Decisions are not best made at 3am in the morning so when I took over the driving following a long sleep & headed onto the motorway I had’nt realised we were nealy at Dijon! Instead, heading towards ‘Reims’, I suddenly realised my error while keeping myself away to Abba & drinking coke.Questions in my small head such as ‘why is there so much traffic on the other side & why I am now getting signs to Calais! The worst thing was that there was no where on the frigging toll to exit! 30 euro’s later & a couple of hours it was time for eric to Drive again- gutted that we had’nt gone anywhere!

With 3 bridglets sound asleep we join the mass of brits, dutch & French heading to the Alps. For us this was different, we start to head east into Switzerland & loose the mass of traffic & que’s. Its not difficult to know which country you are in when suddenly it seems that a lawn mower has been along & hand picked the grass, lawns & manicured the countryside. Absolutely spotless, Switzerland has the most impressive range of mountains in the Alps & they certainly have built mountain pass’s to last. Its all sorted properly & therare  no rules, well we have’nt been told off yet!

Our previous snowkite experience at the Col D lautaret would be tricky to beat but we for sure shall be returning to this ‘Simpon’ area.  Staying in a small cow town near Reig Brig we make a 10minute drive to the ‘Simplon Pass’ most mornings if the wind is north & enjoy a climb with the kite or for the kids some freestyle. Then we have a choice of 3 or 4 small downhill areas to go to, all easy reach & crazy affordable, getting cheaper by the hour! So a normal half day of downhill for us x 5 was £60 and during this time we were on our own. So- imagine it- Feb half term- the busiest time in the mountains & us Brits having the ‘anchor’ & runs to ourself. The 1 pre- requirement for these small places is that you need to be able to deal with steep ‘T’ bars (anchors) which we soon became pro at! The variety of runs are not like the meribels etc but who needs it when every time you track down there is fresh tracks to be put amongst tree’s in steep terrain? Not a person in sight, we have the place to ourselves & Olly- our new friend & guide from Big Blue Experience- says this is normal & its his best kept secret.

Olly from big blue was great. Not only an amazing skier but also a demon with the kite & knows his way around the whole region with decent local knowledge welcome to be shared. We shall be working with Olly from big blue in the future for this place is the best so far for snowkite & the insane opportunities in different wind directions.

Time spent with Tom would not be the same without a trip to the local hospital, this time for a x ray on a suspect wrist fracture. Ibuprofen, a splint & still a ??? whether it’s a green stick fracture he is soon back doing some unhooked flat 3’s off a ramp he has made- all unhook & looking totally in control.  Oliver embraced the snowkite with his new snowboard skills. Normally on ski’s we have both decided then when the wind is stronger, constant then the board is the way to go. Lighter winds, climbing & tricky terrain then its all about the wide ski’s. The next investement will be skins so that when we get as high as we did today & wind switches off completely we can pack down & climb to the next ridge. Guy, now age 11 just enjoys the whole experience & especially loves anything with tree’s & crazy routes. The powder day was like we had our private ‘t’ bar to the top all to ourselves- seriously we put fresh tracks all day in steep tree terrain & did not see a single person- this was at a place called Rottwald. A couple more days to go & still so much to do- have not been back to the same place twice. Wind looks back on in full force tomorrow so going to get back on the kite & nail these drifting jumps that can be pretty sketchy!