Romaric's blog

New year's eve menu...

2012-01-01T22:28:00.003+01:00

"Mediterranean shooters" - Accompanied by some Champagne
"Duck foie gras with spicy dates marmalade" - Late harvest Gewurztraminer wine from Alsace
"Pasta with a double (fresh and smoked) salmon sauce" - Riesling from Alsace
"Fresh fruits with a lime puree"
"Lemon tart"

Yummy yummy yummy!

Macarons for dummies...

2012-01-01T21:23:00.011+01:00

Dummy, this is how my sister is calling me... Still don't why :D ... Anyway, thanks to her, I made my first macarons, and 2 different kinds: lime, and olive-oil/vanilla... Yummy!

Tiredness

2011-12-26T21:53:00.004+01:00

French-speaking people can just listen the video... For the others, an extract:

Bruno: "(...) and what is in the lake"
Romaric: "A huge trout"
Bruno: "And what does it eat?"
Romaric: "It eats cows..."

I have to concede this occured after a rather long and sunny day, and that I wasn't in possession of my full brain capabilities...

Someone is lucky to have such a great cook as a sister! :D

2011-12-19T22:34:00.006+01:00

Look at the last success of my sister: pistachios macarons, and many of them... I suspect it is a technique of my sister to make me visiting her (plus my brother in law, and my terrible nephews) in cold and rainy Alsace! :D

Skiing Aneto - Climbing in Garraf

2011-12-11T19:51:00.007+01:00

Well, I haven't published anything about climbing or skiing stuff for ages, don't know why... Maybe this was linked to the fact I didn't take picture for a while? Which I can't explain neither...

Anyway, I stop philosophizing around... I made an effort for this long weekend. We went with Joan skiing the Mont Blanc of the Pyrenees, i.e. the highest summit of the range, in the name of Mr Aneto. Usually, this is the last ski tour of the season, but the average snow conditions made it an early season objective. It was pretty good, minus the CO poisoning at the hut due to the fact that an old gas heater has, somehow, been running all night... Fortunately, the dose was not too high, and just gave us a bad night, a massive headache, and the bad sensation to have a solid saliva...

Thereafter, we planned to climb around, but the weather was cold and wet there, and we came back to sunny Barcelona, for some climbing at Garraf, Jonatan joining us for the day. This is only one of the many climbing crags around Barcelona, but I like this place in particular: it offers excellent climbing, and its very scenic with its belaying ledge 50m above the sea. Just a shame that some people treat it as a rubbish bin (see last picture), with I have seen in a few other pretty places around... No further comment about this...

Going fixie

2011-11-20T14:57:00.013+01:00

Okay, this post is mainly about making Nicolas jealous, since I know he has been looking after buying a fixed-gear bike for a while...

In other words, I just got myself a "fixie" bike. I already ear some people saying that I am just being a fashion victim... Well, I hope I won't become like that. I am not a purist neither, and I added a front brake, which is not very pure for a fixie, to be minimalist...

Some people (probably the same ones as previously! ;o)) will say that having a front brake is being a big girl, a wimp, or anything like that... But, well, it already saved my life a couple of times in 4 days... ;o)

Anyway, I don't really care. It is fun to ride, and it makes a nice city bike for Barcelona, a not too hilly city.

Semaine en famille a BCN!

2011-10-31T10:41:00.004+01:00

Un post en francais pour une fois! (Desole pour l'orthographe, le francais n'a jamais ete mon fort! :D)

Voila, Annette, Fred et Alex etaient a Barcelonne la semaine passee. Du coup, mon petit apartement s'est tranforme en auberge espagnole le temps d'une semaine, bien sympa! Entre beaucoup de visites (et quelques kilometres a pied! ;o) ), nous avons eus le temps de caser quelques bons restaurants:
- Almadea: bon restaurant vegetarien (et sans alcool!), cuisine simple, bonne et copieuse pour un petit prix!
- restaurant du marche de Santa Catarina: un peu plus cher, mais vraiment excellent! Cuisine assez elaboree a partir de produit du marche, et le cadre tres sympa ne retire rien!
- Xadors: bar a tapas typique catalan une zone tres touristique ou les bars a tapas espagnols ou basque sont plus courant ... j'y retourne toujours avec plaisir!
- El Poseidon: cuisine catalane a un tres bon rapport qualite prix, a 5 metres de chez moi... Je risque d'y retourner! ;o)

Advocating the bike-sharing programs!

2011-09-29T15:49:00.004+02:00

A study has been done in Barcelona about the health benefits of cycling in the cities, saving 12 lives or so per year. The study was made possible (in terms of statistics) by large-scales bike-sharing programs such as the one in Barcelona. The scientific version of the study is here.

On a personal note, the cool design does not detract anything!

A bit of New Zealand...

2011-08-16T13:21:00.007+02:00

I was on vacations for a week, in "the world famous in Spain" Pyrenees. Amongst other things, we climbed the "antiques" ridge of Mount Vallier (the prominent ridge of the first picture), in Ariege, the wildest range in the Pyrenees. The climb was done with the extended "Bieth's team"*, and somehow reminded me of mountaineering in New Zealand:
- the starts low in the valley
- very green around
- not so good rock... (Travis' gonna like this!)
- we stayed in a rough shepherd hut...
- it rained at the end...
- good feeling of wilderness (for Europe...)
- fantastic scenery, above a "sea of clouds"
- sharing the surroundings with sheeps, cows and goats

A much fun&funny trip in any cases!

* Bieth is the family name of Bruno, our god to all of us boulets. Bruno's dad (Eric) managed to drop his backpack during the climb, backpack which ended 100m down with a few broken things... a nice B3 /B4! This may suggest being a boulet is in the genes, but this will need some further statistics to be validated... Dear boulet colleagues, any other examples related to these interesting genetics?

PS: the nice pics are from Eric Bieth, Bruno's dad.

Spring is the seaons of...

2011-06-23T17:34:00.005+02:00

flowers!...

Granada

2011-06-23T17:28:00.005+02:00

Hard to beat as a pretty city!

Mulhacen...

2011-06-23T17:20:00.005+02:00

Mulhacen is the highest peak in the iberic penisula... Not the most impressive mountain in the world, but still a very enjoyable over-night trek!

Pedraforca's hike with workmates!

2011-05-23T10:35:00.008+02:00

Here are a few pics from the Pedraforca hike we did with some people from my lab, away from the current mess in Spain. Pedraforca is an iconic mountain the Pyrenees of Catalonia, even the most beautiful mountain in the world according to some Catalans! ;o) Somehow (?!), I forgot to take a picture of the general mountain, but you can find one here.

In any cases, this is a beautiful mountain, and we did a great and varied circuit... with some varied weather, including a tiny bit of hail! Many thanks to Xevi for the organization!!!

A proposal for a "boulette grading system"

2011-05-16T19:24:00.011+02:00

As having a fair amount of experience and expertise on the subject, I have been advised a couple of time to create a grading system for "boulettes". I first should define what is a "boulette": a mistake that happens often to "boulets" (in the sence of scatter-brain people). It can be forgetting or loosing things of minor consequences, or more annoying things such as missing a fligth. I would add it has to be laughable as well, but maybe that is only a personal interpretation. As such, it can encompass a large range of things, and a grading system should be a valuable one. Here is a first suggestion of scale: B-rating-cause/consequence. B is for Boulette, rating a number relative to the "quality" of the boulette, and cause/consequence is a letter indicating the natures of the cause and/or of the consequences:

i: for Inconvenience. That is when you forgot your work laptop at home, and have to bike 40 minutes to get it back.
m: for Money, i.e. when the boulette generates a loss of money. For example, when you buy new tickets because you missed your train.
o: when it deals with Others. These ones can reveal challenging to friendships!!!
l: for lost. This is often linked to Money and/or Inconvenience.
b: for broken. This is often linked Money and/or Inconvenience.
c: for Clumsiness. This can happen to everybody.

f: for Forgeting something you may need, such as a fixing kit for flat tyres.
r: for Repetition. This can add an extra grade to the global rating, please see the Annexe at the bottom of this post.

Many letters can be combined depending on the boulette. The global rating would look like this:

B0: No boulette. This is the grade when you were sure of forgetting something, but you didn't. In general, if you are a experienced boulet, you are quite glad of yourself when this happens.
B1: Minor boulettes, i.e. the ones you can solve easily by finding an alternative solution. For example, B1-if you forgot your spoon while camping in the mountain, and use a can top instead. These boulettes can even be seen as grateful, since they develop your ingenuity, or even your creativity. Boulettes can be good for you!
B2: These deals rarely with money or others, or for tiny things only. For example: B1-i could be when you forgot your mobile phone at work on Friday, and have to get it back in the evening cos you need it for the weekend.
B3: Boulettes which can be slightly annoying. For example, B3-mi is for when you missed your train and have to buy new tickets at full price ("i" is because you will arrived delayed).
B4: Next level. Then it can be really annoying. They can deal with major Inconveniences, or a fair amount of Money, such as loosing your mobile phone with all numbers in it, B4-iml. Potential B5s can enter here, for example loosing your passport in the street of Otaki in New Zealand, but luckily brought back to the police by somebody a few days later.
B5: We enter now in the high level boulettes, and they are reserved to only a few persons who would still see the funny side of the boulette. Loosing your passport forbidding you to follow your girlfriend for holidays in Germany would enter that category at B5-ioml. (somebody should recognize himself there...). I know of one other good story of fishing-hook-deep-in-the-flesh-of-the-thumb which could have reached a solid garde B5, but maybe it was a too disagreable experience to be enjoyable as a boulette?
B6: Here, we are the level of Boulet Bieth, Boulet-god for all of us. This can be achieved by himself only, and even only very rarely. The famous example is to quit him job&life in London in the aim of living with a girl... who is living with her boyfriend. There, we have B6-im. Again, you have to take it well and laugh about it, otherwise it is a too disagreeable experience to be a boulette!

Considering B6, I suggest the grading system shouldn't be open-ended since anything worst would include really bad things I don't want to promote. B6 is very boarder-line already.

ANNEXE: about repetitive boulettes... Repetitive boulettes should get an extra mark if they are temporally not too spread. The delay of prescription should be small for a B1, and very long (infinite?) for a B6... Maybe that would be the only way to reach a grade of B7? Repeating a grade B6 would be incredible, and would definitely add an extra dimension to a B6!

