Yesterday, Virginia and I woke up at 5am, lugged skis, boots, poles, and a backpack full of clothes and food to our school to meet the bus that would take us to the French Alps. The bus ride took a little less than three hours, and took us to Alpe D'Huez, just to the east of Grenoble in the heart of the alps, for a day full of mountainous skiing!
At 9am, we climbed off the bus, and got ready in the parking lot. The mountain, is a lot different from home, where they have one chalet you can get ready in, and leave all of your stuff in. The place is WAY too huge for that. So Virginia and I (along with everyone else) got ready outside the bus, put everything we needed for the day in one backpack, and everything we wanted to leave in the other. We mostly just brought A LOT of food to last us the day. We would be on the mountain from then until just after 5pm. And we'd been pre-warned that the food was ridiculously overpriced (which I would also find out later)
As soon as we got there, I was amazed by the beauty of the mountains. They were just everywhere!! We were completely surrounded by beauty. Naturally I took about a billion pictures throughout the day :)
I was a little scared to go skiing here actually, because i`d only ever been skiing in Ontario, the highest/best hill being Blue Mountain, so I wasn't sure if i'd even be able to handle skiing in the mountains!! But we took a few short, easy runs first, so I could get a little bit more comfortable. But after that, I was good to go! Everything everyone had told me was correct. The runs aren't harder in the mountains than at home, just longer. WAAAAAY longer.
So Virginia and I decided that we were going to venture up to the VERY top of the mountain, and make our way down from there. So we took one super long chairlift, and two gondola's up to ALMOST the top, at 3060m. It was SUPER high, and that of course, brought more AMAZING views.There were mountains as far as the eye could see. Simply breathtaking.
We did a run just a bit from the top, when we met some french men on our way back up, who heard us speaking english, and of course wanted to practice their english too! The man was SUPER nice, asking us where we were from, how we were enjoying our time here, and suggested we take this one run from the VERY top of the mountain, that goes all the way down. He said it was 17km long, and was the longest run in France. So we took another chairlift up to the very top of the mountain (where were at 3360m!!!) and found the run! It was called La Sareinne, and was indeed really Really REALLY long. It was definitely my favourite part of the day. The run took you along the farthest end of the mountain, and then through La Sareinne gorge, which was just like cross-country skiing but without the work! It was through trees, and a river, and in a valley between some mountains.
We went all the way to the Pic Blanc, then followed the far right black run all the way down, and then back to the left!
Along this run, we stopped at one of the many rest stops for lunch. This one was just small, with a picnic bench, and a little overlook where you could sit on top :) It was a BEAUTIFUL place to stop for lunch, but i'm pretty sure anywhere you stopped would be beautiful.
The rest of the day, we just explored the mountain, and we actually got to ski most of it! We had some fun on the gondola rides, took TONS of pictures, and by the end of the day were completely exhausted. At one point we stopped at one of the chalet restaurants to pay to pee (30 cents!) and have some hot chocolate! What is skiing without some ridiculously overpriced hot chocolate? Although this one was a little bit crazier than most. It cost me 7 euros for a hot chocolate!!! I guess you pay for the view as well :s At least it was good! I'm so glad we decided to bring our own lunch and snacks!!! Virginia and I took a little rest with my expensive hot chocolate on the balcony of the restaurant halfway up the mountain.
We definitely took advantage of ALL of our time there, and skied right up until we had to meet the bus at 515. And we were EXHAUSTED. But it was well worth it. Overall definitely the BEST experience i've had here. It was just an amazing experience with beautiful breathtaking views that I cannot wait to experience again. I will definitely be coming back here hopefully more that once in my life.
Click on the title for ALLL of my pictures!!!
