DeuxAlpes

After living in a city that is surrounded by the Alps and pre-Alps all semester, I finally went skiing in them.  Now I’ve paraglided over them, hiked them, and skied in them.  I feel pretty satisfied.  I couldn’t live here and not ski in the Alps.  Not even a question.  However, the weather this year decided to make it a challenge since it’s been such a shitty winter (aka one of the warmest Grenoble has seen in 10 plus years – or so I’ve heard).

Yesterday, Caitlin and I caught the earliest bus they had (at 10:15) to the DeuxAlpes ski resort.  After the two hour ride, we finally made it.  I rented skis, bought passes, grabbed a quick lunch and headed up the mountain.  I was pretty overwhelmed by the immensity of the Alps.  We’d get to the top of one chairlift and see 3 other chairlifts and télépheriques (cable cars) that took you to sections of other trails.  At one point, we took a 75-person télépherique which took us to a bar at the top of the mountain with a HUGE sound system.  We might or might not have had our own little dance party when we got to the top.  Unfortunately, it was at the end of our day so we didn’t have time to stop in and join the actual party. 

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, Caitlin and I made the stupid decision to take the black trail (aka the most difficult section) down the last 600m of the trail.  We could see the bottom of the mountain at this point.  We figured we could handle it.  WRONG.  After the first 100m we both took HUGE crashes.  I twisted my knee in a way that it wasn’t supposed to bend.  Luckily, some French guy immediately stopped to help me.  He helped me take off my skies.  I could walk but definitely wasn’t going to get back on my skis, so he carried them while I butt-slided down the mountain.  Thank god for that man.  We returned my skis just before the store closed and then waited around for the bus.  We met this wonderful French couple who had partied a little too much at the top of the mountain.  They added some entertainment to our long wait and were very intrigued to learn English slang.  The bus was late, so after waiting for a good 45 minutes we started freaking out that we had missed it – the last bus back home.  We got back to Grenoble around 9:30ish, grabbed a quick meal, and headed home exhausted!

Today is my last day in Grenoble.  It definitely has not hit me that I’m leaving yet.  This week was a whirlwind - straight from Paris to finals and papers.  I still have another paper to finish that I will have to do when I get home.  C’est la vie.  I feel like I haven’t really had time to reflect on the fact that I’m leaving yet.  I haven’t started packing and I can’t process the fact that lots of my friends are already gone.  Strange.  I guess tomorrow I will face reality when I get on that plane home! I’m a little nervous about all the walking with my busted knee.  It’s super swollen today and kinda hard to walk on.  Gotta do what you gotta do. 

HUGE telepherique

everywhere = breathtaking

on le bus

so cold, so inappropriately dressed, so me