Its Snowing.....

The 30th November finally signalled the start of the winter season, although there has been some snow on the tops on and off for the last 3 weeks this morning we awoke to 15cm and growing on the hot tub lid. So its a final week of prep before we break the boards and skis out, snow brushes, snow tires on the cars, de-icer, wood in and dry, ... get your easyjets booked.

As part of the new seasons plans we are redesigning the web site, out with the charming iWeb site which we have lived with for 2 years, in with a fresh clearer looking set of pages. We have also just registered and new a new web url.. www.eco-chalet.net which will run in conjunction with www.sourcealps.com. All a bit techie at the moment, but all of this works it should allow us to be able to play a bit more this winter

oh bugger..... wax

Greener Travel

The article below prompted some thoughts

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/science/earth/18offset.html

The big question facing anyone traveling for a holiday that is "aware", is the carbon footprint of your travel. The argument for carbon offsetting i.e. paying into a fund which then invests in green solutions to limit emissions though promoting or developing green/eco technologies or initiatives as simple as planting trees which then in turn absorb CO2 is fraught with questions of effectiveness and accountability.

The arguments for offsetting are complex and confusing; is offsetting an emotional panacea providing guilt free travel or actually an effective solution for travelers. The answer seems to be somewhere in the middle.

Offsetting a flight will not immediately cancel out your emissions as the technology or incentives you are investing in, are often very long term projects, some 10-20 years away from producing tangible reduction or absorption results. Having said that it can be viewed as investment in a future greener world. But then it may well be too late.

So what do you do.

Firstly the numbers… according to

http://www.co2balance.com/

http://www.jpmorganclimatecare.com/

If you fly as a single person by car from London to Geneva you produce 0.19 to 0.26 tons of carbon depending on the efficiency and age of the aircraft

If you drive a 40mpg diesel car you produce roughly 0.28 tons of carbon.

Four people in the car produce 0.07 per person.

Taking the Train produces 0.07- 0.09 tons per person

So is fairly obvious. If you are travelling alone the train produces less carbon.

Practical advise…..

If you are you are on own and you have time, take the train.

If you have loads of friends, consider filling a well-serviced car

If you are flying, book a flight with a carrier who fly’s new planes with modern engines and who fly full aircraft.

If you feel that offsetting is a good solution for you, use a program verified by the approved by a United Nations certification program for reducing emissions, as Easyjet do.

The biggest point is, be aware and make lifestyle choices

Yoga is good for you....

Yoga Boosts Heart Health, New Research Finds

ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2009) — Heart rate variability, a sign of a healthy heart, has been shown to be higher in yoga practitioners than in non-practitioners, according to research to be published in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics.

A Winter Prologue by Lisa Storm-Olsen

Winter Prologue

A tremor of winter

heaving from the mountainside,

pushing eel fingers along the valley.

Skies smoking their shroud to grey.

Water moves, darkening. Trees downing

their ornaments. Bolets blackening

at the feet of great oaks, melding

with leaves heavying together, holding

the last liquid, a preface

to the rivers’ thickening.

All yellows and reds driven deep

into peat soft earth to sleep.

A buzzard, sky shark, sea-less,

lowers to the fields - stillness,

a quiet presence, layering the air.

Silence, the bridge tendered by autumn.

All wild things going to ground.

A season drawing down its brood -

shedding itself of all the year’s colour,

emitting a black echo

ahead of its soft white song.

Copyright 2009 Lisa Storm-Olsen

Amanda Hamilton's Detox Week at La Source

I was curious, but when I saw the enema bag and amount of coffee that you wash out your colon with I decided I would decline getting too involved in Amanda's detox week at La Source. I went to the evening lecture. 70% of our energy is taken up by digestion. The food we eat plays an enormous role in our energy levels. By drinking only vegetable and fruit juices for a few days, it allows the body 70% more time to do other things. In that time it can really cleanse and heal. The thing I found most exciting is the that in our lower intestine we have a big build up of colon plaque, a hard, slimy build up of toxins. The colonic irrigation dislodges the plaque and you can actually see it come out. Many people have worms and parasites and all sorts of other nasty things come out.

The colonic plaque fascinated me. So after getting a guarantee that it would come out, I signed up.

Our hard core group were doing twice daily irrigations and 5 complete days of only juices. I managed 2 irrigations and 3 days of juices (with a bit of avocado and pear)! I only had to wait till Day 2 and the 2nd irrigation and hey hoo... there is was!! Duncan refused to come and look at it.. can you believe it?

