Molins in the Mountains: Last Skis of the Season?

(View from Brevant)

I'm starting to understand the flow of the seasons here, or rather, the flow of the sporting seasons. Fall was all about hiking and trail running and cycling, then of course the ski season started and then it was all about the pursuit of powder and x-country ski marathons, and now, in the spring, it's all about ski touring (where you 'walk' up the mountain with 'skins' on the bottom of your skis, and ski down the glaciers). Toby is off for a ski tour with Lesley this morning, and has a four-day trip planned with Pete at the end of April. I'm not a ski tourer, sadly, since I don't have the confidence or the skill to really ski off-piste, so I'm excited to see the hiking season come back. The snow is almost gone on some of my favourite trails. I've also signed up for the Mont Blanc 10km run, and have started my training. I'm no runner, but it feels good to have a goal, albeit a small one in this community of extreme athletes. I'll report back on how I'm doing in my training...

And in the meantime, I feel like we're squeezing in the last regular skis of the season. The girls have one more week left of their ski classes, and we're still managing to eke out some x-country skiing further up the valley. Toby and I went to Argentière yesterday early, before the sun hit, and the conditions were hard and fast and it was fabulous. The downhill is also wonderful in the warm spring sunshine, but you definitely have to work harder in the soft, mushy snow in the afternoons. Poor Zoe is practically up to her knees in slush by the time the end of the day comes - no wonder those little legs are getting strong. But the amazing thing is that we're actually managing to ski as a family now. Zoe is a little slower than her sisters, but she more or less keeps up, which is remarkable since she started the season on the baby slopes doing snow plough. Now she's skiing red runs with parallel turns. A lot of the credit has to go to Toby, since he's really skied a lot with her. All the the girls' skiing skills, not surprisingly, have come on fabulously, but we've voted Zoe 'Most Improved'. It really is a revelation, skiing together as a family, and something we've been looking forward to. But sadly, it's not long before Zoe overtakes me, and once again I'll be the limiting factor. Toby bet me 100euros that I wouldn't be able to keep up with him and the girls if they really went for it, and I was forced to admit he's right. I feel my skiing has improved a lot this season, but I'm never going to be super speedy.

So it's one more week of school before the girls are on holiday again for two weeks (I KNOW, RIGHT? IT FEELS LIKE THEY WERE JUST ON HOLIDAY...). We're not going anywhere this time - Toby's sister, Sophie, and kids are coming, and we're going to enjoy Chamonix activities for the first week with the girls - I think climbing at Les Gaillands will be on the cards - and in the second week I've signed them all up for a great day camp run by the local MJC (Maison des Jeunesses et Cultures). The theme is 'Greek Games' and they're going to be making their own costumes, competing at various sports, going swimming etc. I also want to keep immersing them in French, since we're pretty much English at home and with our friends and family.

So we're now two thirds done our year here ... incredible to believe. We have booked our flights to London for the Olympics, and our flight home from London to Montreal at the beginning of August. So now we have an official departure date from Chamonix: July 31st. Four months left! It's good to focus the mind on making the most of our time here...

These three pictures show Indie doing the jump at Brevant onto a big inflatable bag, which they did with Toby and as a treat in their lessons. Here's the launch...