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Published: February 21st 2009
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Here is our FIRST SKI TRIP!!! We joined a group of people in which Mark works with to go to Chamonix, France for 3 days and 3 nights. We flew from Newcastle to Geneve, Switzerland and then drove to Chamonix. The drive was nice because it was lightly snowing and this got all of us in the mood to ski the next day. For those that are thinking of doing this, the drive was about 1 hour with light traffic.
When we got there (with the help of our handy dandy GPS unit), we checked in and then went exploring through the town. Wow! The city is incredible!!! Imagine Vail Village (for those who have been...) but actually authentic!! Kaitlyn says that the Village reminded her of Grandpa Marek's Christmas Village he would set up each year in the family room. It was amazing, just seeing the layout and all the shops/restaurants that people were walking in and out of at 11pm on a Saturday night.
Monday, we all got up and had a nice buffet-style breakfast at the hotel and were able to rent our skis right at the hotel and boy was that ever interesting trying to
break a new language barrier and get everyone the right equipment.
From the hotel, we were able to catch the bus to the mountain that we decided to ski at for the day. Instead of most US ski resorts that have everything on one mountain, here you had to take buses to different locations depending on what you wanted to ski. Today was a beginner day as Kaitlyn had never skied before in her life and was ready to now start!
So, after a 45 minute bus ride we were ready to go. Kaitlyn was able to get her skis on fairly easily and then about 5 minutes later had to take them off because the tow rope was up a hill from where we put them on. Now, we have the skis on, and she got on the t-bar like a pro.
She made it all the way up the hill without any problems (which is better then most who rode it). But, her first fall of the day came when trying to get off. See in all of our excitement Mark forgot to tell her how to turn/control herself on the skis. After getting righted
GPS to the Rescue
We had an hour drive from the Airport to Chamonix where we would be staying and skiing.
again, Kaitlyn started going FAST and COULDN'T STOP!!! She just started going (in excellent form actually) right down the mountain. Her only way to stop was to sit down and that she did... right on the back of her skis!!! She continued right down the hill at an unstoppable pace. It wasn't until she hit the nice powder on the far left side of hill that she finally fell over and waved that she was ok as Mark was barreling down the mountain after her.
When she was finally up, Mark gave her some instructions on how to control herself and how to turn. After an hour of experimenting (in a very mutually-patient fashion), Kaitlyn was able to grasp what she needed to do to turn and stop.
Back at the bottom, Kaitlyn very quickly got back on the t-bar to head back to the top. With Mark quickly following, Kaitlyn was off down the mountain again!!! This time though she was much more under control and was turning much better than before.
The next time up Kaitlyn was just off and going as if she had been skiing for much longer then just her third time!
It really was great to see how quickly she caught on.
Lunch time came and went with a nice French omelet (it was the only thing that wasn't 20 euro) and Mark wanted to ski once from the top. So off we went to the top of hill via a gondola, and Kaitlyn was able to get some pictures of Mark skiing from her ride in the gondola back down the hill.
The rest of the afternoon, we were working on the bunny slope on Kaitlyn's form. She did absolutely brilliantly considering the last video she personally recorded while skiing and to start the day she could barely turn!
Monday, Mark took off with some more experienced skiers and went to a more advanced mountain to ski and Kaitlyn hung out with the non-skiers and shopped and saw the sights. It was really something else as the top of the mountain because you had to walk down steel stairs covered in ice with your skis to get to the run!!! But the view was incredible. The top of the mountain was covered in blue ice due to the glacier that ran parallel to the run. That first
run was absolutely one of the best Mark has done. Nice powder, no ice, few moguls, and just 45 minutes of true downhill.
That night we all went out and had some more great French food and did some shopping in the great town of Chamonix. For those that are curious, yes dinner in Europe is a 3 hour ordeal. Regardless, if you have 2 or 20 people, it is always a long affair. Great food though.
Finally, on Tuesday we had to leave. Luckily though that day it choose to rain and the resort shut down all the runs due to rain. The drive home went by very well and we could see all the great views we missed on the drive up.
All in all, it was quite the success and we both agree we need to go skiing again... soon...
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lori
non-member comment
Looks like you had a lot of fun. I love all the countryside pictures.. Hugs! Lori