above: view from my Condillac window before the crack of dawn.
Heard Kev's familiar cough and whistling in the corridors (wa really wanna make so much noise when everyone's sleeping HAHA) so I hurriedly got dressed i.e. piled on the long johns, woollen sweater, scarf, 2 gloves and my astronaut jacket.
As Kev and I walked towards the tram stop we saw that everywhere was covered in a thin coat of white. Condillac never snowed this much! What an awesome start to the day! :):)
We took the tram to Gières where take the Transière bus to the slopes of Chamrousse (shorhng-whose)! Whoot! Anyway it was snowing heavily when we reached Gières. Call me easily amused but it was the first time I'd seen snow pouring down at such a rate and to say I was ecstatic wouldn't be too strong a word. Haha.
The bus was almost full of passengers, all armed with their skis and snowboards and there we met up with Guillaume who too was dressed the part. En route, the snow appeared to increase in intensity and as we moved along, the fir trees in the woods that we passed seemed to get even more saddled with the weight of the snow. Fields, houses and cars were almost concealed in the thick cloak of snow. That whole expanse of white was just breathtaking.
The good news didn't last though. Before long, the snow-laden roads halted traffic and our bus stalled several times. Snow-shovelling vehicles had to come to the rescue and snow-chains had to be attached to the bus' wheels. It was a task getting those chains on and a few passengers, Guillaume included, graciously volunteered to brave the weather to help the driver. After umpteen tries, the snow chains finally managed to do their job and we were back on our way! Eventually we reached Chamrousse an hour late but it was quite an experience.
Upon stepping out of the bus and feeling the lashing of the snow and wind on our faces, we knew we were in for a rough ride. The heavy snowing had evolved into a full-fledged tempest that resulted in us having to half-close our eyes to prevent the snow from gaining entry. Just unzipping my haversack to retrieve my wallet caused snow to collect inside! To make things worse, the snow was so thick it was shin deep so even walking was tough. But even then, the place was beautiful to look at.
Guillaume quickly ushered us into the central building to seek respite and to rent our ski equipment. There were about 8 ski rental shops which rented skis from about 19€ which was really reasonable. We chose one and proceeded to try on our ski boots. Wow those things were a nightmare to put on - think rollerblades but much heavier and harder with less room to manoeveur. Merci Guillaume for helping me with them! Anw as a safety precaution, the skis have to be tailored to match your body weight so that when you fall, they'll detach from your boots and you won't risk breaking your legs from an awkward fall.
After getting our batons and skis, we made our way out into the ski grounds. Walking in those boots felt like walking on very heavy stilts and I didn't realized I was that equilibrium-challenged till that day especially when I was walking on the then knee-deep snow. Kept falling down which was really embarrassing. Haha and it didn't help that the skis weighed a ton.
Then it was up to coach Guillaume to teach us the basics of skis - how to put on the skis, the posture to adopt, how to brake and how to climb a gentle slope with the skis on. He makes an excellent teacher la! Very patient.
We then took the ski lift cos Guillaume thought there would be gentle slopes for beginners when we got off, like in the other ski stations he's been to. The ride up was unforgettable. The icy wind was blowing at over a 100kph. With the ski lift in motion, this was amplified. The wind and heavy snow lashing mercilessly against our bare faces caused us to writhe in agony. I must have teared from the pain and both Kevin and I couldn't even speak in response to Guillaume's concerned 'are you ok's. We were totally ill-prepared for skiing! No beanie and no ski masks. Had to try my best to wrap my scarf around my face but my fingers were so numb that i couldn't hold the scarf in place. Finally about 10 min on the lift we reached the top. Visibility was nearly null cos of the storm and the worst thing was I didn't know how to get off the ski lift (ski down a gentle slope away from the lifts). I tried to walk to the sides but was too slow so got hit by the next ski lift. It didn't really hurt cos I fell on snow but it was quite embarrassing cos they had to stop the lifts to pull me up.
Kevin also looked to be in bad shape. He kept telling us he was gonna faint and that he was very cold. He's always struck me as Mr Toughguy and seeing him admit that he couldn't take it was very scary. We couldn't see past 2 metres cos everywhere beyond that was white - couldn't even differentiate the sky from the ground. Poor Kevin's head was also covered in snow. Looking back, it was freaking hilarious cos so much snow collected on his spiked up hair that his head ressembled a christmas tree. Guillaume skiied away to seek help from the ranger and moments later, we were led to his warm hut to thaw. We felt a whole load better there but Guillaume got reprimanded for taking us up here in these conditions. He felt really bad but it wasn't his fault la cos he didn't know too. Slowly, Kevin's hair began to drip with a messy substance (hairgel and water) Haha.
We headed down via the skilift (they made an exception cos usually u have to ski down) while Guillaume skied down and according to him, the storm was so bad he had a couple of bad falls on slopes he usually eased down. At the foot of the station, Kevin decided he'd had enough and went to have coffee in one of the cafés. I really wanted to learn to ski and I probably wouldn't have another chance again so Guillaume and I went out again but this time we confined ourselves to the beginner's area. He taught me the two methods of braking - the first being the chasse-neige, where u turn yr knees slightly towards each other such that your skis make an inverted V-shape and the second was by swerving to the side abruptly. The latter stops you when you're going at a fast speed as if you were to do the former, your knees might break.
Wow manually walking up a slope with the heavy skis is intense! It's scary going down a slope albeit a gentle one when u can't stop yourself! So after much screaming and knocking straight into Guillaume (luckily I didn't injure him. Merci!!), I managed to learn a bit of the basics.
Next we tried the tire-fesses (literally: pulling yr bottom haha). This is a pulley system that transports you to higher ground. You grab onto a rope with a knot at the end which you place between your legs. You then travel up the slope in a standing position with your skis still on the ground. It sure looked easy cos many kids were using it effortlessly. But it wasn't! The klutzy me sat on the knot so lost balance when the ski lift started to pick up speed. Fell flat after moving barely a few metres. Haha super throw face. So many kids somemore. Guillaume convinced me to try it a second time. This time I managed to reach the halfway point but my skis started twisting to one side n I fell again. Haha quite funny la.
above: snow-covered trees en route to Chamrousse
left: the ranger's hut and the dreaded ski lift haha
right: pro skier
left: my feeble attempt (look super unpro haha)
right: a car totally covered in snow
By that time I was quite tired of falling so I watched Guillaume ski. He's super pro la... Swooshing here and there. Haiya wonder how long I'll need to be able to ski properly. After about 2h after we left Kev, we returned to the café for coffee and crepes.
right: tryin to do the sophisticated-European-drinking coffee thing.
I have to admit, the storm was quite terrifying and we shouldn't have attempted to ski at all, but it was quite an experience wasn't it? At least it's fodder for talk and the learning the basics from Guillaume was thoroughly enjoyable! Absolumment pas de regrets! :)
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