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.

I’m currently listening to the inauguration through the MSNBC website. How awesome is it that I can get commentary and visuals from Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and Rachel Maddow while in France? I got congratulated on Barack Obama by some random French people around town today. I hope they continue to be supportive during his presidency. I know I won’t agree with absolutely everything that Obama does, but I have high hope, to use 2008’s favorite word. Let’s make the next four years better than the last.

View from one of the 51 chair lifts at Les Deux Alpes.

Last Saturday, January 17, I went snowboarding with Lauren, an assistant from Canada, at Les Deux Alpes. Les Deux Alpes is the second oldest ski resort in France and is southeast of Grenoble. It’s a beautiful station and I don’t think I’d ever been to a ski resort that didn’t have any trees on its slopes.

View of the French Alps from Les Deux Alpes.

It was very, very cold. There also hadn’t been much recent snow, so it was rather icy. I accidentally slid into a small valley of ice on our first run. I’m still not very good at turning quickly on the narrow, crowded runs. However, I can tell I’m getting better and didn’t have any spectacular falls like usual. I mainly lost my edge when trying to turn fast on the ice. Les Deux Alpes is kind of strange in that there are really scary black runs near the bottom and you have to go up higher to find the easier green and blue runs. In theory, it should be no problem to get up to the top. There are 51 lifts at Les Deux Alpes. However, all of these lifts seemed to be in the same place. I was able to count nine visible lifts while on one. It was ridiculous. The map for Les Deux Alpes is also rather useless. There are no markers for runs, so it’s easy to end up on a different slope then you thought you were. This happened a few times when a blue slope we were going down was suddenly red (there were poles on the side of the trail showing the color). I tried to ignore these and carefully S-turned down the 90 degree angles.

View of some of the slopes at Les Deux Alpes.

Due to the conditions, the crowds were light and we never had to wait in a line. Les Deux Alpes has a cool lift system where you get a card that lets you through a turnstile. You don’t even have to take it out of your jacket, so it must have a chip or something inside. This is unlike the usual stickers you get connected to your zipper.

Snowboarding the glacier at Les Deux Alpes.

The coolest part of Les Deux Alpes was the glacier you can reach by funicular, kind of a metro with one stop. Its the largest skiable glacier in Europe and is apparently open year round. It was more like ice skating that snowboarding, but absolutely beautiful. I think I pointed out how beautiful everything was at least once an hour, hopefully not annoying Lauren (who is snowboarding in this picture).

View from the lift going down to town. Scared of heights?

After several hours of snowboarding, we took a lift down to the village and got drinks at a cafe before catching the bus back to Valence. You can see how it looked to descend the mountain in this picture. Later that night we had dinner at our friend Julia’s apartment, which included two delicious quiches, one with olive and one with eggplant, and salad. I was too exhausted to go out afterward and went to sleep before midnight. A rarity for me.

Can you see the ski lift through the blinding snow?

This past Wednesday, January 14, I went to the Col de Rousset to go snowboarding. Col de Rousset is in the same department as Valence, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get to. I first had to catch a bus to Die, which was late. In French, the city is pronounced “Dee” and doesn’t have any violent “Die, Die My Darling” connotations. At the Die train station I waited for another bus, which was also late. That bus then took us up a winding road to the Col de Rousset ski station. I don’t get car sick easily, but this road was vertigo-inducing. The turns were sharp and steep and overlooked a deep chasm.

There was a tunnel through the mountain to the ski station and when we emerged all we could see was white. There was a snowstorm covering the whole station, with cold temperatures, wind, and enough snow to make visibility in even the parking lot difficult. I thought about just drinking coffee all day in the restaurant, but I went ahead and bought a lift ticket. There was barely anyone there, so at least there was no lift line.

Bottom of the ski lift.

