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Published: March 18th 2007
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Briancon
A photo from our hotel in the east side of the valley "downtown" Briancon. It was a lovely balcony and all I could do not to jump off it in a massive overwhelming joy of the skiing that would be soon had. When I got in touch with Frank and we discussed the possibility of me meeting up with him in Paris, I had no idea what to really expect and had done no further planning at all whatsoever once he gave me the OK to show up. So, a few days later when Frank emailed me in Thailand and said that his brother had rented a cabin for a week in the French alps and that he'd see about bringing me along -I immediately got excited. I must have sent Frank 3 or 4 emails making sure I wasn't imposing on his family, but that didn't seem to be an issue. Our long conversations in Honduras about our love of skiing seemed to have paid off.
Frank borrowed his neighbours tiny Renault for the drive and estimated it would be about 7 hours or so on the road. We had to stop for groceries and gas but the trip was to be fairly rushed in the end with few stops. I really didn't get a chance to look closely at the road map, or even a fairly detailed map of France for that matter, so when I finally did I
Road Trip
Frank's neighbours tiny Renault that somehow managed to get smashed in the parking lot two days in a row. was surprised that we were essentially driving all the way across the country. From Paris to Lyon to Grenoble to Briancon. I couldn't believe after the modest day in transit I was now on the border of Italy and only an hour or two from the Mediterranean. It's still sinking in just how small Europe is in comparison to other places I've been. It also helped, that we could drive about 130km/h the entire way (legally). So, after stocking up on provisions Frank took the wheel and got us outside of Paris where we then switched and I drove several hours to Lyons. The freeways here are marvelous and easily the best I've ever had the pleasure of driving on. Then again, the tolls for these private highways between Paris and Lyons alone cost us 28 euros. Ouch. Gas is a tad pricey as well, but it seems most of the world suffers from the same fate and it's just the way things go.
The drive to Grenoble was fairly uneventful, and "farm country" is the best way to describe it. The only thing worth mentioning were all the chateaux's you'd see en route up in the hills and
Garre du Nord
All aboard the Eurostar to London! Believe it or not I actually built one of these train stations... though it was in Transport Tycoon Deluxe. the very amusing signs posted on the highway marking historical landmarks. Once we got to the alps it was obvious we had done so and actually very similar to entering mountainous regions at home. It had been about 5 months since I'd seen real mountains and I was really happy to be back. We wound our way upwards to a fairly high elevation above the snowline (I don't know for sure but it was probably about 2200m) that apparently closes quite often if weather gets bad (and one has to drive hours around it), and then back down the other side of the mountain pass into the valley, where, just a bit further Briancon is located. Once arriving in Briancon I was surprised to see the next big stop was in fact Turin, Italy. I don't know how many km away it was from there but for some reason I assumed it was on the other side of the world still, and not on the other side of these mountains.
The differences between the ski resorts in Canada and here in the alps were very noticeable to me right off the bat, not so much because I'm overly observant
Train Mayhem
Actually the trains are simply magical here, this particular information board was really cool because it flips constantly to update and wasn't actually digital. but because these differences had been explained to me by everyone whose been here before me that I managed to hold discussions with on the topic. Villages appear and lifts sprout from their centers up the near bye hills. There's a sense of randomness to the design where new lifts are built as needed in every direction. In the summer herds of goats own the hills and not yuppies on $6,000 mountain bikes, or even yuppies on $6,000 skis for that matter like in the winter... but I suspect that's changing as I write this. Stone houses with wood roofs reign supreme and are scattered about every few km's along the road. Even on the slopes there are stables beside the runs and small abandoned homes plucked here and there.
When we arrived in Briancon it was a Friday night and the cabin wasn't reserved until Saturday. Frank and I found a hotel and went for some traditional Swiss food, the name of the dish I can't remember but involved potatoes, thick slices of cheese and was somewhat similar to scalloped potatoes -delicious of course. We hit the sack early quite tired from the drive and burning the candle
On the Mountain
Frank and I on a quick photo break. I had to laugh because Frank would go unshaven at all times and then for some reason decided he had to look good for skiing. from both ends back in Paris.
I woke up Saturday morning to blue sky and white mountains (though no fresh snow) in Briancon. Briancon is bigger than I pictured, boasting a McDonalds and even a few chain hotels. The actual ski mountain is called "Serre Chevalier" has 7 bases (lifts that act as starting points) from four distinctly separate villages (the largest being Briancon), 38 rides up (this total number includes poma lifts, gondola's, 2 person chairs, 3 person chairs, 4 person chairs and 6 person chairs) going up to a maximum elevation of 2830m at the top of the Yret chair on the Pic de L'Yret. The skiing was clearly in spring conditions, and probably not quite as much snow as I'd be skiing on this time of year back home (of course it depends on the type of seasons being experienced on the two continents respectively). There's much more that can be mentioned about the mountain, but my map is in French and it would take too long to translate assuming I could even do so. Regardless of what kind of mountain it was, I was just happy to be skiing again. It's been about two years
Picnic Stop
Not one of the higher peaks but a great lunch stop especially given all the sunshine. Moments later a family came screaming round this rock and nearly ended my life. now and because of when the seasons occur and my travels it hasn't been possible for me to engage in one of my favourite pastimes. It was especially rewarding given that on this trip Ryan had found some rugby games, James had found plenty of volleyball and Jordan had found some ring fights. Now I had found some skiing.
After a fine day of skiing which found me rediscovering the supposedly lost skill on my too short rental skis, we enjoyed a beer at the base next to an ice rink waiting for Frank's brother and his family. We moved into the cabin and went to sleep early before waking up the next day for another big day on the slopes. The typical spring conditions dictated the kind of skiing I did, and the smaller skis made it less fun to carve and more fun finding the steeps (which I found very much laking on this particular mountain). Thankfully the upper areas that were steep and closed because of the rocks, didn't dissuade me from descending because I was on rental skis (which took punishing blows to the wax and base).
After our second day on the slopes
The Valley
Shot overlooking the second place we stayed at which was more of a cabin. I went back to the cabin to shower and pack so that I could catch an 8pm train overnight back to Paris. Frank will stay on with his brother and family for another week or so and then make his way to Switzerland. The night train back to Paris was awesome. I fell asleep at about 8:45 and with only one small sleepless period of about 10 minutes woke up back in Paris around 7am. I had a ticket on Eurostar booked back to London for noon because I wasn't sure about the connections and potential rush hour in downtown Paris etc. I had a wonderful last breakfast in Paris and took a walk to gather a few more photos. The Eurostar back to London was even easier the second time, and I had a good conversation with the English immigration officer who was quite impressed with my collection of stamps and Visa's from around the world. So, that brings an end to my time in France and a beginning to my time in England.
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benjamin
non-member comment
makes me sick
man, i saw you maybe 6 months ago in egypt, and STILL you're travelling... what were you born with a silver spoon up your ahole? if you get up to scotland drop me a line mate, know some wicked peope in glasgow and edinburgh who'd be happy to put you up. enjoy mate.