We weren't going to let increased terrorism threats or the growing Iraq crisis spoil our holiday and I am happy to say that our 5 airport and 6 plane round trip was as smooth as can be.  Our luck was so good that our inbound Denver-Aspen flight was the only one that evening not to be cancelled by bad weather.

Our chalet on Francis Street was small but comfortable and only a couple of minutes from the free bus stop.  Our South African host Trevor was quite a lad and kept us amused with his stories and antics.  He loved his boarding and was actually reasonably good at it.  He may not have dusted the TV or the shelves very often but his cooking was excellent and his entertainment value pricesless!  Hi to our fellow guests John, Faye, Reg, Sally, Jon, Michelle and Trev's luverly girlfriend Vics.

As with both previous visits Aspen town and it's mountains were an absolute pleasure to spend time in.  We had tons of snow throughout the holiday and enjoyed pristine fluffy powder on several days.  With only perfect snow conditions, quiet runs and a total lack of ice, rocks and crowds, last year in Meribel seemed a world away and was reduced to a distant & unpleasant memory.

My new Gnu Carbon High Beam performed superbly and I was thoroughly pleased with it.  After a few days I soon had the confidence to hit the terrain parks and give the railslides & boxes a go, something I had never attempted before.  Mostly they went fine but I did have a big 'off' once and I was very glad for my backpack and newly purchased helmet which both saved me from some pain.

As before, Cooper Street bar was the apres-board watering hole of choice and many pitchers of Coors and bowls of pretzels were consumed over the 2 weeks.  If you want a fantastic steak you just can't do any better than visit The Steak Pit for an absolutely mouth watering meal which won't put too much of a dent in your wallet either - superb!

We stayed in the excellent Hotel Des Sources in Brides les Bains, a 20 minute bubble ride to Meribel.  The food was fantastic and even 12 days of high altitude boarding exercise couldn't prevent my salopettes growing steadily tighter!  A big hello & thank you to manager Alain, singing cheffie Marc and their staff for an enjoyable & relaxing stay.   

Unfortunately the snow conditions were very poor and it was only the snow cannons that prevented a total washout.  It had not snowed since late December and it was a rude awakening after several great American holidays to return to bare icy & rocky slopes filled to bursting with mad reckless Europeans - I have never seen so many incidents & near misses.  We could have saved our money by just towing our boards behind our cars for a few miles and kicking each other up the backside to simulate the ice induced falls!   With hindsight we should have hired boards & skis, preventing the damage caused to our own.

That said I still had a good time as even bad boarding is better than no boarding - right?  The lift pass is good VFM as the 3 Valleys ski area of Meribel, Courcheval & Val Thorens is huge and it also allows you a free visit to the neighbouring resorts of La Plagne & Val D'Isere.  With good snow it definitely would be a great place to go and our perseverance was finally rewarded when it finally snowed heavily on our penultimate day there.  The place was transformed and we had 2 great days of playing in powder before having to drive back home.

The last bubble down to Brides each day was about 17:30 so we didn't have much time in Meribel at the end of the day.  Just as well really as the bars tended to be a bit expensive.  Instead it was The Central bar in Brides that did very well out of us during our stay as our daily port of call for a few après board beers.  Our supply of crisp & shiny new Euros was not hit too hard either as their prices were very reasonable and their Kronenbourg 1664 & Hoegaarden wheat beer went down a treat.

This year the other members of our holiday crew were variously indisposed so 'we' were regulars Terry, Kirsty, myself and newcomer Zoe.  She hadn't been skiing before so started at the beginning with ski school but after only 3 days was coming on blue runs with us which definitely weren't all as easy as they sound.  She picked it up quickly and thoroughly enjoyed her first winter holiday - boarding next year!

The snow was pretty good when we first hit the slopes and it just kept on coming.  Nearly every day was a powder day which was fantastic.  The only downside (not that I'm complaining) was that it was consistently cloudy and cold with flat light.  Apparently the other Colorado resorts weren't getting much snow at all so we counted ourselves lucky.

I spent 3 mornings on the excellent terrain park and although my jumping was consistently pathetic I enjoyed improving my skills on the Boardercross track, Halfpipe and timed slalom course, none of which I had ever tried before.  I think I spent more time picking myself up, dusting snow off and rubbing bruises in here than the whole of my previous 3 holidays but hey - no pain no gain.

The Crystal team of Maria, Simon, Lisa, Gary & Tim (oh, and Chris!) did a fine job of looking after us, cooking great meals and providing a regular taxi service to the slope and from the bar!  Thanks guys.  Honourable mentions also to our fellow chalet mates Peter, Sheila, Colin, Terry2, Kim, Kerry & Dewi.  Better luck next year with the boarding lessons - how are the bruises doing?