An happy Kangoo

2011-04-12T18:30:00.005+02:00

What makes a Kangoo* a good life? Driving a lot of course and seeing friends are good starting points. The blue Kangoo had its share of good things on the way down to Barcelona, an excellent trip for him in any cases!

Furthermore, it has to be know that the Kangoo really enjoys the presence of kids, the latter giving it back to him as they (my niece and nephew for instance) really like to play in it!

* a French mini-van from Renault

Julien's circus

2011-04-12T10:34:00.004+02:00

My first weekend was dedicated to settle down a bit (thanks to Frenchiiiiiie for the help to move my stuff from my car to the flat), and to attend Julien's circus school mid-term show! It was excellent and very fun to watch, I would really recommend it if that wasn't an unique show! Really impressive to see what people can do only after 6 months of (hard) training!

My new flat in Barcelona

2011-04-12T10:29:00.002+02:00

Upon the requests of my mum, here are a couple of pics of my flat in Barcelona!

Matiu Island

2011-03-15T05:05:00.002+01:00

Strangely, Wellington is the best place to see some native NZ wildlife: not far from the Kapiti Island reserve, the Mount Bruce park, and hosting the Karori reserved, and Matiu (or Somes) Island in it's harbor. The later has an interesting history as it was the quarantine island (for animals and humans) back in the days, and a defense spot during the second world war as bunkers were built, in case the enemy would attack Wellington...

Anyway, we visited first the island with Dion and Bastien. The day time was good to see a few skinks and some birds, but the ranger really recommended us to come back and camp overnight on the Island. Which we did a few weeks later with Aurelie and Nicolas.

The two later kayaked to the Island on Sunday afternoon, while I was supposed to take the ferry. Their kayak trip went well, taking the ferry revealed challenging for some reasons... (it a long story by itaself!) Anyway, I managed to reach the island eventually. Indeed, it is really good to spend the night on the Island: it's close to Wellington but far at the same time, the views on the city are excellent at sunset and sunrise. Even better, you can see tons of native animals such as the elusive geckos, some giant wetas (some really large insects), and the old Tuataras. These later are huge sort of lizards reminiscent from before the dinosaurs. They don't do much at all, and don't move most of the time, and need to eat a weta once a month to survive. This laziness imply that they can live old, well over a century... Should we tale some lessons of them???

Considering the way back to Wellington for me and Nicolas, we definitely won't live long: while Aurelie took the Ferry back to Wellington, we kayaked early morning back to Petone, facing a strong head-wind, with the associated surface current... We had to paddle really hard in a relatively rough harbor, and couldn't stop at all during the 3 kms journey... My (untrained) left shoulder got sore for one week because of that...

Anyway, Nicolas made it to work not so late, and we spend a relaxing day shopping in Wellington with Aurelie (she took the day off). Fun trip in any cases!!!

PS: Unfortunately, it was the wrong season for spotting the 280 blue penguins present on the Island. That would have been great, maybe I have to come back a third time!

Matiri loop

2011-03-15T04:45:00.000+01:00

Dion managed to get a week of holidays for some tramping in the South Island, in the idea of visiting some remote huts on the westcoast. Bastien (a French dude doing an internship at IRL with Nicola) joined us. After meeting in St-Arnaud (where I ended my week of tramping in the Nelson Lakes), we decided to change a bit the plans, and go to the Matiri ranges in the Kahurangi National Park. It's not exactly on the westcoast, but it was fitting better with the weather forecast and our tight timing, I though. I needed to argue a bit with Dion since he really wanted to go to the westcoast, but managed it.

It was a really good trip in again a not so much traveled region, and a varied trip including:
- a nice lake with some good wildlife, and apparently some very rare native bats (which we didn't see)
- a steep climb to the 1000 Acres plateau
- some unusual landscapes on the plateau, which has a high biodiversity with 437 - different alpine plants... Didn't name the all of them...
- some wild tramping along a very though and long route, not traveled more than once a year. Thanks to the though kiwi lady (I forgot her name, shame on me) who gave us good info on the route, we might not have tried if not!
- a nice high Valley around the Huricane hut
- stuck one day in a hut cos the river was flooded, so was the track...
- some nice small huts
- and some Nachos at the end! Bastien discovered Nachos then, and got so found of them that he had 3 meals of them in 2 days, with an excellent fish&chips* (in Nelson) in between.

* it's Dion who insisted to get all this fat food... You know, those kiwis...

Ngaruhoe with Jerome and Gaelle

2011-03-15T04:20:00.000+01:00

By luck, my traveling plans intercepts with Gaelle&Jerome round-the-world, and we can catch up in NZ! I meet up with them in Wellington. As usual, the westerlies are on, with means average weather for tramping... Did I said that was a classic in NZ??? Anyway, we run to the east again, and get some good weather around Napier. After a quick visit to the Gannets reserve of Cape Kidnapper, we split, but decide to meet up again on the volcanoes, for the famous Tongariro crossing. Since I went there many times already, I propose them an original loop, via the Ngauruhoe and the Tongariro summits. This suits them since its a really nice loop, and this suits me since I never had the chance to climb Ngauruhoe. The reasons were:

not allowed by the guide the first time (I didn't really get the choice...)
bad weather the second time, with a bunch of friends from Palmy
not allowed by my mum and my aunt the third time
after some slacking around, not enough time the fourth time, with Matthieu “Burger”

So I was much happy this time, especially since the view from the top is worthwhile!

Tramping in the Aorangi Forest Park

2011-03-15T04:11:00.000+01:00

Classic New Zealand pattern, the forecast is for north-westerlies. This means shit weather all the mountain ranges of the North Island, so, lets go east! Dion suggests the Aorangi Forest Park, not very convinced since it isn't a well known tramping place. Nevertheless, it should be well protected from the bad weather, and I have never been there, so it's on! Laureen, Aurelie&Nicolas, and Cyrielle join us.

And what a good idea it was: the weather was rainy and windy in Palmy or in Wellington, and it was sunny and almost too warm in the Aorangis! The park is really nice as well, with a very varied forest, and some excellent views of the coastline from the tops. For some unknown reasons, the park is underrated and not well traveled, which you can see by the not so well defined tracks, and the bad state of the huts... We circumvented the later issue by camping nearby a cute stream, and the first is not problematic I reckon.

"It does not have to be fun to be fun"

2011-03-15T02:43:00.000+01:00

Or what can happen in one day of tramping in the Nelson Lake National Park....

The same day as the Christchurch terrible earthquake, I left Blue Lake Hut in the morning, in the aim of traversing the Moss Pass over to the D'Urville Valley. The D'Urville river is supposed to offer excellent trout fishing, so I hurry up the pass and arrive at the George Lyon Hut late in the morning. I can start to look after trouts from now on. While trying to spot one, I drop my backpack on the ground... Ten seconds later, my back starts to burn, I ear many wasps around me... I stepped on a wasp nest!

I start running on the track, fall over cos of some roots on the way, run, fall over again... I feel that some wasps are still stinging my back, stuck in my shirt... I take it off... Things are getting better. Now I start to be scared: my brother is dead allergic to wasps stings, and I can't remember when was last time I got stung by a wasp. If I start to feel bad, I wouldn't be in a good situation, alone by myself at 3 to 4 days of walking from civilization.

I tell myself that I am not allergic, and that I should walk to the d'Urville Hut by tonight, where I know there is a radio... So I can call somebody in case I fell bad. First step, jumping in the water. It cools down the many stings, a bit. Then, get back my backpack, which is on the wasp nest... Scary job: I run, pick it on the way, run for a little while... No trouble, I can relax... Walking now, which should take 7 to 8 hours to the targeted hut.

"I am not allergic, I am not allergic"

I realize I lost my sunglasses. I broke my rod as well. Things are adding up... I feel a bit dizzy. Then I remember Travis's favorite citation, i.e. "it does not have to be fun to be fun". I start laughing. I make it to the d'Urville hut just before night, with just enough energy to eat a bit, before to fall asleep.

The day after, on my way to St-Arnaud, I met up with the guy maintaining the fancy Sabine hut, who happened to be a former elite climber, from back in the 70s (a climbing buddy of Graeme Dingle for those interested). I show him my back: "Bloody hell, there are at least 50 stings. I can tell you you are not allergic, you would't be there if you were (...)"

He tells me as well about the terrible quake in Christchurch. I think I shouldn't complain about my case.

PS: the tramp was nice nevertheless, and I managed to catch my best brown trout that same day... Busy day I tell ya!

Misc pics from India

2011-02-11T03:36:00.000+01:00

Vikas's wedding

2011-02-11T03:01:00.001+01:00

The main reason 5 people came all the way from Switzerland to India was that Vikas invited us to his wedding! It was a great experience to be part of one the most colourful indian weddings: the traditions were interesting and very different, the food was fantastic, the dresses were good looking. For the numbers, 600 people were present*, 12 cooks were hired and cooked stuff for 3 days and night, the different ceremonies ran over 10 days about.

Thanks bro for inviting us!

* which is in the low range in terms of number of people, as an Indian wedding usually include 500 to 2000 guests

"The real people"

2011-01-26T06:41:00.000+01:00

"The real people" was the self-denomination of the Arborigen tribe in the acclaimed (and controversial) book "Mutant Message Down Under" written by Marlo Morgan. For those who havn't read the book, this the story of a woman taking a journey with a secret Arborigen tribe, which lives as close to nature as imaginable, with the most perfect ethics, especially in term of materialism, or non-materialism in the present case.

The Indian subcontinent is supposed to be the place of spiritualism, which indeed seems true when you consider the many religions which have cohabited with very little violence in India for hundreds of years, including indouism, boudhism, islamism, catholism... This didn't happen in the western latitudes. But things are changing fast, and India is getting developed... and materialized at an extremely fast rate. This you can see in the bigger cities such as New Delhi, where some parts looks more like the USA* than the lively and exotic mess of India.

