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Paragliding over the Alps at Val Thorens.
The weather is getting warmer and we’ve actually had days without clouds or rain. I was able to have cold drinks on the cafe terraces on the squares of Valence and watch the sun setting behind the castle on the cliff. However, the warm weather also means that the ski season is coming to an end, so this past Saturday me and Canadian assistant friend Lauren went to Val Thorens.
One of the téléphériques at Val Thorens.
Val Thorens is at an altitude of 2,300 meters (or 7,545 feet) and is the highest ski station in Europe. This means that is has a long season, so although it was light jacket weather in Valence there was still snow on the ground at Val Thorens and cold wind in my face. It’s part of the Trois Vallées (Three Valleys), a huge ski area with 410 miles of slopes. Since we were only there for a day, I didn’t venture outside of Val Thorens and the adjoining Orelle ski areas. We actually started in Orelle, as it seemed to have the main parking lot for buses, and then took the longest télécabine in the world to the slopes. I’m so glad I’m not afraid of heights, because that was quite the long and dizzying ride up the mountain.
Ready to snowboard the Alps.
I took a few runs at Orelle to warm up and remember how to turn and important things like that. I feel like I have progressed a lot with snowboarding since I got to France. I can confidently go down all blue slopes and tumble in a less elegant fashion on the easier reds. There probably won’t be a day when I feel like going down a black in the Alps, but for a girl from Oklahoma I think I do pretty well. I did have a somewhat painful fall near the end when my legs were so tired that I caught an edge and landed flat on my back on an icy area. But considering I was having those every five minutes my first snowboarding trip here, I’ll call the day a success.
Danger of unintentional cliff diving.
I had read online before our trip that about 70% of the Val Thorens skiers were foreigners, and it turned out to be accurate as I barely heard any French. It’s pretty close to the border of Italy, so I bet a lot of people come over that way. They all seemed to be in massive skiing groups. It’s not unusual to see a group of four or five people skiing together, but I literally saw a group of 15. And when I’m doing my control-freak S-turns down a steep incline with a few moguls and a group of 15 expert German skiers comes speeding down the slopes I get a little thrown off. Yet it really wasn’t that crowded and there were a couple of runs I did where I didn’t see a single other person.
Skiers at Val Thorens.
One thing that’s different about skiing/snowboarding in the Alps is that the slopes are incredibly long. There might only be two or three coming off a lift, but they’ll be at least twice as long as a slope in New Mexico. And just a side note, when I told people that I usually went snowboarding in New Mexico they seemed shocked that there were any mountains and asked if I had to dodge cacti. I realize my geography of France is not perfect, but I’m always a little surprised at the perception of the United States here. In one of my classes a teacher printed off maps of the USA for the students to find Oklahoma. I have no clue where she got this map, because on it everything below Oklahoma City had been absorbed by Texas and the state was more like a frying pan than its usual saucepan shape.
A steep drop off at Val Thorens.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my snowboard. It’s a great board and I’d love to keep it, but I need to think realistically about moving back to the States and the fact that I already have a board back home. If anyone reading this might be interested in buying it, it’s a Rome Blue 155 board and was only used once before I bought it. It looks like this, has Hammer bindings, is made in Austria, and would only cost you 150 euros. Anyway, that’s the end of my classified ad.
Val Thorens village, accessible by skis.
After the day of snowboarding I was exhausted and took it easy that night. I was a little sore the next day, but after some stretching I’m fine. No bruises even! I got a pear hot chocolate at the tea shop yesterday and then a coke at the pub. Today is beautiful, so I think I’m going to go to the park now and enjoy the sun.
There are no pictures for one part of this post because my camera was doing a weird thing where it had lines across the image. Kind of as if they were being taken by a surveillance camera. It seemed to go away after I charged it more, though, so I hope that my good digital Canon friend is not dying on me.
On Saturday, assistant friends Kat, Leslie, Jamie, and Gearoid journeyed by train from their villages and towns to Valence. I showed off our sprawling park and its deer and exotic bird inhabitants, our kiosque, our giant church, our Maison des Tetes (House of the Heads) covered in stone faces, our blue-hued pastries, our Suisses, our charming streets, and…well, that was Valence. So since they were in the area for the day we took the train to Tain l’Hermitage and I basically recreated the tour seen in this post, with the additional of a surreal moment with a man on a unicycle and another with a funeral. We ate chocolate at the Valrhona shop, walked across the river to Tournon, and then attempted some hiking in the vineyards overlooking Tain. However, I didn’t learn my lesson from last time and ended up leading us on some wrong turns and along some dangerous precipices. The grape plants are still dormant and looked like grasping skeleton hands coming out of the ground.
It was a lovely day and made me wish that I saw more of the assistants outside the Drôme/Ardèche area. Not that I don’t enjoy the company of the Valence metro area assistants; they are awesome. I just feel like I should make more of an effort to see the other cool people I’ve met in France. It’s astounding that I came to Valence knowing absolutely no one in the area and have ended up meeting all these interesting and unique people. I hope I will be able to stay in touch when I go back to the States.
Ski lift at Deux Alpes.
