Ski wars

Day four and that damn alarm comes around earlier each time. The morning peer out of the window shows snow and cloud again with visibility better than Sunday 

Down for breakfast and then down to the boot room. Again not so crowded today so it was much easier to get my boots on        Now just collect my skis and off we go. I went to the ski hangers and to the exact spot I had left my skis last night, right next to Ian's. My poles were hanging forlornly but there was no sign of my skis. I moved the hangers backward and forward and examined each pair of skis minutely for the Japanese looking ones with the number 23 on. No sign of them. I would have to remove my boots and go to the ski shop to tell them mine had been taken, passing under the sign that says 'make sure you take the right skis' as I went. Ian then called in to say there were some skis that looked just like mine leaning on the wall outside. I rushed out and sure enough Japanese 93 were there leaning on the wall. 'Yes', I yelled, 'they are mine, but what are they doing out here?'. 'They are not yours, they are my wife's skis' a portly man exclaimed. 'I know this because she told her friend, and her friend told me, so they must be hers. Darling, these Are your skis aren't they,' to a woman sat inside. 'Oh, no, I have never seen them before'. Said the woman. 'That would be because they are mine!' I grumbled while quickly retrieving them and fitting them , exactly, onto my boots. Not a word from Ian about the big wedge of snow in my heel either. 

Time for off after all that excitement. Obviously we were on the slope and not the terrace. 

We had planned to go across to the next valley so up the belvedere lift, down to Les Gets, up the chamoisse express and down Violet. Vicky has come on astonishingly this week, Ian has been giving her tips and she has been skiing parallel on most runs. The chicken wings and snow plough have been replaced by sweeping, elegant turns. Well done Vicky.  I am still the same, although they don't have to wait quite so long for me they say. We went up a couple of lifts and down some nice blues, Chris and Ian did a couple of blacks. No falls, no jumps, no moguls for me, although Chris came down a moguly black. We decided to cross back over to our valley for lunch, big mistake. We wanted just a snack as we felt we had been eating too much. I queued up at a snack window for what seemed like hours. There were four men in front, all it seems with twelve children and two wives, the woman serving was all alone and making everything from scratch. Eventually we got served. Maybe we will go for the full on lunch tomorrow. A couple more runs theni decided to call it a day as my fingers were really cold. Chris came with me but ianand Vicky carried on for another hour or so. She is loving it this year. 

Later, at dinner, (lovely buffet with marvellous baked apple for pud) I spotted the ski stealers and gave them an extra hard stare. Same thing in the bar later. No one steals my skis without getting glared at once or twice.. She won't make that mistake again. 

Scores on the doors for today. Max speed 32.4 mph ( your eyes are not deceiving you) distance 8.9 miles ( but I forgot to restart it after lunch.