As explained in the former post, I had the chance to spend many day in a small Indian village, only 5000 inhabitants. This was a great experience of what a simple life could be. Most of the ingredients used for cooking were produced in the village, and often inside the Malik's familly (who more or less all leave together). They had a few bufalows to produce the milk, from which butter, ghee, yogurt of paneer where made. The full wheat flour was grown on the familly's land. Vegetables were from the local market. Only the spices were coming from further regions, but thats not a lot of weight! Same, most of the things such as the bed were home-made. Its a fully sustainable life, even if these people are not rich at all neither have great living conditions according to our standarts! For example, due to permanent power cuts (which don't occur often in Delhi...), there was electricity only one or two ours a day, at random hours... So, no hot water nor light...

A bit of money was brought by the selling of sugar cane, which was a great part of the locale economy. This allowed people to buy televisions and other modern apparatuses**... Things are changing in India!

I will add as soon as I get hold on a non-dodgy computer!

* sorry to take the USA for reference of materialism, as the symbol of the consumption society in my mind... I guess Europe is not far behind...
** such as mobile phones... Some people in India don't have enough to buy food, but all of them have mobiles...

Atithi Devo Bhava

2011-01-26T06:03:00.000+01:00

"Atithi Devo Bhava" in Sanskrit (original Hindu language) means"Guest is God". In India it is believed that honoring guests equals to honoring God. I had the honor and luck to experiment it for 9 days in Vikas' family, which welcomed me the most respectful way you can imagine. For example, the entire family was waiting for me to be finished with my meal before eating themselves. So if I was finishing all the (brilliant) food, they had no food for them!

Everybody in the village was really interested to meet and to talk to an European with long blond hair, something they've never seen before for the majority of them. Were following interesting and insightful discussions on the (many) differences between European and Indians habits relative to religions, food, family bonds, work, living conditions, comfort... I really hope this was as insightful for them as it was for me!

I got quite sick (food poisoning, maybe due to some spoiled water?), and had to stay at bed for a couple of days. Even more than usual, people were very considerate about my health. Vikas' mum and aunts tried for no on to adapt their cooking to my feeble European stomach. They where so many other nice things. I really felt at home for that time. Maybe I should replace home by temple, as indeed I have been treated as a god!*

Thanks to all the Maliks (Vikas familly), Vikas parents, uncles, aunts, brothers**, and all the others... and above all to Vikas without whom I would never had the opportunity to live this unique experience!

* I guess the other present European (friends from Fribourg) will confirm this, even if they stayed for a shorter period than I did!
** Viraj (Vikas' brother) offered to all the white guests a personalized present, even if didn't know us... Thanks, that's very considerate!

Being a white with long blond hair in India

2011-01-22T15:55:00.000+01:00

1) People trying to cheat you in the touristy places (a milking cow...)

"Hello my friend"
"Hello sir"
"Yes sir"
"Come here"
"Give me money"
"I am an official guide for that temple"
"Come on, that's nothing for you"
"Hand-made craft"

Possible answers to get ride of them:
"No, thanks you": not efficient
"I don't want it": not efficient
Authoritative "No": works reasonably well
"Do you know the meaning of the word no?": works really well with people who can speak English
Ignoring them: works well
A "no" sign with the hand: works generally well

PS: people hassling you to sell you something or people trying to cheat you are a minor part of the Indian people. Most the time, people are fair, they might even refuse a tip!

2) Elsewhere than touristy places (being a white monkey)

People star at you... It becomes really in-comfortable when 30 silent people you don't know are around you...

Although it is fun with kids, and the discussions are always insightful with educated people.

Boulet one day, boulet forever!

2010-12-29T08:00:00.000+01:00

Well, as I told you previously, I went to Barcelona for a job interview the 21th of December, and stayed at Julien's the night before... Well, I managed to drop my dinner* on my pants, the only I had for the interview the following day... Not so good to have melted cheese on your pants**... Somehow, Frenchie was laughing a bit, as you might imagine.

* Btw very tasty
** I didn't drop anything on Frenchie's flour!

Xmas time at my parents

2010-12-28T22:13:00.000+01:00

Before my traveling, I went a bit back to my family for Xmas. I am not getting fit not doing much and eating all the food my mum is cooking... Knowing that I should run the Tararuas race (http://www.tararua-race.org.nz/) with Dion mid-March, and knowing I won't train more next month (and eat ever more food!), Dion might start to worry about my fitness for the race! :D

Visit Frenchiiiiiiiiiiie in Barcelona

2010-12-28T21:58:00.000+01:00

I went to Barcelona the 20/21 of December for a job interview (and I got the job, yipeee! :)). I took the occasion to visit Frenchie, and stayed at his... i.e. in his van, which is house during his circus/clown school! Reasonably comfy, actually!

My sisters & bro-in-laws' birthdays

2010-12-28T20:23:00.000+01:00

An autumn weekend in Alsace, October 2010

2010-11-22T13:39:00.000+01:00

Here are many picture from a week spent at my sister's place. The weather was average, but there were still enough sunny spells to enjoy the nice autumn light!

Kiwi-week in Crana (Ticino) with Dion&Nicola

2010-11-12T22:06:00.000+01:00

Aim: a kiwi-meeting to welcome Dion&Nicola in Europe!

The settings: Crana, in Ticino (the Italian part of Switzerland). This is a very lovely place in a very scenic location, I wouldn't mind live there!

Who: Dion&Nicola, Donn&Jen, Amelie&Xavier, Caroline, Bruno, Oliver, myself, some friendly goats...

Results:
- some (tons of) mushrooms have been found. I think we found something like 50 sorts of mushrooms, including the great ceps, edgehogs, thrumpets of plenty, and even some chanterelles!
- some walking was done, especially when Donn&Jen's minibus was blocked (for deserved reasons) by some buses, so we had to go back by foot to the chalet... Assinos!
- some (tons of) mushrooms have been eaten, cooked in a great variety of recipes including boiled mushrooms, mushrooms sauces, or used dipped in a cheese fondue!
- some other ingredients have been eaten, including 6kgs of flour, a couple a kgs of butter, and some Brownies...
- some people stepped in poo...
- some climbing was done
- (...) and much more!

Heaps of fun in other words!

PS: you can see many more pics on Jen's blog, Donn's blog, and hopefully soon on Dion's blog.

My hometown will save the world!

2010-11-12T21:32:00.000+01:00

On the 10-10-10 (10 being the number of my native region!) was the inauguration of the new social hall in my hometown. It attracted some famous people such as the current economy minister Mr Baroin, and made the news (http://www.lest-eclair.fr/index.php/cms/13/article/467070/La_salle_socioculturelle_un_bijou_environnemental). Not too bad for a 200 inhabitant village! But this required some commitment from the council in order to find the necessary funds, and in particular from the Maire (Patrick Baillot, my uncle) who spent a few white nights on the project...

Basically, the hall has been built following the most stringent environmental norms, which is very rare even for much larger&richer cities. It has an excellent insulation, is underground for the north and west aspect to protect from the cold winds, has large openings on the south and east aspect for taking advantage of the sun, uses geothermal power ("named geothermie" in France), and has the most efficient heat-pumps... And these later are barely needed, as people's corporal heat is sufficient to maintain a comfortable temperature... If the hall is full of people, an air circulation is actually required to cool down the atmosphere, even during the coldest days of winter!

Climbing the west ridge of Tete de Fetoules with Jerome&Jean Francois

2010-11-12T20:41:00.000+01:00

With the Maureaus (Jerome and Jean Francois), we climb the classic west ridge of Tete des Fetoules. It is the right hand ridge on http://www.summitpost.org/t-te-des-f-toules/391606, a rather aesthetic right. We bivvyed next to a small&cute lake on the first day, and did the climb the next day. Fun climbing, everything went well... I supposed it is a bit of a too nice story, unfortunately blemished by a very sad story!

Indeed, I forgot my famous green water bottle (http://www.steepexposure.com/2009_01_01_archive.html) at the summit... What an idiot, I was really attached to this bottle, for various reasons...

What the hell is Francis doing???

2010-11-12T20:31:00.000+01:00

Ok ok, I have been lazy-as these last couple of month, and didn't post anything... My first message is a guess: what is Francis doing in that picture?

An attempt to challenge Donn

2010-08-30T21:25:00.001+02:00

Okay, he is actually doing better at mushroom hunting than I do... As an excuse, I should say that I have a full time job (but not for long anymore...), and he is only writing his PhD! ;o)

Bruno's arrival in Swizzy

2010-08-30T21:10:00.000+02:00

And yes, Bruno just arrived in Swizzy, where he will work in Gland. The latter word translates as glans, which can mean idiot as well when it not employed for talking about anatomy. Obviously, I find that highly funny (yeah yeah, my sense of humor didn't improved...), and think it actually made for Bruno...

Anyhow, he was in Fribourg last week end, and I could show him the qualities of Switzerland. We enjoyed the great Fribourg market*, some mushroom hunting& mushroom tasting on the Saturday, and some excellent climbing on Sunday with Vanessa. Here are a few pics from Bruno.

* Special dedicace to Frenchie (the other one), I introduced him to the famous dairylady and bread lady...

To the west...

2010-08-04T10:01:00.000+02:00

Alright, Frenchy started to complain that my blog was a bit dead, despite of much recent traveling... So, here is a post on a trip to the west...

I indeed went for a month in British Columbia (BC), staying around Vancouver for 2 weeks with Bruno, and then going to the Rockies with Bruno and Travis. Of course, telling everything would be rather long, so I will focus on a few facts now, and maybe complete later...

Bruno, el Boulettos:

Still my master in terms of being a "boulet" (http://frenchiiiiie.blogspot.com/2010/06/being-boulet.html), I really feel normal when I am next to him. For example, I told him I was arriving at around 7pm the Saturday (my plane landing at 6pm). I went to the bottom of his building. His name wasn't in the interphone, since he never asked to link it to his phone... As well, his mobile phone was turned off so I couldn't call him... Having no idea what his flat number was, I was stuck and had to wait in the hall... After one hour, he passed by, not recognizing me since he was expecting me to arrive much later... So I had to run after him... And I have quite a few stories of the kind!

Now, Bruno is back to Europe since he didn't enjoy the life in Vancouver. He is currently looking after a job as a geek, and looking after some cougars at the same time!

