Sunday, 3 January 2010

Rain, snow and a little bit of sunshine

During our Christmas holiday we went to our house in France for a week of snow and skiing. We arrived on the 23rd in pouring rain, without a flake of snow in sight in the village. This set the scene for the rest of the week. After another rainy day when we did some shopping and organised the house and equipment we drove the 20 minutes up to the ski resort of Alpe d'Huez, some 1000 m above the valley. There was snow! We bought lift passes and got going...
After 2 days of "practice" the girls started their lessons; Paula at the highest "Competition" level, basically a preparation for racing. Dorien joined the "Etoile d'Or" group, one level lower, where they work on technique. They did their lessons in the morning, and after lunch we skied together.
The weather stayed pretty unstable during the week, lots of rain (up to 2500 m), wind, low clouds and only a few sunny periods. On one of the afternoons it took us more than 3 hours to drive down to the house, as the road was covered by thick wet, slippery snow, and some people "parked" their campervan against the barrier. Snowchains are great! The famous Sarenne (claimed to be the longest ski slope in the world) was only open once, and we managed to be there at the right time. The last day many slopes were turned into sheets of ice with a thin layer of powdery snow, giving a clear sign that our holiday was ending. Despite all this we had a lot of fun skiing, being outside in the mountains and enjoying the French food and wine. Back to New Year's resolution diet time again!

Paula and Dorien on Clocher de Macle, during one of the few nice weather breaks

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