Tamworth has been refitted since I was there before.  The inside is now entirely insulated improving the overall snow quality and the conveyor lift seemed better as well but I can't be sure.  I like the 'dog leg' design of the wide slope which provides a 90 degree left hand turn about 1/3 way down and you can get some good air off the roller further on.  Being quicker and shorter the rope pulley will allow you more runs but needs some hanging onto giving your forearms a workout and can lead to embarrassing falls if the tension goes out of it unexpectedly!  It cost me £15 for 1 hr with no reduction for using my own stuff but a 2nd hour would have been £10.  Overall  -  Easy to use and good value for money - Planet Angus awards it 8 out of 10.

Milton Keynes opened this week (2/10/00) and is evidently still finding its feet.  I found the snow quality and slope condition excellent but other design elements were less than impressive.  It is steeper than Tamworth and has a good roller on it.  Bizarrely the slope is divided in 3 by a string of padded roof support posts and crash netting.  Learners and jumpers had a lane each  leaving only one available for general use which will be very crowded at peak times no doubt resulting in some post / net collisions.  Two drag lifts service the main slopes that are not at all easy to ride.  You have to pass through the lift line to position yourself, risking getting hit and once onboard you must concentrate all the way up if you do not want to be thrown off by the truly awful runway bumps or collide with a post.  I really can't understand why a brand new facility has such difficult lift rides.  Like Tamworth it is £15 an hour regardless of equipment but subsequent hours are no cheaper.  Overall - Better than artificial slopes but needs some improving - Planet Angus awards it 6 out of 10.

This year Terry, Kirsty and myself were accompanied by my work chum Stooie who had been issued a 2 week pass by his lurvely Rachel.  Already an accomplished skier he was now an eager apprentice boarder .  I was well impressed with how quickly he improved at it and look forward to racing him again on future hols.

For the first week the snow was a bit crusty and thin on the ground with lots of rocks underneath so my board spent several evenings in the 'Alternative Edge' board shop being excellently repaired.
With the second week came the snow - and lots of it.  It snowed regular and heavy and superb powder could be found everywhere well into the day.  We alternated daily between Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass and usually stayed until the very last lift ride to make the most of it, then it was off to our favourite bar - the Cooper St Pier for some well earned beer before dinner.

Compared to the previous visit we only saw one celeb the whole time.  One evening we went to a Thai restaurant and on the next table was Martina Navratilova with a gang of female friends.

I loved Aspen.  It really is a very nice place, especially over Christmas.  It was so nice to escape from all the normal hype, hassle and overkill in the UK.  Being able to snowboard Christmas morning and then go back to a fantastic dinner was wonderful.  Aspen is affordable too.  OK there are a fair number of expensive and exclusive places to stay, shop and eat but there are also plenty that cater for ordinary folk.

You are spoilt for choice when choosing where to ski & board.  The lift pass covers 4 separate mountains, all served by a very efficient free town bus service that runs well into the evening.  The biggest mountain by far is Snowmass.  This is a self contained ski area and is as big as Steamboat in its own right.  Buttermilk is the 'learner' mountain but still has some challenging runs.  Highlands has some tough runs on its top and bottom but the middle section has some nice easy blues.  The hardest mountain is Ajax which is skis only.  Boarders aren't really missing out though as I found it the least pleasant to use and there are far more people posing around wanting to see and be seen rather than ski!

The six of us - Clare, Paul, Kirsty, Terry, 'Chicken' John and myself had a great time here made all the better by the late afternoon beer sessions in our adopted hostelry the Cooper St Pier, hence our return 2 year later.

Several hours drive later I was impressed yet again.  Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place.  Although I have enjoyed all my American holidays here is the only place that has, for me, come anywhere near the breathtaking views of the European Alps.  I never saw all of it at once as I understand it is almost 15 miles wide and 22 miles long - the distance between England and France.  Heavenly straddles both California and Nevada and you can easily ski / board across the state line.  It was really weird to look down from the snow covered slopes into arid semi desert below.  Even more bizarre was Heavenly town.  One side of 'State Line St' was ordinary buildings whereas the other was great mirror sided casinos & hotels, just like two totally separate towns had been cut in half and slapped together.

The weather here was pretty good with lots of deep blue sky warm sunny days.  I came back with a good face tan and I don't remember the snow being too bad either.  Only having done half a day in Avoriaz the previous year we really cut our boarding teeth here and got on brilliantly.  Anna was officially awarded the title of Board Goddess for her unmatched skill and grace.   We all wanted to buy our Burton hire boards at the end of the holiday but weren't allowed - great shame.

We did quite a bit of driving in our two hire Jeep Cherokees here as locations seemed so far apart, even within the same town.  I really enjoyed driving and thought cruise control was excellent.  It's a shame I didn't get the hang of four wheel drive until after the evening I got us stuck in the 'Killer Chicken' car park that had snow much deeper than it looked.  Many thanks to the store assistant who loaned us her snow shovel despite the fear of getting sacked if we ran off with it!