I had never been to the Col de Rousset before, so when I got off the ski lift I was terribly lost. Slopes in France don’t seem to be very well marked, so while there might be an arrow to the left saying that it’s a blue slope, it could just as easily turn into red midway through. The slopes are rated green (easiest), blue (intermediate), red (difficult), and black (death wish). I saw some skiiers going to the right, so I followed their silhouettes as they faded into white. Then I felt like I was snowboarding through a cloud and hoped I wasn’t going to suddenly emerge at the edge of a cliff.

One of the slopes at Col de Rousset.

I eventually figured out a way down to the bottom of the station and stuck with that path for the day. The slopes were pretty icy and all of my exposed skin lost feeling, but it was cool to go down a run and see absolutely no one. It was like having my own private ski station. I was able to get my confidence up a bit with turning on narrow runs and could go as slow or as fast as I wanted without fear of people suddenly whipping out in front of me. After I felt sufficiently tired and frozen, I got a coffee at one of the restaurants at the bottom and thawed out before going back to Valence. I had to take the train to get back and discovered that they have handy ski/snowboard/bicycle holders on some of the cars. I think I’m progressing with snowboarding because I still made it to the bar for the international meet up instead of immediately passing out in my bed.

Les 7 Laux in the French Alps.

On Sunday, December 21, I went snowboarding with Canadian assistant Lauren and five French guys at Les 7 Laux, about an hour from Grenoble. It was fun, but I definitely need to practice with my new equipment. The board I’m using is a lot narrower and faster than my board back home. And it seemed like all of France was there, because they’re on school break, so people were “schussing” past at breakneck speeds on tiny slopes overlooking cliffs. Not to mention that the slopes in the Alps would all be rated blue and above in the states, no green here to start out on! I never thought about it, but it makes more since that the Alps would be steeper than the slopes in New Mexico where I usually go on spring break. Oh yeah, and these guys I went with go snowboarding every single weekend of the winter and Lauren, being from Canada, has a lot more experience than this girl from the Plains. Nevertheless, it was beautiful and Lauren and one of the French guys, Mathieu, were nice enough to never leave me behind and never made me feel bad about being a bit slower. “Tranquille” was said to me so many times I lost count.

Steep slopes of Les 7 Laux.

Despite the fact that these slopes were super scary, I didn’t see anyone being taken down in stretchers like I always do in the States. When I thought about this, I realized everyone who was there Sunday was French (I didn’t here any foreigners besides us) and they probably go all the time. Whereas on Spring Break in the States, people are coming from the lowlands of Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma and haven’t been all year, but only have a few days and want to hit all the crazy black runs. I had my share of falls, maybe more than my share, and my arms are still sore from pushing myself up from the ground. No serious injury, though, although my knees seem to have disappeared and turned into bruises.

Lauren, snowboarding fast.

It was ridiculous to look around and see all the mountains covered in snow, like a postcard. When we took our lunch break for sandwiches, it was at an outdoor cafe where everyone sat on beach chairs overlooking the villages down below. I didn’t make it through the whole day due to getting worn out. It’s good to go with people who are way better than me, because I have to keep up, but it’s also more challenging than if I were to go slow the whole time. Instead, I hung out with a member of our group, Quentin, who had dislocated his shoulder after whipping his arm around the wrong way. The X-ray of that was pretty horrifying. So there was coffee drinking and people watching, which isn’t bad at all in the French Alps.

My snowboard, while taking a break on the slopes.

I’m going to try to go snowboarding again during break, probably at the nearby Vercors mountain near Valence that I hear is a bit tamer. I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas and I still can’t believe that I’m in France, it’s going by too fast. I think I’ll be going to a Christmas market today in Montelimar. And maybe I’ll watch my Christmas on Mars DVD, which was given to me by my parents (merci!).

Mountains facing Les 7 Laux.

So that was my first day of snowboarding after not being able to go for quite a while due to work and school. I’m less sore today than yesterday and am looking forward to going out again. I’m lucky to have found people to go with who were ridiculously supportive of my beginner state. Hopefully, I’ll have some time to improve before heading out with them again.

Happy Eve of Christmas Eve!