So - from the first downhill ski to the first x-country ski of the season. What joy.
Although I did decide to tag along with Pete and Toby on Monday in the middle of a SNOWSTORM... what were we thinking?
We were thinking 'skiing', basically, and we went up to Argentiere for what turned out to be more of a 'snowshoe' than a ski... Tons of heavy snow had fallen, the pistes weren't tracked, and we basically trudged through the snow for more than an hour and had a scary drive home down the slick, steep mountain roads... But still, it was gorgeous to get out, and I got an inkling of how beautiful the course is going to be when the skies are clear and the pistes are groomed.
Then yesterday I had my first 'skate' skiing lesson. It was here in Chamonix, and while it started off fine we did end the lesson with a kind of sleet/rain falling, but it didn't matter (weather update: it is supposed to rain all day today, but then we have three days of snow forecast... OK, you can see this weather-forecast-watching is becoming a bit of an obsession with us, and I will try not to get too boring about it, but it's hard not to get caught up in the weather worry and the constant speculation about the quantity/quality of snow... I'm not even a particularly good or dedicated skier and I'm still right in there...)
Anyway, it was great to actually learn something new - I could practically hear my synapses grinding as I tried to focus on some of the techniques our very nice instructor was showing us (lots of balancing on one ski and getting your full body over etc.) - I'm pretty sure I was sticking my tongue out in fierce concentration and had to be reminded to keep looking up because I was staring down so intently. Because I do have a little experience I'm going to move up to the 'Skate 2' class in Jan - let's hope I can keep up with those uber-fit ladies.
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