Enough about my colon plaque. What was really incredible, was the magical healing power of this process. Some people arrived visibly withdrawn and closed and left extrovert and full of energy. Others arrived barely able to touch their toes, and by the end of the week they were sitting on the floor and getting up without props, tying their shoes without sitting down, etc..

The detox was accompanied by yoga, healing and shiatsu. Duncan (healing) and Philippe (Shiatsu) felt energy blocked in exactly the same places. After energy work, Guests felt energy pouring back into their limbs. There really was a lot going on that we are so unaware of in our busy daily lives. It reminded everyone of the magic of LIFE.

Not your usual ski chalet food

La Source is just finalising its winter menu. If you think 'Mildred's' in London or 'Bann's' in Edinburgh... 'The Grenier de Notre Dame', in Paris, you will get an idea of the La Source menu.

La Source is serving 5* restaurant quality vegetarian food. We do one fish dish a week. Meat can be served on request. We make everything from yogurt to breads on site. Raw milk is from the farm next door.

We are sourcing the majority of our food from organic suppliers and recipes are being based on what ever fresh fruit and vegetables we can source locally in season. We are 90% vegetarian. Our fish is either net caught or farmed organically, and we source any meat from the local butcher in Morillon. We try to buy meat from only wild or free-roaming creatures!

We are trying to make our food sustainable for the environment and for our guests. You will go home with way more energy that you came with!

If you want a break from skiing, we offer a 3 hour cooking workshop throughout the winter for E45 including lunch.

The edge of winter

A lovely picture taken from the office window heralding the onset of winter.

For details of ski and snowboard trips and courses visit www.sourcealps.com

Turkish Delight

It's a 6b although it looks like 8b!

Turkish Delight

Following a great summer working and climbing I decided to take some time off and go climbing!. Recent climbing grape vine noise suggested that Antalya in Turkey was the latest hot rock winter venue. So along with John Falkiner (Mountain Guide) and cousin, we hopped on a Swiss Air holiday flight and landed in the German version of the British "Costa's" for two weeks of sleeping, cranking and eating. The new 2009 guide for the area which had been posted through the door step 2 weeks before departure and with 500 climbs to choose from we landed with some anticipation for the weeks ahead.

The view from the house

John had organised we stay at The Rasayana Guest-house a small veggie eco farm just 1km from the main cliff in the village of Geyikbayiri, a great choice as it turned out. The first impressions are of a countryside barely surviving but you soon realise this is a solid agricultural area with depth and history, it just looks ramshackle.

John with our favourite restauranteur

The climbing is spread over 4 distinct cliffs with numerous sectors and caves. It truly is an extraordinary place to climb although still in mid October it was a touch to hot in the sun to climb. With 100 5,s -6as it looks like a great place for the beginner but be warned its all very steep, so rock fitness is a must for this place, with some of the routes running to 40m in length and even some of the 6a's over hanging as much a 4-5m , phew!

Fresh squeezed pomegranate

We climbed in the morning and normally took a break in the middle of the day to eat some fresh trout prepared in the cliff side local cafe, this is washed down with Turkish, coffee and sweet black tea. Then when the rock cooled down at 3-4 we would climb until the sunset or our arms or skin gave out. The rock is fab, Tufa's, caves, orange limestone conglomerate overhanging wals and grey/white vertical finger fests. It is a world class area to climb in with a very chilled vibe. We spent some time sussing out the place to see if we could run a La Source rock camp and the answer is a solid yes, so watch out for dates and details in the coming months. If you fancy it get training and fit. It is suitable for most people but i would recommend that you should be leading 5's solidly and be able to top rope steep 6a's on the indoor wall if you are going to get the most out of an Antalya course.

One advantage of the late October early November dates would be that the monster hornets which seem to nest in some of the holds will have retired for the winter, and climbing in the sun will be not so blistering.

A typical lower off! Tea time again

Over the two weeks we climbed about 60 routes up to 7a+ , drank 90 cups of tea each, eat 10 trout each ( they are locally farmed), munched though 14 pomegranates, 200 olives, got buzzed on 40 Turkish coffees, saw thousands of goats, smoked a couple of Hookah water pipes flavoured with melon and espresso tobacco! and met some great people who will remain friends for a long time. This is a journey of flavours, steep rock, sun, lighting, orange rock and shooting stars.

Trimming off the rosemary at the Eco-Farm

see you next year in Turkey

PS hard skin is required

Road side cafe Turkish style Hire car 4x4 ing