Travis, the Feeble:

Travis could not join for the all trip since he unfortunately found a job just before, but still managed to come over for 2 weeks. A good Amercian trip for him, with tons of driving! But its alright with his&Bethany's fancy Subaru, which has heating sits to warm your butt if needed... Travis is a nice guy, and brought a few presents for me: 3 cans of EasyCheese* from his mum, and an American flag bikini** from Bethany. We went then to the Bugaboos ranges for some good climbing on excellent granite, was excellent. Unfortunately, we couldn't attempt the main objective of the trip, i.e. climbing Mount Robson, since there was too much snow and that the weather was not great... So we went for a romantic canoe trip in the Wells Gray Provincial Park, which was actually fun albeit I had very sore shoulders due to the 60kms we canoed over 2 days... Probably a bit too much for my first canoe trip ever...

Travis came back to his normal life, and discovered that his company got bankrupted during his holidays... But it has been bough by an other company which re-hired Travis... Things are going fast in North America! Now, he is enjoying mountain biking in southern Oregon, and is still dreaming of mountains, and even more of climbing gears!

* it makes actually "tasty" sandwiches combined with peanut butter... As a matter of fact, Bruno, as a good French, refused to eat any of it
** sorry, no photos since there are not politically correct!

Romaric, me:

Well, what to say about myself? I definitely enjoyed the trip! What I liked the most:
- was good to catch back with Bruno and Travis
- the great trad' and sport climbing in Squamish
- the sushi-places in Vancouver!
- climbing in the Bugaboos: great climbs, fantastic sceneries
- the lakes with dead-trees
- the wildlife: saw a couple of bears, tons of mosquito... and a cougar!
- hiking or canoing in the Provincial Parks
- riding around Stanley Park in Vancouver, definitely a fine city bike ride
- the port of Vancouver with the huge boats and cranes, which I find scenic somehow
- the huge burger in a small place in the Cariboos (supposed to be the most boring place in BC, touristic-wise...)

I enjoyed less:
- Vancouver downtown: not much charm, really noisy, full of huge cars... But I guess it is classic stuff for large North America cities...
- the National Parks: you really feel you are a sheep there, following everybody, paying for everything... And it seems difficult to get away from that feeling... We stayed not more than 1.5 days there...
- the mosquitos...

Now, I am finishing my postdoc position in Swizzy, and I am looking after an other one. I am applying to find my personal research funding, and I can tell you it is a pain since these are challenging to get. If that was all about science that would be fun, but 3/4 of the application is about speaking nicely about yourself, which I really don't like and makes me feeling guilty...

Fun in Paris!

2010-06-18T13:43:00.000+02:00

It's a little difficult for me to say it, but yes, it is possible to have fun in Paris, even for country boys such as myself! I always think of Paris as busy, polluted, mentality I don't like... But ideas have to be challenged! For instance, I discovered that I could learn how to appreciate chocolate, despite of being stubborn for 30years on saying that I don't like chocolate...

Anyway, Caroline invited me for a week-end in Paris in the aim of giving a visit to the catacombs, with Luc2, Grégory., and Séb'... It was a bit of a crazy trip, actually! For those who don't know, the catacombs of Paris are not actually proper catacombs, but more of an ossuary. The 300kms of tunnels have been initially dig out in order to build Paris, and some parts have been filled up with human bones when the Paris cemeteries started to get overfull, about 200 years ago. In between 2 and 10 millions of skeletons were put in total... Which means that during the visit, you are ramping on top of piles of bones by times... Lovely, isn't it?

Anyhow, that was a lot of fun, albeit a bit tough for an old fart like me to go to bed at 9am... We completed the week-end by some bouldering in Fontainebleau, and some wine drinking at "Chez Georges", a nice bar where Caro is a regular...

Here are some pics from Fontainebleau, and from David Pointel for the ones in the Catacombs (sorry, I had to censure a few photos...)

Being a "boulet"

2010-06-01T09:54:00.000+02:00

The direct translation of "boulet" would be a prisoner ball, i.e. something you drag along without wanting it. It can be applied to 2 different kind of humans: the one who are sticking to somebody's else ass, and annoying him by doing so, and the scattered brain ones, which are mostly a pain for themselves, like myself...

The past couple of weeks, I had an quite intense period as a boulet. Here are a couple of examples:
- I broke the shared washing machine in my building by putting a carpet in it... Which completely disintegrated in small plastic pieces which blocked everything... Idiot!
- I went to the library to borrow some comics... I had forgotten my library card, so I had to come back the next day... When I forget my card a second time, so I had to come back the next day... From my work, it is about 45mins of biking, good for my fitness I suppose...
- Leaving my backpack in the train...
- Going back home from work especially to get some paper I forgot in the morning, and coming back to work without them... Some more bicking...
- Leaving my credit card in one shop...
- Last Thursday, I left my climbing harness after climbing at "the bridge". I came back the next morning, but my harness wasn't there... But Oliver's climbing shoes were there, forgotten at the bottom of the wall... We were a good team of boulets!
- Just this morning, while making coffee, I was thinking I was out of my boulet period since I haven't done anything bad for the last 2 days... When I came back to get my coffee, there was a lake of coffee in the kitchen. I somehow forgot to put the bawl in the coffee machine... :D

More is to come, I guess...

"Boulets are eternal"

Crazy long weekend...

2010-05-19T19:59:00.000+02:00

The A plan was:

- What: climbing/biking for 4 days
- Where: Traversella
- Who: a large bunch of people, 18 of us in total: 8 from Fribourg, 3 from Paris, 7 from Geneva...
- Accommodation: Camping!

The B Plan was:

- What: eating in nice restaurants, playing games, spotting salamanders, eating "atomic" Brownies, laughing a lot (?), drinking beers (and not bears...), reading comics, eating a nice pumpkin fondue, visiting Fribourg, and... climbing the last day, eventually!
- Who: the same lads!
- Where: Traversella, and then back to Fribourg earlier than planned
- Accommodation: wet&cold camping, and then my comfy bed!

But that was one of the best weekend ever, with a lot of fun!

The great pics are kindly provided by the not-less-great Caroline. (is it enough? ;o))

Queens fights (Combat des reines)

2010-05-10T14:46:00.000+02:00

You might find the title a bit intriguing, and ask who are "the fighting queens"? It is difficult to guess, indeed... they are... cows! And it is quite an important tradition in the Wallis region of Switzerland...

You might find this disgusting at first stand, making animals fight for our pleasure. But it isn't that at all: this special breed of cow (the Herens breed) is actually made for these fights. Indeed, every spring, the strongest cows of a herd fights together, the winner becoming the queen of the pasture. The stock breeders from Wallis simply built a contest in order to determine the strongest cows of the region.

And I can tell you that the proprietary of the winning cow, and even more his queen, become world famous... in Wallis at least. Surprisingly, the contest is not random, and it appears that often a cow will win a couple years in a row. Basically, the queen of the queens will be the strongest minded of all of them... as well as physically super strong, weighting up to 800kgs of muscle.

This makes an impressive spectacle, where the violence of the fights was striking. But despite the violence, barely any cows got injured, and the rare ones got treated immediately by the many present vets. As well, when a breeder is feeling his queen getting too tired, or not in a high spirit, he stops the fight directly in order to avoid any harm for his baby...

Yes really, the queen is part of the breeders' family, maybe even more important than other members... These cows from the Herens breed are supposed to be very attaching for they breeders, being even the nicest and sweetest cows you can find on earth... when they are not fighting, obviously! There was strictly no violence against humans, the violence being limited to the duels.

Here are a few pics illustrating all this, as well as a video showing the start of a round.

Me&myself - Conquering Mt Dolent

2010-04-25T22:14:00.000+02:00

Ok, I decided that I was posting too much pictures of my friends, and not enough of myself. Thus, I was sort of dismissing my French nationality, which is associated with being show off, proud, and stuff like that... So this post is all about me!

Me looking strong, before the climb. I know, that's easy! :D

Me and the funny little hut. Believe it or not, it can accommodate up to 14 people, with a "relative" comfort...

Me in the inside. We tested the "relative" comfort, as we were 13. I slept well nevertheless...

Me making dinner at 5pm (?!).

Me getting into trouble after I lost time taking pictures of the sunrise. My climbing buddy wasn't very happy about that... oops...

Me looking soooooooo strong! :D Note the tilted helmet which I kept all the day long. Classy, isn't it?

On that one, I guess I am looking like I am pooing.

Looking strong again, at the summit of Mt Dolent. At that stage, I got into trouble again cos I coiled the rope wrong, and it was full of knots... Oops again...

Skiing on grass...

Back to the car. Looking as proud&strong as a Frenchman can be, with Mt Dolent in the background!

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Vanessa for taking most of the pics. But maybe I should not thank her cos of all her nasty remarks during these 2 days, thats very bad for my ego! ;o)

Ski mountaineering around Grand-St-Bernard

2010-04-19T12:32:00.000+02:00

Romaric: "How fit are you at the moment"
Xavier: "Depends for what..."
Romaric: "1800 of altitude gain. There is a steep-ish couloir on the way-up as well..."
Xavier: "Wooh, thats a bit long, but I guess I'll manage to follow"

That was his error! We climbed to the top of Mont Vélan (3727m) via the Hannibal couloir on the west side, and went down via the Valorsey glacier. I can tell you that Xav' had hard time to go up to the top, especially during the ascent of the 500m long* couloir... But, he did impressively well assuming that his first skitour of the year! Respect man.

His efforts were rewarded by a fantastic (with all the stresses Francis can put on this word!) ski run via the normal route, with 1000m of snow powder, followed by 1000m of excellent spring snow... and impressive scenery! Definitely one of my best (if not the best) skitour ever! I am sure Vanessa will confirm it, as well as Xavier when he will have forgotten the pain** of the way up! ;o)

Romaric

* the length, something I forgot to mention to Xavier... He may not have join if I would have! :D
** I know Travis, "it doesn't have to be fun to be fun", so I told Xavier!

The "embellie"

2010-03-30T22:23:00.000+02:00

I found no exact translation for the word "embellie", maybe short&calm spell would be the most correct translation. Anyhow, when talking about the weather, it means it will be crap weather, then suddenly nice, and after a short period of nice weather, suddenly crap again.

That was the all plan of the day, planning on a short ski tour during the forecasted "embellie". With this word, I managed to motivate Vanessa and Julien to come along, in the aim of skiing "les Arpilles". We leaved Fribourg at 8am, under the rain... No needs to say that my companions teased me with my "embellie", but an "embellie" has to start by crap weather, right?

