifreddo to finish, topped with a glass of Genepy. A beer in La Bricolette afterwards.

Sunday

Breakfast in the hotel, followed by packing and kit arrangement. Filming and photography of the Hotel before heading for Geneva for our flight.

The full Flickr Set is here

The Maddog Ski website – http://maddogski.com/

Maddog Blogs – http://blogs.maddogski.com/

So, im looking forward to more Alp-time in the new year, but before that, ive got to go to Houston for two weeks… i better go and pack..