On Sunday, I caught an early bus to Deux Alpes with Canadian assistant/super good snowboarder Lauren. The weather was beautiful: sunny and warm. We started out on some tame blue slopes before heading over to the bigger area of the mountain. Unlike last time I went to Deux Alpes, there was no ice and the snow was thick like frosting on a cake.
On the glacier at the top of Deux Alpes.
I think I did pretty well, with only a few dramatic falls. Most of these were coming off the lift. I’m convinced the lifts were running faster than last time and practically swept me off my feet while getting on them and threw me on my face down a steep incline at the end. Maybe I am exaggerating. There was a bigger crowd than last time and the internationals were out in force. I heard a lot of English accents and German. I think they were on winter break. This was nice in a way because I was far from being the worst person on the slopes. Then again, people were crashing and careening wildly all over the place, so it was a little scary at times.
Deux Alpes seen from the téléphérique. (Sorry about the scratches from the glass.)
I though about how it was to go skiing on Spring Break in the States in New Mexico with the hordes from Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, most sporting sweatshirts from their respective universities. Everyone is generally bad or average, except for a few standouts (I think my brother Tim is usually speeding along pretty well). I miss it, though. I fit in well with the average skiers and snowboarders. I know it’s weird, but I’m never really concerned with going fast. This is contrary to the whole reason for snowboarding I guess, but I really just like the feeling of turning the board through the snow, the sound of the edges, and the mountains stretched out in front of me.
The Alps seen from Deux Alpes.
I should mention that the sandwich I packed for lunch was delicious . I made it on something called a “1900″ bread with Tomme Blanche cheese and tomatoes. We sat on a ledge overlooking the Alps (don’t worry, it was a short drop) and I thought about how much I’m going to miss being two hours from snow covered mountains and being able to buy amazing cheese and bread. Then again, I’m ready for a new adventure. France is beautiful and I love it, but I’m actually getting more excited than nervous about going back to the States and looking for a job. It might and will probably be hard, yet I love discovering new places and people and can’t wait to see where my life takes me next.
The town of Deux Alpes.
I had a well-earned beer at the bottom of the station in the town of Deux Alpes and then got on the bus back to Valence. The scenery on the way back was stunning, like something out of a Thomas Moran painting.
The weather is getting warmer and I’m sure I’ll be on more adventures soon. I might be going to Marseille this month and will certainly try to work in more snowboarding.
Clear skies at the Col de Rousset ski station.
This past Wednesday I went with 13 assistants to the Col de Rousset. We were divided into snowshoers, skiers, and snowboarders. Above is a picture from that day, taken almost at the same place as this one a week before. Two of the people who rented snowboarders had never done it before, so I attempted to teach them. It was alternately hilarious and successful. Snowboarding is harder than it looks and isn’t very easy to teach, especially when standing up on the board can at first seem impossible. However, by the end of the day they were both making it down the mountain. Although there was a moment where one of them, Richard, somehow slid into this fence and couldn’t drag himself out of the snow ditch. At exactly that moment the students he teaches in primary school skied by in a massive group. I had my own unfortunate comedy moments trying to use the téléski/platter lift. I just cannot stay on that thing and both attempts ended with me planting myself face forward in the snow and then taking a long hike up the mountain.
Snowy fence and trees at the Col de Rousset.
I think that the biggest obstacle I have to improving my snowboarding is fear. I just can’t hurtle myself down the slopes the way a lot of people do. I don’t mind going fast, but I get nervous when I’m not in control of my board. There was a red slope at Col de Rousset that I was peer-pressured into going down. The first snowboarder, Eric, went down at a ridiculous speed, crashed horribly, stood up, and kept going. I, on the other hand, carefully S-turned down the icy drop. I think I have the snowboarding technique down, now I need to figure out how to lose my fear of death by snowboard crash.
Vercors, as seen from the Col de Rousset.
Near the end of our day at the Col de Rousset it started to snow and we got beers in the restaurant at the bottom of the station. Everyone in our group made it to the bus on time. Unfortunately, some of the other people on the bus did not, making us late to the Die train station and consequently missing the 5:52 pm train to Valence. The next train was not until 11:25 pm. So, we bought food, Cidre, and Clairette and spent the evening at Patrick’s apartment (the English assistant in Die). Clairette is a sparkling wine that tastes kind of like Champagne and is made in the Die region.
DIE!!! The sign at the Die train station.
We finally did make it back to Valence on the train. It was a train that apparently goes all the way to Paris, although very, very slowly. I was a little tired teaching the next day, but was able to get through several readings of Eric Carle books. Does that man know how important his books are to the teaching of English?
I’ve booked my flight and hostel for Berlin in February. I’ll be there February 9 to 14. I know very little about what to see in Berlin, so I’m open to suggestions.
I saw what is probably the most tedious piece of theater I have ever witnessed. It lasted for two hours with no intermission and for most of that time sustained almost absolute silence. It centered around a guy who was depressed because no one would publish his writing, his wife who berated him, and their baby. He just lay on a couch for the entire time and stared into space a lot. She also spent time staring into space. This was interrupted by music that played on a CD while videos of babies or flowers were projected on screens. It finally ended with the couch guy shooting himself offstage, but this was the point when the music was actually loud so I couldn’t understand what the other characters were saying. Like the other two plays I’ve seen during my time in France, this one had cathartic yelling. Maybe that is the staple of French théâtre.
