I'm International

Me wandering around off piste at Le Tour

Oh man, So much has happened since my last post.

Cameron and I went to France at the end of February. His parents have a flat in Chamonix and we had a snowboarding holiday. Cameron's cousin and his girlfriend met us there and then his parents and brother came for the last few days.
We flew from Sharm to Geneva, Switzerland and then rented a car for an hour drive to Chamonix. So we drove through to France and arrived to this small town surrounded by massive mountians including Mt. Blanc which was the biggest mountian in Europe until just recently when they named a taller one in Eastern Europe. Their flat is about a 15 minute walk to the center of town and was really nice and cozy with a view of Mt. Blanc out the back door. Kenny (Cam's cousin) & Sophie are snowboarders already so on the first day I let them go off on their own and just hung around in town. It was quite daunting considering I haven't even attempted french since I went to Quebec in 8th grade! There is a really cute little town with loads of ski shops and brasseries and oh my the cheese! So many nice little places you could walk into that smelled pretty bad but had massive tables with all sorts of cheeses and meats. Also, I didn't really have proper shoes for the snow but took these little moccasin boots I have that have a smooth flat leather sole. The trail to walk to town was running along a little river but was covered in ice and surprisingly I only fell once but it was such hard work I finally buckled and bought a pair of shoes. Life was so much easier after that!

On the second day Cam and I went off on our own to a small place called Le Planard, it was right close to town and seemed to be where all the little kids were learning to ski. There was a little fenced in area with kids about 3-5yrs old wearing helmets and skiing in a straight line following each other while the parents stood outside the fence and cheered them on. You would see some of them crying and telling their parents they didn't want to do it (at least that's what I think they were saying since they were speaking in french) and it was pretty funny. It got less funny when the older ones (7-9yr olds) were screaming past me down the slopes later on.

We spent a few hours on what I called the bunny slope, the first time I said this Cam almost peed his pants and said NEVER call it that in front of anyone else, it's called a GREEN run. I was feeling alright and decided to take the chair lift up and try a blue run. I was scared and fell ALOT but it was really fun. On the smaller slopes instead of chair lifts they have these tows called poma tows... and I HATE them. I'm on one in the picture in the previous post but the poma tows from the first day were super easy... the snow was really soft and I managed my first one without falling, a feat in itself. You basically stand in line till it's your turn, you have your front foot in the board and the back foot is out. There is a pole with a little circle on the end and you put it between your legs and it tows you up except that you have to be able to remain standing. Some of them can have quite a jerk when you first get going and then esp. with a snowboard you have to make sure you don't catch the edge of your board in the snow or else you fall on your face and possibly get dragged it you dont let go... Not only is it frustrating but very embarrassing as well. The next day we all went together to a mountian called Le Tour. Chamonix is the ski resort but there are about 5-6 different mountains you can ski on and so each day we would drive to whichever one we wanted to ski on that day. Anyway, on this day it was snowing like crazy and the visibility was quite bad so everyone stayed with me on the slopes lower on the mountain. Unfortunately for me the only way to get up the slope was a poma tow except these were faster and the snow was much harder. Last time we were in Scotland we met up with Kenny and Sophie and were talking about me trying to snowboard and Sophie was telling me that I'll be crying and probably quit a few times within the first few days because it's so frustrating. Well, I thought I was going to get away without a temper tantrum for the whole time but trying to get up that mountain that morning (oh yeah, did I mention I was getting sick?) was impossible. I fell once then got back on a made it halfway up until I caught an edge and fell... Once I got back down again I fell 5 times in a row straight away as soon as the freaking things jerked me up and so I walked halfway up and sat on the mountain and cried... wondering, can't they come up with a better way? The most frustrating part was that I could actually get down, I couldn't really turn but I could board down the mountain, I just couldn't get up it! Ughhh... luckily for me Cam and Kenny decided to go off pisted (off the main slope where the snow if fresh and powder) and makes jumps and stuff so we stayed there the rest of the day hanging out and just walking up and boarding down. Sophie and I even made a small jump that I managed to go off a few times! It's just such a nice view with clean air. We made salami and brie sandwiches on fresh baguettes for lunch everyday and it was awesome. On my last day we went to Les Houches and we had to take a cable car to the top of the mountain, which I was pretty scared about because it's just a little box with 20 people crammed in about 100 ft off the ground. We made it to the top and it was a beautiful day. The runs are all interwoven together and it's quite difficult at first to try to figure out where to go and which lift to take etc... that day was great and after a few hours Cam and I split up and decided we would meet at one of the cafes on the mountain. After a little while longer I was tired (did I mention by now every muscle in my body was in agony? Including the muscles on the front of my neck and my fingers even hurt from pushing myself up everytime I fell) so I decided to go to the cafe to hang out. Once I met up with everyone else they decided to snowboard down the mountain and I thought it was best to take the gondola down... on my own. Yikes! I think my fear of heights gets worse every year, anyway, we met at the bottom of the mountain at a bar and had some Vin Chaud (hot wine). After that I returned my rented board and am definitely wanting to try it again sometime.
We went into town a few nights for dinner and got house wine and cheese fondue... So good but sooo much cheese. Wandered around to a few pubs in the cold and ice and had a great time.
Cameron's parents and brother showed up the same day Kenny and Sophie left and they took us out for a great dinner and we had ( I forget what it was called) but they brought you a hot stone and beef, turkey and duck which you cooked yourself on the stone and it was delicious.

It was so strange the morning I left Chamonix, I was driving by massive snow covered mountains on icy roads and that evening I was driving by jagged dry mountains in the middle of the desert... I had a great time in France but I was ready to get back to the sun and the sea and my home.