~ Thursday 8th December 2011
First ski of the season in Arolla today. After yesterday's bad weather it was a surprise to see blue skies this morning. With reports of 40cm of new snow - looks like good pistes for Christmas now - it seemed worth the long slog to the top of Arolla. There are no lifts open yet, so you have to "earn turns". Luckily I set off second, following a trail through deep snow - there's at least 40cm at the bottom of Arolla. Unluckily I soon caught the guy ploughing the trail, and ended up in front.
By 2600m we were calf-deep on skis, but with another 300m to go we were overtaken by the piste machine. Phew.
The ski down was well worth it, great snow (70cm at 2900m), no rocks, fresh tracks. Great start to the winter.
