Freezing in Stockholm ...

Having a quiet family Easter weekend, well not actually that quiet. My niece and nephew both have excellent lungs which they seem to like to air regularly. Really cold here in Sweden.

If you are visiting in winter it is a great time to visit some of the Museums. Top of the List has to be the Vasa Museum and the National Museum has an amazing display of orthodox icons (tripychs). 

Today I visited the Ethnological Museum in the morning (excellent chilled out Cafe Restuarant), there was a really interesting temporary exhibition on the persecution of the Gypsy people in World War II. Opposite is the Technical Museum, this is a great place to visit for all age groups, my 2 year old nephew was in his element, as was my 42 year old brother. Excellent interactive displays and activity area. 

The last Museum of the day was definately one for my nephew but if you are visiting with kids it is excellent. Junibacken is a story house on the island of Djurgadenin the heart of Stockholm. It is next to the Vasa Museum and close to the piers from where the cruise boats to the islands leave. Junibacken explores the world of the characters from the books of Astrid Lindgren's children's books, the most famous of which has to be Pippi Longstocking.

Check it out on www.junibacken.se

Stockholm is a great city summer or winter, well worth a few days to visit

White out..

Snow all the way down to Bourg this morning, I woke up to a winter wonderland. A bit wet and soggy so not sure it will last long but at least it will improve things up top. It was very cloudy and damp as I drove down the valley... drat, I had to go back to the uk and there was all this fresh snow... no luck

Hot Stuff

It has been so warm out here, the last 2 days late afternoon temperature at the flat has been around 15oC, at 11am it was 20oC on in the shade on the balcony. All this is having a terrible effect on the snow, which is going rapidly.

Yesterday was like skiing in setting cement lower down so today I headed high and went to Fornet at Val d’Isere for a cruisy afternoon. The high winds this season mean that it is pretty sparse high up and the wind since the last snowfall has meant loads of wind slab. There are avalanches everywhere, all plaques, particularly on north facing slopes…. And still I watched 2 boarders, traverse from Cugnai through avalanche debris and on to a slope of about the same angle and aspect as the one which had gone!!!! Suffice to say there were very few folk in the off piste today. Two massive avalanches on my side of the Aiguille Rouge yesterday, unfortunately produced a fatality. Thankfully the temperature is due to drop, either that or I may have to get my wet suit out, it is definitely water skiing in places.

Hug a tree

The pistes went from icy moguls up top to ankle deep slush at lower levels, so it was time to head for the trees. Had a great time with fresh track in loads of bits. Paid for all the fun when I got lower down, a tad icy and scraped by boarders, not to worry, hugged a couple of trees and checked out a badger hole with a head plant!

Encore belle journee

And for the non french speakers, another beautiful day here in Villaroger..... blue skies, bright sun unfortunately the snow is a bit skied out and icy in places. It needs a good dump of snow here if there is any hope of the snow lasting until mid April. The run down to the village is broken so we are having to download the last lift. ... It was however another great day, a few fresh tracks in the wood and some nice bumps

Shock horror!!!!

The wind blew, the rain fell and I stayed in!!! Realised that for most of the next 2 months I am adventuring (with a bit of work inbetween) so seemed like a good day to catch up on paperwork.