Snowboarding the Alps

As a last minute decision, I decided to go snowboarding with a few friends from class. All of the costs are subsidized for students, so it is a lot cheaper than it could be. It turned out to be an awesome adventure as it was a perfectly beautiful day in the French Alps. The day started at 7 when we caught one of the many student buses heading to Les Deux Alps ski station. With all of the snow that the region has gotten recently, the drive up was really beautiful as the sun rose over the valleys. We drove through lots of small French villages with snow frosted churches, alpine homes with huge icicles, and a fresh fountain.

View from the 1 1/2 hour bus ride up

The sun rising in the Alps

Frosty lake near the top of the mountain

We reached the resort town, rented gear, got our ski passes, and practiced a little bit of snowboarding. I have only done it twice in my life, and it was three years ago, so it took a fair amount of the day just practicing the basics. I am proud to say that I didn't face plant as much as I thought I would.

First glimpse of the resort town on a chilly, but perfectly blue Saturday morning

Near the rental area and where I picked up my ski pass

The beautiful mountains

Me taking a break from the slopes

View of the little hill I practiced on for a while

After a few too many runs on the boring hill, two friends and I decided to take a chance and go up the huge télépherique that was carrying people out of view over the top of one of the mountains. We didn't really know where it went, but we thought it could bring us an interesting adventure with our refreshed interest in skiing and snowboarding. I wasn't really sure what I was getting myself into, and as the télépherique rose higher, I knew that my only choice to make it down the mountain was, of course, to snowboard after half a day's practice. We got past the first face of a mountain and found out that the télepherique was taking us way farther than we thought! We went over a shaded valley in the soft blue mountains and were thus introduced to a sort of winter wonderland. There were hundreds of people the size of ants skiing and snowboarding around the valley, ski lifts, and a little restaurant of some sort perched on the other mountain we were heading towards. I wouldn't say it was crowded because it was such a huge valley. I didn't think a picture would do the scene justice. I felt like I was inside a snowglobe because it was so beautiful. And the télépherique continued. I watched all of the slopes and thought about how I was going to have to snowboard all of that, this after the little hill I had been practicing on.

The tétépheriques bringing people up the mountain

The ride up on the télépherique as I realize there is no turning back.

Finally, we got off at the top of a mountain. As soon as I stepped off the télépherique, someone was being rolled in a stretcher by some paramedics; it looked like the person had broken his leg. It was a little ominous after taking up a télépherique that we weren't sure where it was headed. But, like I said, the only way back to the resort town was to snowboard.

There was another restaurant at the top of the mountain we were dropped off at blasting rock music down the steep hill as people glided (or face planted) down. It was the start of our adventure in the snow globe.

I don't know if I can describe how amazing that snowboard ride down was. I am no skier or snowboarder, but I have never seen runs like the ones I saw today. The space was just so huge, chilly, and blue. At the top, the wind blew a soft layer of snow, like mist, across the white ground I was gliding over. But don't get the wrong impression, I wasn't gliding the whole time. My face got to know quite a few snow banks, but I feel like I could have done a lot worse.

There was a problem that arose about half way (well, we weren't really sure at the time) through the way down that we were in a time crunch because the buses would be leaving considerably shortly. If we missed the buses, we weren't really sure what would happen, so we just continued to go down. With 20 minutes until the bus was to leave, a bit of mountain, and us needing to return our equipment, we decided to go down the more advanced hill. I think I went down half of that part just sliding after I fell. At the bottom, I took off the board and walked very quickly to the rental place so I could return what I had rented. I didn't know where the other two guys were, but I thought we could all figure out how to get back to the center without trouble. The three of us met up at the rental place, and tried to figure out where the buses were that were supposed to leave in 5 minutes. We literally ran to the buses and made it with no time to spare. The Christmas lights in the town all began to light up as we pulled away.

Near where we got off the télépherique

One of the ski lifts in the valley

The télépherique takes people to various ski lifts throughout the nearby mountains. I didn't take too many pictures while I was on the run because I was considerably preoccupied.