What makes a 70 year old granny get up at 03.15 on a frosty Sunday morning, drive to Gatwick airport, park the car, be checked for everything possible and eventually sit with a well earned mug of tea and bacon butty? Simple, its January, the festivities are over and it’s SKI time.
We fly to Chambery, a small airport situated in the French Alps, collect our luggage and boot bags and leave the chaos of a small airport behind to travel to our warm chalet in Courchevel 1650. Though the snow level is disappointing, Josh, our host, has laid on tea and homemade cake and promises us another ‘dump’ over the next few days.
Spirits revived, we rush to the ski hire shop so we can have our first run down the easy slopes before the lifts close. I struggle into those boots, fix on the skies and I am ready, steady go.
Courchevel 1650 is situated at the eastern end of the Three Valleys and offers skiing for everyone on 650km of pistes and over 170 lifts. It’s a small village with friendly bars and lots of ski shops offering the latest ‘must have’ outfits. Sadly our funds won’t run to these show pieces and our faithful warm sensible kit comes out from one year to the next.
The next morning, we are up and at ‘em again, but mustn’t overdo it as we have a lesson with our lovely ski instructor later. Nervously we wait for Jason to appear and put us through our paces. Because of the poor snow conditions in 1650 we take the shuttle bus to the higher resort of Courchevel 1850 and here conditions are much better, but will my skiing pass his beady eye?
We ride up in the bubble lift and catch up on a year’s news, look out of the lift window and think those slopes are looking awfully steep. For the next 2.5 hours we faithfully follow our instructor and slowly the legs respond, our weight is on the correct ski, we complete neat turns and zoom down the piste. Our first day has been completed successfully and we feel pleased and satisfied with our efforts. But will the legs move tomorrow?
Relaxing in the evening and enjoying more great food and wine my friends discover an APP for their smart phones which tells you how far and fast you have travelled when skiing. Next morning the APP is turned on and we happily ski all day and ride down on the bus to our chalet. The results are amazing until Jason explains that our bus ride is included in those results: our bubble bursts. So, not ready for team GB yet.
Our week continues with more fun on the slopes. Waist lines expand from the food, and après ski sessions in a cosy little bar. On Friday it starts to snow seriously and continues for the next 24 hours and all around is white and fluffy. Our week is over, we are all in one piece and we feel exhilarated and energised by our efforts to perfect our skiing – can’t wait for 2016 when we will do it all again.