Last night when we went to bed, it was pouring rain outside. Not so very noteworthy, really, it’s been raining all week. But something possessed me to say hey, maybe it’s snowing at Chamrousse. I don’t know why. It’s been too warm all week to snow. But Bill checked. And, what do you know, I was right. It was snowing.
So this morning we got up and loaded the skis into the car and drove up the mountain.
There was one point where it looked like people were stopping to put on chains. We couldn’t really tell. Mostly, the people were standing around their cars just chatting. Seemed odd, since it was a bit cold to just stand around talking. We stopped and after watching a few other cars keep going up the mountain without chains, Bill decided to just go ahead. A little while later, more drivers had stopped their cars along the side of the road, definitely putting on chains. Bill dismissed the idea.
Once we got to the ski area, the first hurdle was to put Kaitlyn on her skis and see how she did at the base… just skiing between Bill and me. Two times down and Bill sent me to buy lift tickets. It felt hasty to me, but he was the one who’d have to deal with her.
The first challenge was the moving carpet (giant human conveyor belt) to get us over to the easy area where our tickets would work. (I’d bought the cheapest tickets, which only let you onto two or three lifts) Kaitlyn has ridden the carpet in the kiddie area dozens of times. But today, she couldn’t manage it. She kept turning around to see me and Bill, and then she’d fall. Still, she did better than I did. I fell just getting on. I didn’t have on my skis, and my boot slipped and down I went. So I got off and walked along side in the snow. That worked ok until I stepped in a big hole. So far, it’s not my day. At about that point, I thought to myself that I should have stayed home.
Once we got off the stupid belt, I put on my skis and then we had to make our way down the last half of an easy run to the lift. Shouldn’t be too hard. But to keep Kaitlyn from fussing over not being allowed to use her poles, I’d agreed to ski without mine. It only added to my panic. I don’t know why. I snowplowed nearly the whole way. I did not want to fall. Bill was struggling to deal with Kaitlyn; I didn’t want to have to get up on my own. Especially not without poles to offer me some help.
Finally we got to the area with the lifts. Kaitlyn ended her week at the Piou Piou Club by taking the butt lift, so that was our destination. I’d never done one before, but managed just fine (whew). We stopped at the top to take some pictures and I watched some skiers who were even more beginner than me. A tall guy in the group fell and couldn’t get up… even with help. I didn’t laugh because that would just be asking to have the same thing happen to me. But it did make me feel better.
I started to realize as we skied down the little hill that is is actually EASIER to ski without poles. Imagine that. But Bill realized as we skied down that Kaitlyn’s graduation from the Piou Piou Club did not mean that she learned how to turn or stop on skis. Both are kinda important. One time she came skiing towards me and I panicked. I’m just a pillar of strength for her, aren’t I?
Anyway, Bill said we should make our way back over to the main lodge area and parking lot. I suggested Kaitlyn and I take off our skis and wait there, in that parking area. He insisted that we could take the chairlift and ski down the mountain; that he’d be ok with Kaitlyn. I was terrified. My heart was pounding and I was really, truly, scared. But I went along with it. Mostly because he took Kaitlyn’s hand and got in line for the lift. The way this lift works, there’s a little gate that opens and you go out onto a big moving carpet then the chair comes up behind you as the carpet is moving you forward. Only I got stuck at the gate thing. When I sprung out onto the carpet, the chair was swinging around and coming right at me. The terror I felt at the idea of taking the lift turned to complete horror. I had no idea what to do. I couldn’t stop moving toward the chair, because the carpet was moving me forward. I thought the lift operator would stop the chair and let me catch up with Bill and Kaitlyn, but that didn’t happen. So I grabbed at the chair as it came at me, and as it whipped past me it pulled me down and I fell with quite a thud on the side of the moving carpet. I looked up at the operator and then, seemingly reluctantly, he stopped the lift. He came out of his little booth to help me up (barely) and I made my way over to my family. We got on the lift and I burst out in tears. In addition to being hurt I was scared Kailtyn would fall off the lift and as we got toward the top I realized I’d have to get off the lift. I will never be a good skier because chickens just aren’t cut out for it. But I managed to get off with far more grace than I got on. And I managed to get down the hill without problems. I even caught myself enjoying it. But Bill had enough of trying to ski with Kaitlyn between his legs and of my freaking out every 10 minutes. So we stopped. Well, Kaitlyn and I stopped. We sledded while Bill skied. The wind was bitter and little pellets of snow started to pound our faces, so I wasn’t surprised when Bill called it quits himself.
That well may have been our last time skiing Chamrousse for the season. It wasn’t a picture perfect end. Cluck, cluck.