We all made the most of the free lessons on offer in nearby Sierra and a couple of us even braved its terrain park one day.  On the last day we went to Kirkwood which definitely needed more visits.  I provided everyone on a nearby chairlift with a good laugh as I launched skyward off a jump and came down back first, sending both skis flying off into low orbit.  Terry and I also have fond memories of our 'last day pull out all the stops' ski race down a well matched pair of blue / black runs.  A great holiday, capped by my underwear attaining celebrity status on the homeward plane journey!  

Whilst sunning ourselves after lunch one early afternoon we were treated to an impromptu display of how NOT to land a helicopter.  The local mountain rescue chopper doubled as a sight seeing ride and was coming in to land after a jolly round the mountains.  The pilot, obviously trying to impress, tried to be a bit too flash and in quickly swinging the tail round, got the tail rotor tangled in the safety netting.  Bits of helicopter & netting went flying in all directions and the final few feet downwards ended with a loud crash!  Luckily no-one was hurt but the chopper was a gonner.  We were then treated to a real display of mountain rescue as another chopper was drafted in to airlift the dead one down in bits!

Avoriaz is on the French-Swiss border and the lift pass covered us into Switzerland.  There were 2 ways down.  If you were sensible and/or a coward like most of us then you took the chairlift but if you were either VERY good and/or insane you went down 'The Wall'.  We all watched in horror from the lift as Ski God and Anna took the insane option.  This black run is straight down with moguls so big they hid people from view on the downside - bonkers!  We were suitably impressed when they both made it down safely which is more than can be said for us.  I put my hands up to this one.  I got my ski tangled getting off the lift and sent us all sprawling on the deck - most amusing.  The Swiss side had a couple of cracking blue runs that Ski God and I spent all afternoon going faster and faster on.  As this was only my 2nd holiday I was definitely well over confident and had a massive off, losing both skis and ending up about 50 yds further down by the time I eventually came to a halt.  I think it was here that I developed my run 'par' classification.  Every run I do on skis has a golf par which determines how few turns I can get away with on the way down, the lower the better.  OK I admit I'm a speed freak - so sue me.

Anna, Chicken, Ski God and I tried boarding here for the first time.  It was v.difficult and I definitely spent more time sprawling on the ground than upright.  We used hard bindings with our ski boots but I'm sure we would have got on better in soft boots/bindings.  Chicken somehow managed to break his board on the nursery slope but did very well indeed getting out of paying for it.  After about 4 hours we could ride the chairlift, stay up for a reasonable time and put in a few turns before crashing groundwards again.  We were glad to get back on our skis but the seed had definitely been sown......   

Now the downsides which are partly why I have been to America ever since.  The slopes were crowded, people shoved in the lift 'queues' all the time, the beers were extortionate and everyone spoke some weird language I couldn't understand.  Scenery was nice though.

Many of us had never skied before and so we were all in ski school together which was an absolute hoot.  I seemed to take to it pretty easily and got on really well which obviously helped me enjoy the whole experience more.  I really liked being able to navigate all around the mountain and trying different runs rather than sticking to the same place all the time like some did.  I cried with laughter when we all took a narrow 'snowplough special' track down to the bottom that ended at a car park.  We all stopped except for 'H' who ploughed straight across the gravel before collapsing in a heap next to a car.  We were still laughing in the cable car going back up.  Another amusing incident was when I fell off a lift.  I was edging forward on the seat ready to get off and slipped right off and fell underneath.  Caught in a dip with both skis on I floundered about unable to get up and all the time the fast quad lift kept going and I had to keep ducking so I didn't get my head taken off.  Eventually the lift attendant stopped it and I managed to get my skis off and extract myself accompanied by gales of laughter.  

The nightlife in our little village was limited to the 'Tennis Bar' which must have done pretty well out of us that week as there were always people willing to go for a few beers in the evenings.  The holiday drink was discovered one great night out in C.  Called 'Bombardino' it consisted of Brandy, Tia Maria, coffee liqueur and hot milk and everyone was on them once they'd tried it.  It really was great for warming yer cockles and getting you well p****d at the same time.  On the last evening the 'Groovy Band', formed by the founder members of the gym, performed unplugged at a sell out gig in the Tennis Bar as part of our skiing proficiency award ceremony.  What a great night that was.  I was very pleased with my 3 *** with merit!

This holiday was pretty short.  I think we had less than 6 whole days skiing but it was so good and I enjoyed it so much that it left me gagging for more and wanting to go again ASAP.  As it was I had to wait a whole nother year to go again but I got to make some really good friends which became my future regular holiday chums.  The gym was going to do another holiday the following year but they never did and as far as I know they haven't been since.