We reached the car park, no snow there! We have to carry the skis for a bit... The teasing about the quality of the plan was at its paroxysm then... And suddenly, the "embellie"! No need to say that my proudness reached its paroxysm quickly! Of course, the "embellie" was short, but sufficient to take advantage of the fresh (but not so light...) snow at the top, and make some good turns in untracked snow!

Romaric

PS: Julien didn't trust my (arguably dodgy) plans, didn't bring any sunscreen, and got bright red... Always trust Romaric's plans, even if they rarely works! :D
PS2: I didn't trust my plans neither, didn't bring any sunscreen, and got a bit sunburn as well...

The nerds...

2010-03-22T19:46:00.000+01:00

I guess people imagine scientist like this: (Oliver didn't really dress up, actually :D)

But we are not that serious!

Ski&Ice climbing in Zinal

2010-03-18T13:50:00.000+01:00

The weather has been rather cold the all last week, cold enough to get some decent conditions for ice climbing, for March. The first day hasn't been that successful as we were a bit too late, and the sun was starting to hit most of the climbs... So we went skiing instead, on the nice ski resort of Zinal, where there are some really nice off piste possibilities. After a nice evening&night at the Trift hotel*, we woke up early, and managed eventually to do some good ice climbing, which was probably the last occasion to do so this year. So that was good!

* The waitress was again very cute... From my (not so) large experience on the subject, it appears than most of the waitresses are nice looking in that region...

PS: you can see on the last pic that both me and Frenchy had matched clothe... That a bit gay, isn't it? :D

Murphy's law...

2010-03-15T21:16:00.000+01:00

Three weeks ago, Gaelle&Jerome, Titi&Leslie and Denis were supposed to come to Fribourg for some ski touring... They didn't because of the bad weather forecast, and decided to come a next weekend. The forecast revealed wrong, and the weather was mostly sunny, just a bit windy... So, they came last weekend... But this time, the weather was worst than the forecasts were predicting... Classic Murphy's law...

So, despite a nice ski tour on Sunday, the weekend was not as sporty as planned... Instead, we went to the thermal baths in Charmey, and ate a fair amount of cheese... Almost the same as ski touring, eh?!

PS: yeah, it is sunny on the pics, which were taken during the couple of hours of sun we had on Sunday...

WE in Chamonix with Amelie, Donn&Jen

2010-02-15T22:28:00.000+01:00

This time, we definitely ate more than we skied, but that was all good!

The gate

2010-02-15T22:20:00.000+01:00

Right at the middle of a field of fresh powder, there was a lonely gate. Maybe we should not have gone past it, and got punished by the means of complete white out conditions on the way down...

I need some ski lessons!

2010-02-02T21:05:00.000+01:00

Austrian ski instructors female made a calendar: http://www.skilehrerinnen.at/index.htm... Of course, this is all charity, and you should buy it, the profits will serve to help the avalanche victims...

I like! ;o)

PS: there is the version for females as well, for those who are interested...

Fondue on Moleson

2010-01-29T23:09:00.000+01:00

Some classic stuff of the Fribourg region in winter:

+ take the drive after-work to the small skifield of Moleson
+ skin up or walk to the top of the ski-lift, by night (even better when the full moon in shining)
+ have an excellent cheese fondue in the high restaurant
+ ski down to the car

= a pretty good evening!

Ice climbing and ski touring around Evolene

2010-01-22T08:24:00.000+01:00

What an original week end, back in the same region as last week, for guess what? Some ice climbing and some ski touring... My week-ends are definitely not very varied! :D We just changed the accommodation, where the nice Belgian beers got replaced by a cute waitress... Almost the same, eh?

Ice climbing and ski touring at La Gouille

2010-01-11T23:24:00.001+01:00

Eventually, we managed to get a trip together with Frenchy and Oliver. We've been talking a lot about week end trips, but actually never managed to have one with the 3 of us. Every time, one had a bad excuse to not join...

We went to the remote valley of Arolla, and stayed in the small hamlet La Gouille. First day, ice climbing... Good conditions. Second day, we went for a ski tour. We didn't do what we wanted, and messed a bit around... At one stage, I've heard a bit crack in the snow, which made us turning back... I hate these scary sounds... But the snow on the way down was excellent, which made a very good day at the end!

Oh yeah, and we stayed in a nice "Belgian" B&B. We had the classic mussels&fries for dinner, accompanied by a pint of Chimay beer... not very fine food, but perfect after a day in the cold! Just before we left, there was a small social event, the aim being to burn the Xmas trees... As the tree were wet and snowy, the fire managed to smoke in all the valley! You can see on the last pic how much smoke it was producing.

Pre-Xmas week end in Strasbourg

2009-12-22T22:57:00.000+01:00

Here it is, my annual pilgrimage in Strasbourg in the pre-Xmas time, which is a good time to go there to enjoy the famous Christmas markets from Alsace. It is a good excuse as well to visit my sister and Sebastien, with their two babies. Aime, the youngest (2 month old), is still a bit young to enjoy the snow, but Armand really enjoyed it, despite of the cold weather... Indeed, when we visited the market of Obernai with Sebastien and Armand, the thermometer of the car was indicating -20.5 Celsius! Not very serious to bring a 2 years old child... But he survived, so I guess its alright...

Donn* will like this picture!

2009-12-14T21:43:00.000+01:00

A pound of chocolate for who guesses what is this picture about! I will answer questions by yes or no.

* sorry Donn, you are not in the game as you know what it is!

Pumpkin fondue

2009-12-14T19:53:00.000+01:00

Winter is there, eventually. This means eating reasonably often cheese fondue! Fribourg is very famous for its fondue, and the people here are very proud of it! As it would be the case in New Zealand, where Fribourg would be self-proclaimed the cheese fondue world capital!

Here are a couple of pics of some pumpkin fondue action, and of an happy man! ;o)

New camera test!

2009-12-02T22:08:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, we went again "mushroom" hunting with Donn&Jen, above Montreux. It was a good occasion to try out my new digital camera, a Panasonic Lumix LX3. I still have to learn how to use it properly, but that should come with time, I hope!

Mushroom hunting with Donn

2009-11-09T23:02:00.001+01:00

After 3 hours of intensive mushroom hunting, we ended up the day by dipping chanterelles in a cheese fondue... Yummy!

Dry tooling at l'Usine

2009-11-02T12:11:00.000+01:00

"L'Usine" comes from the fact there is a large factory just at the bottom of the crag... Quite logical and not terribly original you will tell me (usine = factory in English). No need to say that people don't go there for the wilderness...

So, in a few words, my ass got kicked really hard! Dry tooling is definitely an elitist activity, and one needs to be strong to enjoy it at the most... Hard to say, but I may need some cross-fit trainings to get stronger! I know Travis will appreciate that...

Anyhow, it was still fun to watch the big boys climbing the super steep routes, and the settings where good to take picture... At the end of the day, Etienne brought a generator, and people could keep going on climbing at night. With the lights from the factory&motorway, this had a good feeling of urban climbing.

Feels like winter! :)

2009-10-19T21:20:00.001+02:00

Here are a couple of pics of a tramp to "Lac Blanc", nearby Chamonix. I really like this season: nobody in the mountains, plenty of animals to be seen, and some nice autumn light... When you have the chance to have a sunny weather! That wasn't than the case this Saturday, as it was the first snow... Look at these cute but poor chamois and ibexes, grabbing all the green grass they could before winter. I luckily saw one of the rare mountain black grouse as well, but it flew away when I was taking my camera of the bag.

My brand new little niece! :)

2009-10-19T20:51:00.000+02:00

Here is the second one, a girl this time, 4.5kgs... Her name is Aimee, and Armand is very jealous of her cos she has plenty of hair! Actually, that's not true, and he was rather curious of his little sister. And he is still that active, and tireless! He managed to slide up and down 3 meters of stairs 2 weeks before Aimee came... With hospital and stuff... Dunno how Fanny (my sister) will manage the two of them! :S

Climbing week, south of France

2009-10-08T10:36:00.000+02:00

I was on holidays last week, and we went down south with Frenchy. Oliver was supposed to join, but changed his plans at the last minutes due to a few meters of worm...

We started by the world famous Verdon gorges. It was my second trip there, so I knew what it was gonna be like... Julien realized his dream by climbing there, but realized as well how tough the climbing is in the gorge: very sustained routes, some air between the bolts, tough grades... Definitely not what bouldering trains! But well, you have to deserve the great exposure, the fantastic view, and the large vultures flying around!

Afterwards, we went to Annot for a day, were Frenchy could do some nice bouldering/sleeping in the hammock, or sleeping/bouldering maybe... On my side, I went for a walk, and found some mushrooms, in particular I found some the best bolets, called "Cèpe Bronzés" ("tanned bolets" in english). That was yummy! Then it was time to move northward and to catch up with Stephanie for some nice climbing around Presles. We visited different crags, and found some really nice climbs... And managed to get very tired as the end!

The bests of the week:
- the campground owner in La Palud sur Verdon. He was such a typical and loud French guy: some people in a van were driving very slowly to find a spot in the campground. After 10 seconds, he got pissed off as he was following them with his 4*4, passed them like crazy shouting at them "fucking idiots, I'll teach you how to drive". What a nice way to welcome customers! :D
- Oliver's worm... Sorry to make fun of that, but it is easy when it is not you...
- the viper at the bottom of one crag... I wasn't very happy with my jandals! ;o)
- the annoying and loudly laughing Germans from the campground
- the nice but annoying Germans who were putting chalk ticks everywhere on the climbs.. How can you onsight something after that???
- a not so friendly cat, which almost ripped my hand off while I was just trying to caress him
- the extreme bad luck when we tried to do some mountain biking in Verdon, where Julien had more than 5 holes in his tire after 3 kms of biking. The worst was that even the brand new tube the rental lady gave us was as well flat...

Here are some pics, on the countersy of Julien:

Climbing in the Gast, again, but with more people!

2009-09-14T21:09:00.000+02:00

Exactly 15 of us! :) It was as a lot of fun, if a bit cold... There was a bit of snow on the tops the first morning... hmmm... skiing soon!

