3 Valley Rally part 1

Forget the Winter Olympics or the world cup downhill circuit, the real pinnacle of alpine sporting achievement is the 3 valley rally. On Wednesday we saw the crËme de la crËme of seasonnaire talent line up for this classic end of season scavenger hunt.
After last years blizzard the weather was absolutely perfect, barely a cloud in the sky and a slightly cool temperature, ideal when you are wearing a big one-piece.Without taking anything away from the ability of the other 18 teams only two had something to prove. The current two year reining champions Jump bar's Hatrick team, looking to make it three in a row and Jen's Skihigher team, after a lot of pre-race negotiations it was time to deliver on her promise to depose Jimbo from the top spot.
With teams bundling into company land rovers and minibuses any spectators might have been mistaken into thinking that this was a road race and not a skiing race.
After collecting a rubber glove and an Australian flag the skiing teams waited in line for the Jardin Alpin bubble while the main teams headed down 1650 to the bottom of the 3 valleys chair. In an interesting twist and possible the smartest move Scott Dunn dropped off their team at the altiport.

Checkpoint 1
The clue for the first checkpoint led the teams to an undisclosed point on the Indiens piste in 1650. Big chief Troy(TJ's) and his squaw Jules had set up camp about 50 meters from the Casserole restaurant at the top of the piste. This confused many teams who miss them and had to do another circuit.
The first team through was Ski Higher who, in their haste, only two member stopped for their apple bobbing, flour, Chilli tequilla forfeit. By the time they returned they were over 15 minutes behind Jimbo's squad.
Jimbo made the save of the day after dislodging Troy's snowboard. His quick reactions and rugby tackling skills stopped the board before it went over the edge.
On the way to checkpoint 3 I received a real 'toys out of prams' phone call from Millie(Supertravel). From the tone of her voice you could tell she had had enough. Her 'ski school' team arrived in a lowly 16th place after missed Troy and only while taking the bubble back up did they see all the other teams gathered around them.

Checkpoint 2
The challenge for the teams to find the checkpoint was nothing compared to the challenge, neh Herculean task, of checkpoint judges Jen and Anika(Supertravel) getting to Val Thorens before the season finished. With the combined directional ability of a concussed bat it was down to Alicia(Supertravel) to show them the way.
With the exception of Jimbo's team everyone else made their way up the petite bosses drag. Jimbo instead headed back to Ryan's waiting minibus where he was shuttled directly to Motteret.
The two items required by each team was a message displayed on Mont Valon's summit lift office and a Val Thorens sticker. As well as a shot of poivre william the girls made two members of each team swap trousers and then pose in their most orignal sexual position.
By the time Hattrick reached the second checkpoint, although they didn't have the message from Mont Valon, they still had a commanding 25 minutes lead over Ski Higher, Although they managed to forgo any penalty by convincing the girls that the sign had been removed (something disproved by the next couple of teams who knew the message which was then later removed by the Y-fronts) they could almost feel the trophyÖ.. Little did they know the hare was about to turn into the tortoise.
The best of the rest included the Scoobies(Inghams) who give a whole new meaning to doogy style as three great danes got it on with a ghost.
James(ESF) removed his trouser faster than Mike(Skival) loses mobile phones. The Billy Bateman team rather lost the plot. In the middle of the 'race' they stopped for lunch. I have one words for you..... sandwich!