After Christmas we went for a week to France for a break after a busy period for all of us, and to do some skiing. In the end only Paula came along, as Dorien had to finish a university project on 'steel and concrete', and had planned a survival race. Also Lars was busy with a work-related project. Paula needed a break from a very intense 4 months on the board of Proteus, and initially slept 12 hours a night in The Hague. This was followed by a relaxing week with bit of skiing, reading and no responsibilities. Unfortunately Mary had to decide to skip the skiing, as she is still recovering from her Achilles problems, and spent the days reading, doing easy walks, and taking care of some outstanding indoor tasks in the house.
When we arrived there was a thick layer of fresh snow in the village, accompagnied with beautiful weather. The next 2 days it snowed a lot; Piet and Paula went skiing on Alpe d'Huez. In the resort they were playing catch-up to keep the slopes in shape, as the fresh snow kept covering the pistes. Paula also met up with her friend Tim, who was staying in a nearby village. Then the weather changed dramatically: the wind picked up, the temperature rose, and it started raining heavily. The result was that the resort was closed for 1.5 day, there were many land- and mudslides in the region, and we took a forced break from skiing.
Once the resort was open the snow conditions had deteriorated somewhat, but as there was so much snow beforehand it was still fine to ski. Especially the last day, which we got as a bonus to compensate for the resort closure was great, with blue skies, near-zero temperatures and no wind.
After a smooth drive we arrived back in The Netherlands, and heard on the car radio that Dorien and friends made national news: at the survival race they participated it was very cold, especially due to the strong easterly wind, and many people suffered from hypothermia, Dorien among them. She fell in one of the streams they had to cross, was wet up to her neck, and had to abandon to get warmed up again. Luckily all was well in the end, but the race managed to get onto the 8 PM news on television!
Village horse Swallow is happy to see us
The entry road to our village during the rains: do not cross!
View on Marmotte 1, Alpe d'Huez
Arrival at Alpette from Montfrais
Paula on the Olympique piste
The last day, at the Herpie skilift
Our village in winter sun
Bonus pictures: Beau on the beach, during Christmas
Walking back to the stable
Lars and Dorien at the Slopend winter training weekend
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