But we have to finish the climbing season, first! Hard life, isn't it? For me, it means some challenges I fixed at the beginning of the season, i.e. a grade 7a on-sight (NZ grade 24). I am not that far actually, and climbed a grade 6c+ (NZ 23) last week end. But the gap it still big I reckon, since I got my ass kicked by some 6cs/7as a few times lately. Alright, I should shut up now, I hear some people saying I am a show off*...

So, to end on a good note, here are some nice pics, taken by Caroline.**

* Which is OK actually since I am French...
** Please tell her how great are her pictures! ;o)

Zinalrothorn - Traverse S-N

2009-08-25T12:16:00.000+02:00

Last week end, we went up Zinalrothorn with Jérome, a 4200m peak in the Valais region. We went up the famous south-west ridge and down the north ridge. This is supposed to be the best climb of its kind in Switzerland. Can't say if it is true or not since it is my first real climb in the region, but I can says it is an excellent climb indeed. The rock is brilliant if you stay on the edge, and the climbing is quite sustained and long. Even the way down the north ridge is a lot of fun, finishing on a nice snowy arete. With the access to the south-west ridge being a steep snow slope, and with some nice glacier travel, this makes a very complete route!

You will tell me, this story seems is a bit boring. So, to make it more interesting, I should say I almost died because of some rock falls in the access couloir. One of about a brick size was going very fast towards me... Luckily, it bounced just in front of me, and went over my head... I might not have been there to tell you if not...

No pics since Jérome's batteries crapped down before the climb. Some info&pics about the mountain are on http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150307./zinalrothorn.html

PS: as Francis told me, Travis is probably jealous of my near-death story! :D

Bouldering at "THE egg"

2009-08-21T09:16:00.000+02:00

"The egg" is the name of our local bouldering place (30mins from Fribourg). The rock is sandstone, which makes fun climbs actually with everything from crimpers to cracks. The place is quite small, but is perfect for an after work session! :)

The only issue is the wetness, as it is in dense forest... The access track was still muddy after 10 days of dry and warm weather, and apparently it was super muddy one week ago, as Julien and Oliver experienced...

Bill "boulet", wedding, sardines & stuff

2009-08-06T20:48:00.000+02:00

Sorry if this post is a bit messy...

One week end ago, I managed to catch up with a few people, was busy actually... The Friday was dedicated to the visit of Aurelie&Nicolas (congrats Aurelie for the PhD submission!!!), which was the occasion to stay at Amelie's place in Dijon, accompanied by Donn&Jen and Mike (Donn's twin brother). We went for some wine tasting, and what a great evening it was! We had the chance to taste great wines, with some "Grand crus", the highest quality standard in France (should I say in the world? :D). The winemaker dude was fantastic and so funny: amongst many other things, he was found of ... sardines! He had hundreds different cans of sardines, and a special "maturing cellar"... Indeed, apparently, canned sardines are best after 6 years of maturing, when the bones are completely disolved. And be carefull, in order to get the sardines of the highest quality, you have to flip the can every 6 month to insure no pieces are out of the oil for too long!

The best is that at the end, the dude was a bit drunk, and was almost giving us bottles... In general, the opposite is the rule, and the winemaker tries to get you drunk so you buy more of his wines... After, I went to my familly for a couple of days, with some more wine&food programmed. Was good to see back my grandparents, in a much better shape than when I last saw them...

And then , I catched back with Marie&Denis (pectin addicts), and Bill... The later has a more scattered brain than I have, which is bad! Basically, he was supposed to arrive Monday, and to stay the week in Nantes, where I was gonna join at the end of the week... Marie waited 4 hours at the train station, and got worried cos Bill was not anwering to the many emails she was sending... And of course impossible to call him... Eventually, she managed to get in touch with him (via Massey University!), when Bill told her he was arriving ... next Monday... He just told us the wrong week... I wasn't very surprised by that, actually... Eventually, I got new tickets, and went to Nantes the next Monday. Bill was feeling very guilty after that, and invited us to the restaurant! :p

I week later, it was Severine&Etienne's wedding, with Severine being an old friend of Stephanie. Again, that was more a eat&drink week end, you can't imagine how fat I am! ;o) But staying at the Maureau's, some physical activity was mandatory, and we fitted a multi-pitch route and 2 mountain bike tours in the week end, even with an average weather..

Hail in Fribourg

2009-07-23T16:25:00.001+02:00

30mins ago, there was some intense hail, with hailstones big enough to damage cars... My new car is full of dips&stuff, I am glad I didn't take the cheapest insurance...

Rateau W- Candau pillar

2009-07-06T19:43:00.000+02:00

There it is, some real alpine climbing, after many week ends with bad or average weather... Actually, the weather was not perfect all day long with some thunderstorms developing at the of the afternoon... which means starting early and climbing fast, which is the essence of mountaineering! So the all was a good training for us.

The climb went fast, which is quite exhilarating actually, albeit I agree you don't take advantage that much of the views, and of the aesthetic of the climb. Indeed, the Candau pillar is a reasonably long and technical alpine climb (up to rock grade 5sup - NZ grade 18ish), mostly on a thin edge with a fair amount of exposure. Furthermore, it is not over-equipped with not more than 10 pitons over the 400metres of pillar, which is quite rare for a nice climb in Europe. One picture with the route is there.

Climbing around Fribourg

2009-06-29T15:43:00.000+02:00

Yes, there is some world class rock climbing nearby Fribourg, at least according to my taste! It is called the Gastlosen range, and offers a LOT of good climbing on EXCELLENT limestone, with a bit of everything from short sport climbing to long aid climbing routes in any grades.

We went there last Sunday with Julien and Steph'. Julien gratified us with some nice "knee technique", while Steph was enjoying the long and sustained sport routes! Here are a few pics, mostly from Julien and Steph':

West ridge of Pic Nord des Cavales

2009-06-16T12:59:00.000+02:00

Taking advantage of a long week end (Thursday was off so I took the Friday off as well), me and Steph' planned a long-ish trip in the Oisans ranges. We wanted to stay 3 nights at the Chateleret hut, in order to climb some of the ridges around. The first day was just dedicated to some shopping*, and to go up to the hut. The west ridge of Pic Nord des Cavales was planned for the next day.

We woke up lazily at 7am, as we didn't need to be at the bottom of the ridge before 9.30am, to get the sun for the actual climbing. The way up was fine: the route was steep enough, so no snow was sticking to the rock. The climbing was quite sustained actually, with many pitches of grade higher than French grade 4 (NZ 12/13, crux grade 16/17), and some easier parts where running belays were possible. The rock was an excellent granite, but difficult to protect, and difficult for me to climb with alpine boots!

The way down was a bit more adventurous, via the south ridge. Unfortunately, the normally easy downclimb was this day made off "wet" slabs, either covered by wet snow or by running water coming from the melting of the snow. Downclimbing was impossible, and we resolved to abseil most of it, sometimes with not so good anchors... We arrived at the hut late-ish, completely wet... As everything would have been of the same kind around, and as the rope were soaked, we made the walk back to the car... The week end ended lazily by some swimming, and a tiny bit of rock climbing on the way back to Fribourg. I guess alpine climbing wasn't the best plan that week end...

* some Alpine rock boots, and a Camalot size 4 for me... Couldn't resist the sales...

Farting around in Aix les Bains

2009-06-08T23:42:00.000+02:00

Very varied 3 days week end: despite of a very changeable weather, we did many different things... Here is the list:

- some fast hiking (cos Jean-François needed to be back before 2pm to go to work). We did a nice but exposed section of ridge in the "Bauges" ranges
- baking some cookies
- some rock climbing at La Balme, where the weather does not matter due to the steepness of the crag. It is an excellent crag actually, unfortunately very elitist, as you have to warm up on 6b (NZ grade 20) there, and everything else is much harder...
- eating tons of cherries
- some wet&muddy mountain biking
- my first via-ferrata (see the pics), which is supposed to be the hardest in France. That was steep indeed, but not that bad with all these huge "holds". The exposure was fantastic, although Monique (Stephanie's mother) didn't really appreciate it... Maybe that wasn't the best gift for the mother's day ;o)
- eating a lot of cakes
- a short but fast walk with Jé

Climbing at THE bridge

2009-06-08T23:38:00.000+02:00

Palmerston North has the infamous Manawatu Gorges, Fribourg has the famous Pérolles bridge...

In between the university and my work, there is a high bridge over the Sarine river, which is in a gorge in this section. Some climbers from Fribourg managed to get some money to set up some routes there, putting up some lines of resin holds, some of them reaching 3 pitches for 80m. Not too bad, hey? All that is excellent for an after work training, which most of the climbs being very sustained for their grade. The hardest ones finish at the top of the arches, being subsequently very overhanging...

Hopefully we will get strong with that...

Long week end in Finale Ligure

2009-05-26T22:41:00.001+02:00

Was a nice, but tiring week end. We started with Oliver by 2 solid days of rock climbing in Finale Ligure, supposed to be one of the best places in Italy... And indeed, it is good with some climbing on steep and excellent pockety limestone. The hit of the climbing was a small amphitheater, only accessible by going trough a cave!

The next two days were dedicated to a 24h mountain bike race, which we accomplished as a team of 8 people, including: Donn&Jen, Gabrielle, Nicolas, Christian, Mickella, Alex, and Oliver. Despite of being tempted by some more climbing, that was a lot of fun actually! As usual, I messed up a bit on my first lap, and took the wrong track, but got a bit better afterwards... The night rides were fantastic, I really loved this part... The last ride was good too, as I had the occasion to try out an excellent bike from the brand Niner, with 29inches wheels. 29inches wheel are good I reckon, even if they didn't prevent me to fly over the bar in one of the turn... This happens when you get to excited I guess...

And sorry, no photos, my batteries died after only a couple of pics... And somehow, my two spare sets where empty as well... How could that happen??? Some pics are here.

Melloblocco 2009 - Italy

2009-05-12T10:28:00.001+02:00

Here it is, we made it alive to Val di Massino, for the huge (2000 participants) bouldering event Mellobloco. Emma was supposed to join the event as well, but unfortunately injured herself the week end before... So we will have to catch up a next time.

We were quite unprepared with Stephanie, with no bouldering mat and no info af what was Mellobloco was about. So we rope climbed the first day, in order to get used to the local rock: an excellent granite! Not being used to this kind of climbing, we found the grades tough, as the rock harsh for the skin! We registered for the event the next morning, but we still had no clue about what was the contest about*, and we did some trad climbing in the morning. We tried some bouldering in the afternoon, but it was a bit annoying to have no mat...

