Vacationing with the Yeti

I am finally back in Paris after my spring break in the French Alps!

The trip was organized by the Association Sportive at Sciences Po, and accommodated well over 100 students (I do not actually know how many students were there, but considering that it took three coach buses…). We set out on Friday, February 25th, and the return bus came in early this morning.

I was lucky enough to be housed with three other English-speaking students, though I also had the opportunity to meet several of the other French students on the trip as well. We stayed at the Risoul station, and skied at both Risoul and Vars. The terrain was massive and beautifully maintained; have never had a more fulfilling ski experience. Not to mention I have never before skied for 7 full days in a row, and somehow I am not sore at all (I have developed a rather bad cold within the last two days, but no matter). 

The fee for the trip included travel, lodging, 7 days of lift tickets, 6 days of food, and a 15€ credit towards the bar on the ground floor of the lodging, called La Grotte du Yeti. Not bad at all for 450€.

The weather was overall very good throughout the week, mostly sunny and not too cold. We could have used some snowfall during the week, as the trails were getting progressively icier, but all in all, the conditions were better than any I have experienced in New England.

The skiing never had the boring side effect of running out of places to go; I skied for 7 full days straight and only did a handful of trails twice, so that should give you a good idea about how huge this place was. The system for levels of the trails was a bit different as well, eliminating the double-black diamond category and placing a red one between blue and black. I skied the blue ones mostly during the week, and progressed to reds by Friday, something I had sworn not to do at the beginning of the week. Considering my ordinarily mellow status as a skier in Vermont, this was a huge advancement. I can tell my skills have improved greatly.

Some random highlights:

Discovering that pâté is delicious, and other general food munching with my roommates, displaying our cooking talents.

La piste (French for slope or trail) called Les Heureux.

Going to the sauna and pool for an evening with some of the other students.

Mastering most of the Téléski lifts without falling off (though there were a few spectacular falls while getting on them).

While riding a chairlift, listening to a baritone French man singing “LA LA LA LA” as he skied down a trail (crack me up).

French children being adorable (then again, it was a bummer that they mostly owned me at skiing on the harder trails, and came out of nowhere, so you constantly had to watch on all sides in so as not to run them over).

Learning some new slang:

Term: McDonald’s

America: Mickey D’s

Australia: Macker’s

France: MacDo

Term: Drunk

America: Wasted

New Zealand: Munted

France: Déchiré (Torn)

Overall, an enjoyable week. Some pics below, enjoy!

À Bientôt!