After the abysmal turnout for the 1 valley rally earlier this season it was good to see 14 teams, from nearly every ski company, outside Gringos last Wednesday.
As always it's a bit of a gamble to have good weather for the event and after Tuesday nights rain it was doubly so.
Luckily the day was almost perfect sunshine with the rain clouds coming in just as the last team finished. Of course the only downsides of hot sunny days are the slushy slow snow conditions at the bottom of the valleys.
Even before the judges arrived at the first checkpoint, positioned at the top of Mont du Valon I received two worrying calls saying that the judges had got stuck on the plattieres bubble which had broken down.
Luckily this was only temporary and for once the judges made it to the checkpoint before the first competitors.
This year the first team to arrive was the aptly named 'The day Jimbo won the three valley rally' it should have been called 'The only chance of Jimbo winning the three valley rally is that he's teamed up with three very fast birds'.
With the absence of longtime seasonnaire and dependable checkpoint judge, Fred Wakefield it was down to the checkpoint charlies of Neil and Ryan from
Inghams to welcome the teams to checkpoint 2 at the top of Val Thorens. After relieving the female team members of various supportive undergarments they were sent on to my checkpoint in Les Menuires where Mistress SJ attempted to put the domination back into checkpoint judging. Lukcily for the teams she had left her PVC suit and whip back in the chalet. After crawling through the off-piste slush to SJ's feet they had the choice of toffee or coffee vodka.
Finally it was off to the Ski Lodge in La Tania before having to return to Gringos for the finish.
Once again a big thank you to White Stuff for generously donating some prizes. Sally(Whitestuff), Nicky(Fat face), Neil(
Inghams), Ryan(
Inghams), SJ(
Supertravel), Alice(
Supertravel), Lynne(
Skival), Chris(
Scott Dunn) for giving up their day to adjudicate on the checkpoints. Russ (Ski lodge) & Ollie(Gringos) for donating some alcohol and Vern for welcoming back the teams to Gringos. Without these people this event wouldn't have been possible.