We had to wait the next morning to get a bouldering mat from Cassin (Stephanie's sponsor) to do some proper climbing. Steph' managed to send 5 boulders of the 8 of the women contest, and won 95euros of price money... In my case, I was playing around on easy-ish climbs, being miles away of getting any money. Indeed, the males easiest boulder was graded something like 8a or V11... What, me, a big girl??? Nevertheless, it was fun to climb with many people from everywhere in Europe, and I'd like to go back there to climb some of the fantastic trad routes in the valley, up to 800m tall...

* I think that is called Italian organization, hehe

Conference in Venice

2009-05-11T15:44:00.000+02:00

Yeah, right, a conference in Venice... You might say: what a slacker this Romaric, and you are probably right!

Anyway, here is the story: after a quick week end in Aix les Bains, doing some rock climbing with Caroline, and some more powder skiing with the Moreaus', we took the long drive to Venice. Man, driving on the speedways in Italy is very stressful actually, with nobody respecting the safety distances, passing you by both sides, not using any indicators apart light flashes when they think (often) that you are too slow when you respect the speed limitations... Was very resting to give a talk at the conference, actually...

The title of my talk was "The metallurgy of Peanut Butter". Somehow, many people found it funny, but maybe not that interesting... Anyway, that was an interesting conference with many nice talks, and located on a small island facing the San Marco piazza for the nice views! It was a resting workshop, followed by some more crazy Italian driving in our way to the Val di Mello climbing region... We again though we gonna die a few times... No wonder that Italy is the country with the highest number of Car accidents and fatalities in Europe!

Week of holidays :)

2009-04-27T16:54:00.000+02:00

I had last week off, which was supposed to be a full week of ski touring with Bruno and Xavier. As usual, Bruno managed to miss the occasion by doing one of his stupidities... He played badminton drunk, and ended with a a good sprain at one ankle. Xavier made a good one as well, screwing up his ski rental by arriving after the shop's closure. So we rock climbed the first 2 days, and as a punishment, Xavier took my snowboard and snowshoes for the first ski tour... He could discover how tough was snowboard touring! ;o) As a matter of fact, he won't start ever again, and we went to Lausanne to rent proper ski touring stuff for the remaining of the week.

We did in total 5 ski tours, with some snow powder every day, at least around the tops. Below, that was good spring snow... And bush skiing sometimes at the end... All of it was pretty good and varied, but unfortunately Xavier got an infected tooth (his cheek was looking like a balloon), and went back home prematurely, on Friday. Then I went to Aix les Bains, for some more skiing and climbing, but I sucked at both, and was feeling very weak both days... My excuse is that I was ill... Others will say I am a big girl... ;o)

Anyhow, that was a fun week. But sorry, no photos as I left my camera (with a few other things) at my parents' place the week end before... As I forgot my brand new sunglasses in Jérome's car yesterday... I guess you can't change when you are scatter-brained...

Easter week end at my parents' place

2009-04-14T14:29:00.000+02:00

Taking advantage of the long week end, I went back to my parents' place for easter. The onward drive has been made long due to a burnt truck across the way, which completely jammed the speedway, and Stéphanie spent 3 hours there, before picking me up in Bellegarde, 20kms from the accident... We made it to my hometown at 2am, reasonably tired...

The rest of the week end was more peaceful, but not resting for the stomachs, with my mum trying (as usual) to get me fat with all her culinary skills... The hits of the week end were having lunch at the hospital with my grand parents (with the all family), and the first chocolate eggs' hunt for my little nephew. The later didn't change much, and is still restless and troublemaker... but cute!

Aix les Bains, and skitouring in the Maurienne region

2009-04-07T18:00:00.000+02:00

So, for a change, some ski touring for the week end, around Aix les Bains where we stayed (with Bruno) at the Maureau's place... for a change!

Anyways, it was an excellent week end again, with some nice weather, and perfect spring-snow conditions. Saturday was good, and so was Sunday. During Sunday's tour, we split with the girls for some reasons*... Steph' and Gaelle went for a shorter tour then... But unfortunately for them, they missed some close views of at least 30 chamois, some untracked deep snow powder, and a run on some perfect corn snow (we call it "carpet snow" in French)! We had obviously better conditions than the girls!**

*cos Steph' didn't want to take off/put back the skins... lazy girl!
**they will tell you that we (the boys) are lying on the quality of the snow ;o)

I like daylight savings (this one at least...)

2009-04-07T17:48:00.000+02:00

Taking advantage of the daylight savings' change of hours, with a sunset at 8pm, we went up Moléson after work, via the skifield (closed for the season). Cos of the traffic jams in Bulle, we started a bit late, so we had to run uphill to make it to the top for the last lights... We where above the clouds, and the view was fantastic!!! As excellent as the 1000m ski run downhill, in the fading light... That was quite romantic, actually, héhé.

Back in the days

2009-03-31T10:25:00.001+02:00

Shit weather last week end, so I will not post nice and sunny pics... In order to make up for the disappointment ;o), I post one video from the good old days in NZ, during a crepes party up at Atawhai. No needs to say I was glad of myself about this. Thanks to Caroline who took this video.

Skitour with Bruno, Steph & Oliver

2009-03-25T10:28:00.001+01:00

Here are quite a few pics from the week end skitours, with Stéphanie, Bruno and Oliver. The first tour was above Grandvillard, up to the Vanil Carré peak, with a nice final slope where the snow was still dry. Then we went for some spring conditions the following day, around Cornettes de Bise. We messed up a bit with the route, but that wasn't that bad and we had a nice ski run! The hits of the week end:

- Bruno managing to find Fribourg on Friday evening, after getting lost a few times...
- Bruno eating 200grs of chocolate per day
- Seeing some ibexes (I think it is the right word?) at the top of some cliffs (last picture)
- My stylish sunglasses... I know Travis will appreciate it ;o)
- The wild sceneries when we sort of lost our way on Sunday
- Not less impressive: Oliver beating Bruno at food eating, when we came back Sunday afternoon

Boring life :D

2009-03-17T14:30:00.000+01:00

My life must seems boring... Here is some more gliding, hehe! The weather (as the snow) was springlike, so that was a good and non-stressful week end... I went back to Aix les Bains on Friday eve for some reasons, and we did a nice skitour on Saturday, with quite a few people (12 if I remember well). After the skiing, it was time to leave to Monjoie in the Jura so called "mountains", where Donn&Jen and Amélie&Xavier were already. We had a fun evening eating some cheese fondue (I must admit I had some meat, I am very ashamed!), and digesting all that the next during a snowshoes walk on the hills around... Pretty boring, isn't it? But nevertheless, life is GOOD!

PS: I attached a couple of pics from Titi, from last week end. They are much better than mines as you can see, since I left my camera on the wrong settings (tungsten light...) for the last 3 weeks

Ski touring near Thones, and "freeride" at Chamonix

2009-03-12T16:46:00.000+01:00

OK, I certainly can't really say freeride for my skiing style... But nevertheless, we went to Les Grands Montets, the world's "freeride capital" as they say. It was a good occasion for me to work my poor technique on truly excellent terrain, and surounded by all the impressive peaks from the Mont Blanc massif, Mount Everest included. Many thanks to my 2 lovely teachers of the day! Where present in particular Steph', Caro, Petra and Seb. Was funny at one stage, as the 2 slowest person of the band were the 2 males (i.e. me and Seb)... Who said I am a big girl???

The Saturday was good too, with some good touring in deeeeeeeeeep powder! We went to the Mountain range Les Aravis, with a large part of the Maureau's, and Donn and his van. The latest attracted a lot of attention all along the day, with many people pointing us as we were driving... It is still unclear why, it is such a nice van! So said Monique, who wants to get the same one now... After almost everybody left, a poor cat with a broken leg came to us (attracted by Donn's van?), to the greatest pleasure of Donn, and myself. It definitely deserved many caresses!

But the day was not finished... After buying a few kilos of cheese (who said I am fat???), I got a call from... Caroline, who didn't know where to stay for the night. Her and a friend of her (Petra) were in Chamonix on Saturday, and wanted to try to sneak into some conference hotel (they knew one of the participants of the conference), but without success... So I had a call at 6pm, asking me if they could stay at Donn&Jen's place for the night. After that, dinner (cooked by myself) and concert... All that made a full-on week end!

And sorry for the bad quality of the pics, I had wrong settings for most of them... I guess I had some other things in mind than taking pictures.

Ski touring week end around Aix les Bains

2009-03-01T22:22:00.000+01:00

Man, that was a fun week end, again! I went to Aix les Bains for the week end, where I stayed at the Moreau's homestead, with Denis. Obviously, we did some ski touring to occupy the long day. :D We did a longish tour around Pic du Frene, long especially for me with my poor skiing technique... It's hard to admit, but i finished the day quite exhausted... To recover from that the following day, we did a shorter tour in the Bauges ranges, with not as good conditions, but it was still fun! So where the evenings, with some good food&drinks... And good compagny! Was good to catch back with JP, Monique and Steph, who I haven't seen since when I left for NZ... Thanks to all of you to have been my skiing instructors for the week end!

Oh, yeah, and I got some new ice tools! (I only say that to make Travis jealous, of course) I got the Grivel Matrix Tech, which look cool! Many thanks to Titi to spend time to buy them for me! :)

Skitouring with Donn&Jennevievre, near Grandvillard

2009-02-22T17:08:00.000+01:00

Third week-end of February if I am right... I'm a bit lost in the calendar at the moment... As it is the week end of the traditional carnival in Fribourg (as in many cities in the German part of Switzerland), Donn& Jen stayed at my place for the week end. We didn't go in town Friday cos they arrived late, and we had to wake up reasonably early the next day, for a ski tour near the lovely town of Grandvillard. The original idea was to go up Tsermon, but we changed our plans due to the high avalanche hasard (500metres of slopes at 35degres is not very safe when there are tons of fresh snow...). So we went up Vanil de Van eventually, which is a really objective as well, with an attractive slope to ski.

