Scott's Adventures

So, after many months anticipation, it was finally time to set off on my skiing adventure! Well, myself and 100 other Swedish students. We left from the south of Sweden at 2pm Friday the 5th, and arrived in Chamonix at about 11am Saturday 6th. So I don't want to count how many hours that is, but it felt like a lot at least!

In any case, the first day was spent exploring the nice little town, that lies in a valley in the French Alps. Very picturesque, photo opportunities everywhere. It does have a good nightlife, or as it's called, apres-ski, but I was here for one thing, to ski!! Actually until the last minute I was planning to snowboard, but was convinced otherwise, so on Sunday I hired some skis and boots, and made my way to the slopes for the first time in my life. Not alone mind you, I had a private lesson for 2 hours, otherwise I would have had absolutely no idea what to do. That really helped, and I was pretty happy with my first encounter. I decided to take lessons for four more days, with a class this time, so that went for 4 hours in the mornings from Monday to Thursday. That was really good, every day I grew more and more confident. After the classes I spent a bit more time by myself trying to practise, but I also had some work to do for back in Sweden so had to pull myself away from the slopes early on some occasions, very reluctantly!

But that was done by Thursday, so then I was able to spend the whole day, from 9am to 4.30pm, going down and up, down and up. We had a funny instructor on Thursday, getting us to do different tricks like one ski in the air, looking backwards, and looking through our legs all while skiing across a busy piste.

One exciting thing, I got to see my first snowfall ever! Only took nearly 24 years, but got caught in quite a heavy fall which was at first exciting then it got really cold. But yes, another thing I can tick of the list of things to see!

On my last day I went out with a friend to a place called Le Tour. Well he has been snowboarding for years, yet of course this is my first week. Anyway, he decided to take me down one of the hardest slopes first, so that was quite a challenge for me, add to that the fact that it was so foggy I could hardly see where I was going. Not my most favoured conditions! In any case I made it down there twice with just a minor bruise to show for it, then we headed back to the 'easier' slopes. But for me nothing was really easy with such poor visibility. In any case, I went to a different resort in the afternoon, and even though I was there the day before, it was a lot easier second time around.

But now my time here is finished, 6 days gone like that. It was important though to take the time to learn properly, but now I can put it all into practise, as I leave this afternoon towards Austria, where I will spend one more week in the snow!! Lucky for me, because I think I am getting addicted hehe! I am already thinking of where I can go next winter.

Anyway, that's it from me. Will put some great photos online ASAP.