Yes, those are snow chains. Last week; Jon, Will, Nick and I did just this on an epic journey to Meribel-Mottaret, the same place that Sacha, Lottie, Jon, Colin and I went too this Summer for our Alpine ambling.
It's funny how much difference snow makes to the feel of the place, it covers up all of the features of the landscape, and because you're skiing much faster than you could walk it makes everywhere feel a lot closer - almost depressingly so when we remembered how long it had taken us to walk to places this Summer. But Winter or Summer, it's a beautiful place and one that I don't think I'll ever tire of.
But it was such a fun week, and I don't think I've laughed so hard in a very long time. Doing this sort of thing as a small group may be more expensive than going on the University trip, but in my albeit limited experience I'd much prefer to do it this way if the opportunity arises again. You get to know the people you're living and travelling with a lot better than you would do otherwise, and I think that makes the trip much more enjoyable. Aside from a dodgy fondue incident I think we managed to get through the week without too much infighting!
The resort itself was fantastic. Meribel is right in the middle of the Trois-Vallees, one of the biggest skiing areas and we never ran out of places to ski in the week we were there. Our apartment was fine, right opposite the ski lockers and pretty much directly onto the slopes. So we couldn't have asked for much more there. We were all about the same level, and hopefully I didn't hold the others up too much, but there were the occassional hilarious moments where we lost it in often spectacular fashions. Memorable falls include my slamming into a wall of snow on a green run and leaving such a good imprint that you could make out my goggles, nose, mouth, hands and knees (it was still there two days later), Jon's fall on a blue which caused Nick to fall in avoidance, whereupon I was laughing so hard that I couldn't help but do the same, Jon's close encounter with a snowboarder under a 'Slow' sign, Nick falling off a drag lift and having to climb up to the top of the lift in foot deep powder, and my slide down a red which resulted in my jacket and trousers getting packed with snow.
But the funniest has to go to Jon and Will's impressive mask efforts which got them no end of odd looks on our way down the slopes - especially Will who I was a little concerned could have been mistaken for a skiing Hitler. It's funny just how hard uncontrollable laughing makes skiing, and how Jon skied while only seeing through the end of his snout will forever remain a question in need of an answer.
So it's all been a bit of a culture shock waking up one morning in France, then going to bed the same evening in my room at Uni - there aren't any ski slopes around here y'see. What's in store for the next trip? Well, flying to Orlando in Florida, buying a car and driving to Anchorage in Alaska was talked about... watch this space.