Unfortunately, the snow was super deep, and starting to melt a bit. It was quite difficult to ski, especially for Jen, who was having her first ski tour and was not used to this sort of snow... After a few turns, and almost an equivalent number of falls, she almost lost of ski in the snow. I don't know why the place where she rented her skis didn't provide leashes, which are mandatory in deep snow as the breaks are pretty much useless. Anyhow, she managed to find back the ski, which was good. I don't know what we would have done if not, it would have been impossible to walk down...

Skitour with Donn and Oliver

2009-02-16T22:19:00.000+01:00

We went to the Dent de Broc, where we found some powder of the best kind: fresh and very deep! I guess I lost a few friends again... That was a good occasion to present my new german "boy friend" to my ex-canadian one. No fighting happened, so that was good! That would have been more difficult to make the presentations with Travis, as he his of the jealous kind... ;o)

Was good to try Donn's new van as well, which revelled as "fun" to drive on snow as riding a snowboard in deep snow...

Frenchiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie :o)

2009-02-10T20:53:00.000+01:00

Julien came over last week end, for an interview in my institute. He has to wait for the answer now...

But I think he enjoyed the day of skiing, at least as much as me and Mickael did! Man, what a great day it was... There was so much fresh snow, that was crazy! We didn't even manage to reach the skifield with the car, despite of Mickael's talent as a pilot on the snow... At one stage, I felt in a snow pool, and my pole + the full lenght of my arm where barely enough to reach the bottom old layer...

About Julien, he hate quite a bit of snow during the day, and ended with a sore throat the next day, for his (nice) presentation... Good luck bro for the job, that would great if you get it!

Week end at Martina's place, high in the Valais (24-25/01/09)

2009-02-10T20:28:00.000+01:00

Oliver was asking me to update my blog, so do I, but he will regret it, hahaha. So, in short, we spend the week end at Martina's place, a friend of Oliver. Andy, an other old friend of him was there too, so I had to spend the week end with 3 Germans... Bad luck! ;o)

But that wasn't that bad, actually! We did a skitour Saturday, where the snow wasn't great... Shit happens! Anyhow, that was a good test to challenge Andy good style, while Martina made a demonstration of very wide turns (oops, sorry Martina, hehe)... Concerning Oliver, what should I say... It was quite funny to see him falling and falling (No sorry for you, you deserve it!) ;o)

The following day was a lot of fun too! We went ice climbing in Saas Grund, in the German part of switzerland... Bloody Germans, you have to pay for everything there, car park and ice climbing... So we decided to forget to pay for the ice climbing... Yes, I know, we are bad boys!

As a conclusion, thanks Martina for having us, and thanks to the 3 Germans to speak english with me... Andy's pics are here.

Just to make Travis jealous...

2009-01-18T10:15:00.000+01:00

All is the pics! :D

But unfortunately, the ice was a bit wet, so I've been lame and didn't lead anything... But we top roped a relatively technical and fun one, with light and brittle ice formations. The lead would have been bold... There were some ice screws placements, most of them hollow...

PS: Oh yeah, it was the first time that Oliver was ice climbing, and I have been mean to send him in a hard climb (grade 5+ or so)... But he looks happy, doesn't he?

First paragliding fligth :)

2009-01-16T14:39:00.000+01:00

We went to the Charmey skifield with my flatmate, Mickael. He was participating to a fun paraglading contest, while I skied. For his last flight, he asked me if I wanted to go for a biplace fligth, and obviously I couldn't say no... As it was part of a contest, we went pretty close from the ground, and even touch it a couple of times, it was a lot of fun! Many thanks Mickael* for the run!

The following day, we went skiing at Chateau d'oex with Olivier&Julie, and I discovered how skiing in powder is... difficult! But it is soft, and tastes good... when you fall...

* I don't know if I should thank you, actually... I want to buy a paraglider and to pass the licence now... Do you think I have enough time and money??? :)

Some more cool pics from some friends of Mickael:

Alpine touring trip in the Queyras (Italy)

2009-01-05T20:39:00.000+01:00

The aim: 4 days of ski touring
The place: Chianale, in the Italian side of the Queyras mountains
The actors: Jerome&Gaelle, Etienne, Denis, Murielle, Emilie, and me!

Not much to say: brilliant weather for the 4 days, perfect terrain for ski touring, good snow for snowboarding (not that good for skiing, apparently...). And best of the best, our accomodation: the most welcoming bed&breakfast ever, with excellent Italian food, and the friendliest landlady you can imagine. And it's even cheap! I highly recommend to stay there if you are in the region, ask me the address if you need.

The negative point was (thanks to Titi ;-) ) the illness of a couple of people, which was a real shame... I guess it's a good reason to come back there sometime in spring, when the snow conditions would be perfect!

Thats all for now!

And some backcountry skiing, near Grenoble :D

2008-12-26T14:44:00.000+01:00

Oh yeah, and there is the snowy stuff as well, I had to deserve all that food... The snow was not the best I had ever*, but it was good to catch back with Djé&Gaelle, to meet Murielle, to see Caroline having a hard time because of gear problems... And it was so good to be in the sun above the "sea of clouds", when the valleys were stuck in a thick and cold fog!!! Thanks to Titi for the accomodation, all the driving, and the 3 days of skiing!

* oui oui, Donn, je rale, comme Titi... Mais je profite!!!

PS: the last pic was taken by mistake with the wrong mode, but very luckily is not that bad, I think...

1.80m of Christmas log :p

2008-12-26T14:23:00.000+01:00

The Linards from Fontaine Les Gres joined us at the last minute for the Xmas lunch. Annette said she will bring the Christmas log for dessert, and arrived the 25th with 120cms of it... The thing is that we still had the one from my sister, which we failled to eat the previous day, because of the cheese fondue (see previous post). So we had 180cms of cake, which strangely we didn't manage to finish...

I add 2 photos of my nephew Armand, in the middle of a sea of gifts, and enjoying opening/destroying them! Childs are too much spoiled with presentsnowadays, I reckon... I wasn't the same back in the days... Am I jealous???

Various states of a "pumpkin" cheese fondue

2008-12-26T14:05:00.000+01:00

I came back to my parents place just before Xmas with full backpacks full of Swiss chocolate... and Swiss cheese from the Fribourg region! These later are supposed to make the best cheese fondue in Switzerland, even in the world if you listen the Fribourgeois... I don't know if it is true, I can tell you it's better than the cheese fondue with New Zealand cheeses, hehe. I tried one more time the pumpkin recipe, and it was damned good! Here are a few pics of the evolution/destruction of the pumpkin during the evening...

Various climbing failures...

2008-12-14T22:44:00.000+01:00

In the last two weekend, we tried to do some climbing with my buddy Oliver, with not a lot of success... No success at all, should I say...

First, we tried last week to climb at La Tribune, in Charmey. It's a fantastic crag, with about 80 overhanging routes, on excellent limestone. Some people told us that is a good winter crag, as generally above the valley fog. What we didn't know was that the crag needs a few days to dry after a snowfall, and the rock was wet on most of the routes... Maybe a few grade 8+ (above NZ grade 30) were climbable. Being weak, we passed, and decided to go to a climbing gym... The first we tried was closed because that was a public holiday, so we made the drive to Bern, thinking the local gym would be opened, as it was not a public holiday there. But it was opening only at 5pm on Mondays... So we came back to Fribourg, and had a coffee at Belvedere, with its fantastic terrasse. We ended up, like miserable people, bouldering at our usual wall, after 6 hours of wandering around...

The weekend after, we wanted to go ice climbing with Oliver, at Chateau d'Oex (even in French this name is difficult to say!). We spent almost 3hours to find the route, which was made of only running water... Again, we've been big girls, and didn't climb... And guess what, we finished the day at our usual climbing gym in Fribourg, for a change...

OK, not all i bad in Swizzy, I still managed to have 2 days of snowboarding in great powder conditions, fantastic conditions for December!!!

Funny thing about my institute...

2008-12-04T14:20:00.000+01:00

The institute where I am working at (AMI for Anton Merckle Institute, http://www.am-institute.ch/) has the same initials as the American Mustache Institute (http://www.americanmustacheinstitute.org/)... I guess we should try to collaborate together!

Fat Freddy's, Strasbourg & stuff

2008-12-01T21:33:00.000+01:00

I went back to Strasbourg last WE, this time with a part of the old NZ crew, Donn, Jen, Anna, Anna, and Caroline. That was fun, despite the fact we didn't manage to motivate the girls to go to the Roman bath... We spent the WE eating in some nice restaurants, drinking a few beers in , visiting Strasbourg and it's surroundings, and going the Fat Freddy's drop concert at La Laiterie club, yipeee! The concert was great and fun despite of technical problems which forbid the band to play their most famous songs... Too bad, but it was still a good (and different) concert!

Talking of interesting performances, we went to the modern art museum of Strasbourg, and I had a blast there! It was the 10th anniversary of the museum, so the entry was free (which is always good!), and there were some shows inside: some sort of dancers were dancing/strolling around, following some weird music, if I can call that music... At the same time, a crazy man was manipulating strange home built robots, those later moving with metallic noises, making the all museum looking like a noisy but stylish cafarnaum! I really enjoyed it :)!

On Sunday, I wanted to avoid to go back the very commercial and not so attractive Strasbourg Christmas market. My brother in law asked me if we wanted to go for a ride to his favorite small little town in Alsace, which was meaning we had to split with the other guys cos of a lack of cars... We decided to join him anyway, with my sister and Caroline, and that was a very good and authentic experience! It is definitely the best Christmas market I've been to, located in one of the most beautiful town around! We couldn't resist to buy a few things there, including some hats which makes you look stupid...

And I'm too lazy to upload more photos, so have a look on Donn's website to get plenty of nice pics!

Armand's first birthday

2008-11-24T22:56:00.000+01:00

Here are 2 pics of last WE, spent in Strasbourg. The them was my nephew first birthday, and as you can see, we had a lot of food... As always when I visit my sister in Alsace... Yes, I know, I'll become fat one day... The problem is that we are coming back there next WE, for a concert from a NZ band, the Fat Freddy's drop... Anyway, Armand is still a very fit boy, full of energy to do stupidities!

We went to a Christmas market the following day, in Hageunau north of Strasbourg. Was fun but bitterly cold, we had to drink some mulled wine to saty warm, hehe... It was really feeling like Cristmas, was sweet :)

PS: the pics are from Sebastien, my brother in law