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| Getting our equipment on! |
Today, we woke up around 8:30, ate some breakfast, then headed to the mountains. We went to the rental shop, picked up our equipment, then we were off! There were 10 of us on the trip, and we pretty much reached every end of the spectrum as far as levels of skiing go. Some people had never skied before, and others had been skiing since they could walk. So when we got to the lift, seven of the 10 girls decided to start on the Bunny Slope. After all, we were in the Alps, which is some of the best skiing in the world, they didn't want to be overwhelmed! However, two of the girls were very experienced and decided to head right up the mountain! So naturally, because I never think I need to start with the basics, I decided to go with the girls who had been skiing since they could walk.
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The first sign I saw after getting to the top
of the mountain... |
Keep in mind, I have been skiing twice in my life. Once, I was 10, and then last winter at Ski Liberty in West Virginia; which is pretty much a rolling hill in comparison to The Alps. So the three of us headed up the mountain! On the ski lift, I noticed the slopes looked incredibly difficult...way beyond my level! I immediately began to regret my decision to go with them! Upon exiting the ski lift, this was the first sign I saw: (see left). I can't say I was exactly reassured! However, once we got started, I was totally fine! I used my technique that I picked up last winter at Ski Liberty: shoot down the mountain as fast as I can with zero control whatsoever...and for some reason, it seemed to work! I get to the bottom so quickly, but I rarely fall! The other girls tried to teach me some tips, but I wasn't catching on very well. So I just stuck with what I knew :) And it was a blast, we all had so much fun. We would ski down one slope, then take the lift two stops higher...so we kept getting higher and higher! We just had to sit down and take in the scenery at some points! When you're skiing you don't really get to enjoy it because you're looking down the whole time! So when we got to the tippy top, we just took in the entire panoramic view, and it was breathtaking.
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| Just gazing out |
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| Lexia, Amanda, and I |
After taking in the scenery for a bit, I turned around, and the other two girls I was with...were GONE. I had absolutely no idea where they went. It is SO easy to get lost on those mountains. At every ski lift stop, there are about 15 different outlets you can go down! So I had to just pick one, and of course, I didn't pick the right one! So while I was lost, skiing by myself in The Alps, I was also totally mistaken about the color codes of the mountains. I was under the impression that the green arrows indicated the easiest slopes, red arrows indicated medium level slopes, and black arrows indicated the hardest level. Well, as I learned later that day, green arrows actually have nothing to do with the level of the slope, it only indicates that there is a ski lift at the bottom of that run. So my rationale of following the green arrows towards the easiest slopes couldn't have been more wrong. So, later that night when we were looking at the map trying to figure out where I was when I was lost, we realized that as I was following the green arrows, it turns out I was actually going down black diamonds, and in fact, skied to France...classic mix-up! Thank God I brought my Blackberry when we went skiing though! I was able to text one of the girls and meet up with them, however, it took forever to find them! The mountains are so big, and none of us really knew where we were, so I was lost for about 2 hours before finding someone!
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| Emily, Kannetha, Dawn, and I at the top! |
After I found them though, we met up with the other girls who started at the Bunny Slope, and we all went down the slopes together for a little. Together of course, being a very loose term! It was more like we started together, then some raced to the bottom, other went horizontal down the mountain, others tumbled the whole way down, one got tired of tumbling, took her skis off and walked down the mountain, and then we all met again at the bottom. It was an absolute blast being altogether though. I loved it :)
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| Emily and I before heading down the mountain |
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| The girls <3 |
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| Just taking it all in! |
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| View of Val d' Aosta from the mountains |
The crazy thing about these slopes, is no one EVER falls! (Except for us, that is!) I felt like when I went skiing last winter, I didn't think twice when I saw somebody fall...not here! Whenever one of us would fall, eight people would rush over and be like "ARE YOU OK???" We're like, "YES, we're fine!!" They were all so friendly, but I think they were flabbergasted by our lack of skills. It might have something to do with the fact that there were literally 3 year old children on the mountains, going down the black diamonds. They start skiing when they can walk. Some of the kids went up to my knees, and they were out there skiing by themselves. It absolutely blew my mind.
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| Eating lunch on the mountain |
After we all did a couple runs "together," we decided to grab some food. It was so cool to me that all over the mountains, there were little "villages," with restaurants, ski shops, pizzerias, bars, etc. They were everywhere, it was very convenient! And at all the little villages, you could rent chairs, and people were everywhere sunbathing!! And I mean everywhere, hundreds and hundreds of people laying out! We all grabbed some hamburgers and beers, and got a table. We all had so much fun together! I absolutely loved this whole day.
After lunch, some of the girls were totally pooped, so they decided to call it a day! It was about 3:30, and the lifts close at 4:30, so me and three other girls decided to do a couple more runs! We went all the way to the tip-top again, and then skied down the whole mountain. We found this trail that was a level Red, with a couple Black sections, that went all the way down, so we decided to give it a whirl! And I'm so glad we did! It was a skinny little trail that was practically empty, and we all flew down the whole thing!
After the slopes closed, we all showered then went out to dinner! Once again, it was paid for, so we had a huge meal! I ordered a local crepe as my first course, and it was absolutely delicious! (See below) It was also one of the girls 22nd birthday, we Jonathan went out earlier that day and bought a cake for the servers to bring out for dessert!
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| My local crepe, it was delicious! |
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| Amanda and her flaming birthday cake! |
Afterwards, the 10 of went to local bar and got a drink, then called it a night! We were all so exhausted from the day!
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