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Published: January 15th 2008
Okay, so we didn't ski the Swiss Alps, we were on the French side right by the border of Italy and France in Chamonix... but we DID drive an hour through Switzerland in order to get there, and so therefore I'm going to pretend we were there the whole time. I DID buy some Swiss chocolate! MMMM! And I used the Swiss rest stop restroom... which I think helps to qualify me as a Swiss tourist. Oh and in the bathroom, the water was so freezing that you could barely stand to wash your hands; and the hand dryer was so hot that you had to wave your hands in and out of the lava temperature air to avoid serious burnage. Land of "neutrality"? I think not.
We had to be on the bus by 6am, which means I had to wake up at 4:45 am (not too hard for the experienced desk worker that I am) to walk to campus. So by the time we got to the slopes, I was already groggy and impatient. The first place we went, a tree had fallen on the chair lift so we had to drive another half an hour to
Chamonix
Okay, I cannot be credited with this absolutely gorgeous photo that Aaron Detter shot. Hopefully he doesn't mind, but I really wanted to share.get to a different part of the Alps. It was noon before we even got to put on our skis.
The first day was really not good for skiing anyway. There was tons of snow falling so it was hard to see on the slopes; I didn't have snow pants so that was cold, and the ever-useful glittens let snow in and weren't waterproof so my fingers were cold... but hey, I was in the Alps! I skiied down about three times and then went off by myself to have a cup of tea in a little restaurant were a bunch of Irish men were in a heated and loud discussion.
Then for our late lunch, we rode a gondola up the mountain to eat our "pique nique" (a sack lunch) and I had a Mont Blanc beer; Mont Blanc is the tallest peak in Europe. Even the views from the restaurants were BEAUTIFUL.
That night I stayed in my first 'hostel-type' lodging which basically felt like a retreat center. Food, shower, sleep...Not bad at all. There was also a bar there that was open so I spent my evening re-learning how to play
View from the lift
(These are all Lindsey Goding's photos... I forgot my camera....like a dolt.) backgammon with Dené, explaining Kahlua-and-creams to the French girls, and kicking butt in "Bataille Corse" (The French name for the card game Egyptian Ratscrew). And for all of you who were wondering... the French boys are a little...um...odd. A little immature, but fun all the same. It's really funny what comes out of their mouths when they are trying to speak English.
The next day was pretty much perfect. I don't know how the weather could have been better (See attached photos). We did have to wait about an hour just to get to the Gondola that would take us up the mountain range to the ski hills, but it was soooo worth the wait. I've never seen mountains like that... the rides up the slopes were just as fun as the skiing down the hill. Very gorgeous and peaceful.
Overall, it was a lot of fun... I'm not using very impressive adjectives I know, but I think you'll be able to tell all from the pictures. Enjoy!
Oh, and I only fell once the entire two days and it was in the parking lot the first day...I wasn't even on skis so I don't think
Mont Blanc beer
When in the Alps... I thought it was an experience I should have: ski and then drink a beer at the top. I would count that anyway.
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Noel \ /
non-member comment
wow, the alps... You're so lucky! It's nice to see you're having fun!