Saturday, March 14, 2009

Les Arcs Ski Trip

By no means am I an expert skier, but when I have been dying to ski the Alps. Kvos and my friend Charles were also up for some winter fun so off we went to Milan where Kvos picked us up and 7 very long, but picturesque & chatty, hours later we arrived at our destination - Les Arcs, 1950 meters up. After we settled into our hotel/apartment in Prince Des Cimes we set off to see our tiny village and fill our growling bellies. The exploration took all of 10 minutes but it was freezing so we stopped for some hot chocolate at the local bar and then went on to get some yummy raclette. The mess left by the melted triangle of cheese wasn’t very attractive but it sure was tasty on potatoes, veggies, and bread!
Early the next morning we enjoyed croissants from the bakery next door and got hit the slopes. Kvos wasn’t feeling the ski vibe but Charles & I had a great time zooming down the open mountain. It was quite unlike anywhere I’ve ever skied. The slopes were so wide and open that several times you had the feeling of skiing alone, despite the crowded lift lines. After several runs, our confidence was soaring so we decided to trek across the mountain to try some new slopes. All was fine & well until the lift ride up the final peice, it was terrifying, and by terrifying, I mean pee in your pants and cry for your Mom, fall to your death with just one false move, frighteningly terrifying. Thankfully there was only really one tricky part on the way down, where a corner literally dropped off the face of the world, but we managed to navigate around it successfully. We stopped for a refresher shortly after that part and got to see para-skiiers dropping down from the sky. We knew it was time to quit when we both starting taking falls on our tried & true runs so back to our apartment we went to warm our aching bones. After the long day skiing, it was rather calming watching the skiers go by on the lift just outside our window. There wasn’t much more to our trip besides another tasty French-style breakfast, a 5 hour drive back to Italia, a pizza stop in the city of Navarro and 2 hour flight home. It was a lot of work for one day skiing, but it was still well worth it!

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