Whew, I am exhausted. I returned to London late last night after a solid week of snowboarding in Val d'Isere, France. It was wonderful; not only are the French Alps simply beautiful but it was great to spend a week with old (and new) friends.
I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland last Saturday and was greeted by Brian and Pete, friends from Princeton, and other military friends of Pete's. After a 3 hour drive through the twisting switchbacks of the Alps, we arrived in Val. It is a beautiful little town surrounded by some of the most amazing views I've ever seen. Skiing in the Alps is different than in the US. You spend a lot of time traversing between runs (not fun for a snowboarder) and you spend your days above tree line. The open expanse of snow covered peaks and valleys was breathtaking.
I guess living in Colorado an hour away from the slopes has me a bit spoiled. In CO, you have two types of weather: snowy and sunny or sunny. Val isn't quite the same. Several days were extremely foggy to the point that one day you couldn't see beyond 5 feet in front of you. It was rather scary. I even went "off piste" into some large area where you shouldn't ski. I ended up crawling out on hands and knees with the help of a French family. With all that fog it was difficult to see where you were going OR know which way is up.
Probably one of my favorite events occurred after the hard day of skiing. There was one area that had a techno bar filled with people each day at 4pm. It was great to see "zee fun boys" tearing it up to some hard core techno music. I always made sure to get in a beer or two before heading all the way down.
Beyond the riding and drinking, I spent one day in the room with the flu and still have some recovery to go. It sucks being sick on vacation, but I wasn't about to let it keep me down.
This trip gave me the itch to keep on traveling. Now I just need to figure out how to fit work in somewhere. Ah well, I didn't come to Europe to sit in an office.
I have pictures from Val forthcoming, I will share in a bit. Peace!
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