We got a little snow yesterday, the sun came out today, so we headed up the mountain to Chamrousse. So did the rest of France. Or at least the rest of this section of France went.
We drove all over trying to figure out where to park so that we’d be right by the butt lift and the bunny hill for Kaitlyn. We couldn’t believe our eyes looking at the lines for the lifts…. I’ve never seen them so long! And given that French people don’t queue up, I cannot imagine how long you’d have to shuffle along on your skis trying to push your way to the front. After a couple of loops through the packed parking lot, we gave up and headed for the piste du luge. The sledding hill. That’s what Kaitlyn really wanted to do, anyway. And after seeing those mobs trying to get onto the lifts, I don’t think Bill or I really wanted to deal with the ski pistes.
We’d never been to this sledding hill before. Yes, we know you aren’t supposed to sled on the ski pistes, but most people here seem to just do whatever they feel like. And when we have sledded there, if skiing is going on, we’ve stayed away from any area where someone might actually ski. (Unlike the three people I had to avoid on the pistes Friday.)
So, we get to the top of this sledding hill and cannot believe our eyes. The fairly steep hill (carefully groomed, by the way) ends right at a half-frozen pond! All that separates out of control sledders from the icy water is two plastic orange fences. The kind you see at construction sites in the US carefully marking which tree isn’t to be bulldozed.
Kaitlyn wanted to sled by herself. Bill would only let her do that from about halfway up the hill. Which was a lot higher up the hill than I’d have let her go. A couple of times she agreed to ride with her Daddy, and they went from the very top of the hill and they went, I thought, really fast. Although he did say it was certainly nice to have a sled he could steer.. as opposed to those horrible sleds in Switzerland he so desperately wanted to buy at the time.
While we sledded, no one ended up in the water. I did see the flimsy fence actually stop one guy. No, that guy wasn’t Bill.
Hopefully Kaitlyn’s new pink snow suit worked well on this experience. It sounds really cold there. Here in the desert it dips to 40 at night, and I’m grousing that it is way too cold. What’s it there for these sled/ski adventures? Or is it a warm cold?
It is cold. A little below zero “C.” You know, it has to be cold for there to be snow.
And the snowsuit was a little too short and her boots filled with snow. Bbbbuuurrr
Shucks, that would make it even colder for her!