Val Skiing – Day 4 19 March 2008
After the hard work of yesterday, I was NOT looking forward to skiing today, but wouldn’t you know…Irena got us on a BLACK, first slope!!! Remember the one I mentioned on Day 2, called the Olympic Face? It is one of two black runs looming over the center of the village, and I clearly remember when we arrived thinking “Hmmm – I won’t be skiing THAT one!” And I knew when we went up the lift that it was black, only black, but let Irena tell me there was a blue I could take! It was terrifying as the first run of the day, and on ‘cold’ legs, but I MADE IT DOWN! And I can now say I have done it 🙂
The other black run looming over the village is where the World Women’s Downhill will be held next season, and it has been closed, but that is where I see the snowcats every night, going over and over the slope, for hours – I have so enjoyed watching them from the warmth and comfort of my bed. Riding the lift up over that run is awe-inspiring…to think that they will come down this narrow, steep slope at about 90mph. It will be fun to watch that competition and know we saw it up close. If you click on this photo to the right two times, you can see the red fence markers of the competition run.
We skied a slope just above it that is very wide and beautiful as our last run of the day; at the top we had yet another view of the amazing high peak we skied yesterday, and still are thrilled that we were there! The GPS again had us traveling over 35k, which means about 17-20k of actual skiing.
A hilarious thing happened to me today… Jim and Irena were ahead of me on the slope, as usual :), and I fell (softly) in the deep powder on a turn, and at a point where they couldn’t see me. And it was so flat I had to take my skis off to get up, covered in snow, and thinking they might be worried about me :). When I took off again, I made one turn and started laughing as I realized that my pants were falling down! The snaps had popped and the side zips come down, and the only thing holding them up was my jacket! And of course…I had to be under the chair lift, didn’t I!
It was another beautiful, beautiful day – clear and cool, but really warm to ski – had to take off my headband and gloves several times. Saw one young gal in her sleeveless t-shirt with her jacket around her waist. We finished the day with our first French crepes, finally! Jim had bananas and Grand Marnier, I had raspberry jam and Grand Marnier, and Irena’s crepes had chocolate, jam, creme, ice cream and who-knows-what! Wow. And we saw folks eating the most beautiful salads and fondue; we are coming back another night. (But we have eaten *in* every night and had great food – NO complaints at all.)