Happy New Year!
What a fantastic start to the New Year!! Snowboarding...sledging...snooker...Switzerland, what can I say!? "I love you" and "see you soon" would have to be some of the first words to spring from my lips. It's such a wonderful country, the trains run on time, the towns and streets are clean, the air is so much fresher or was that just the altitude?
Verbier was to play host to the weeks activities over New Years, and boy were Louise and I spoilt at Etoiles des Alpes, thanks again Audrey and Ian! At 1500 metres, Verbier is one of the higher resorts in the Alps which means with a top peak of 3307 metres, that snow is pretty much a guarantee all your round. Whether it be fresh powder to carve up in the early months or glacier skiing in September!
We arrived in Verbier on New Years Eve, twisting and winding our way up the alpine hairpin bends as the sun was dropping behind the mountains, casting a wonderful pinky-orange glow around the valley.
A pre supper game was sprung on us all by Claire and Roz, photo extracts from papers and magazines around the chalet and making a name the nose/eyes/chin type competition. I wasn't too hopeful but got teamed up with Helen who was fantastic, had I been going it alone the results would've been somewhat different! WE WON!! Against all odds, we snatched victory by a whopping one point to be crowned, quite literally... Supper was delicious, smoked salmon to start followed by a yummy lasagne (one of my favourite dishes) and then the most exsquisite chocolate puddings to finish off.
At midnight the valley erupted with fireworks, filling the cold dense air with smoke as each rocket disappeared into the black with a woosh of copper coloured sparks before erupting colour and sound into the night's sky. To add to the fabulous display, Ian and Matthew lit the fireworks, to add to the sky's amazing colours and sounds, and quite successfully so! I like the photos of firework ignition, the 'runaway' stage and then rocket take-off finished with detonation so here you go...
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