Skiing in the (French) Alps

Check out all my pictures from my ski trip here

So this is my first weekend (sort of) spend in Aix since I've been here. Every weekend I've been traveling, and I was excited to get to spend a weekend sleeping in my own bed, and using my regular shower. However, by no means was I about to let a weekend of potential adventures go by, and today I did something that's been on my "bucket list" for some time now: skiing in the Alps.

There's a travel agency in Aix called Idee Nomade, and they do all sorts of cheap bus trips to different places. The one that I had heard a lot about was their ski trips, and they actually have a very good deal. The trip costs 30 euro, and includes a round trip bus ticket (2 and a half hours each way), a day lift ticket, and 20 percent off of rentals. Compared to prices in the U.S., going skiing for a day for under $70 is a great deal. So at six this morning, two of my friends and I got on the bus, and headed for Les Orres in the Alps.

The view was already phenomenal just when we got off the bus. You turn around and just see mountain ranges everywhere. After a few runs on the green slopes with my two friends (neither of them are very experienced skiiers), I ambitiously decided to go for the top. After a few long ski lifts, I made it to the top of the mountain. They have regular ski lifts that will take you up to a certain point, and past that you need to take drag lifts, which at first are terrifying. With the drag lifts, you grab on to a pole with a flattened end, stick it between your legs, hold on, and it drags you up. The drag lifts to get to the summit had signs warning that they were extremely difficult, and at an angle greater than 50 degrees. I decided not to go all the way up at first. The view from where I was though was absolutely breathtaking. I don't trust my own mastery of the English language enough to do it justice, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I was still getting warmed up, and not sure how hard some of the slopes were (we don't have "red" slopes back home), so I took a blue slope down. Upon deciding that that was easy enough, I went even HIGHER the next time. From the summit of the mountain, you feel like you're at the top of and end of the world. Looking off one side you see all the slopes, and wayyyy down at the bottom the ski village. On the other side it's all sheer white mountain faces as far as the eye can see.

We could not have asked for better weather. I had borrowed a thin jacket and gloves from a friend, and I had a hat, but didn't have any snow pants. I went in only wearing jeans, and it turned out to be fine. It was so warm all day, especially in the sun, that I ended up not wearing my hat for most of the day, and went on some runs without gloves.

I spent most of the day at the summit of the mountain, where the most difficult runs were. The most difficult runs are generally labeled "red", with the listing of "black" being reserved for a few extra-difficult slopes. I accidentally went down one of the black slopes, but managed to make it down without falling. The runs were absolutely phenomenal, and I was skiing faster, steeper, and better than I ever have before. It was such a nice change of pace having only ever skiied in the U.S. (and not even out West), where most runs down the mountain last a few minutes, tops. Where we were, it took over 20 minutes to get from the summit to the bottom, and that was while going at near-breakneck speed.

Tomorrow I'm off to Nice for Carnaval!