Alpine Days

It’s been a really long time since I wrote anything. Mainly because time is scarce in mountain life. When I am not working I am either up the mountain or sleeping; there’s not a lot of time left over. We get paid very little for the amount we work so I’ve decided to take my payment in snowboarding time. I weave my day around the best mountain time, and try and get out as much as possible, no matter how knackered I am. As they say, I can sleep when I’m dead – or in my case when the season is over..! Which is exactly one month today.

I still can't get over how stunning it is here. This is looking down at the cloud sitting in the valley below.

I’ve managed to explore the 3 Valleys a bit recently. I spent a day in Val Thorens, carving up the park slope which has boxes, kickers, bridges and giant hands that you can high 5 along the route, ending in a giant igloo. And we went across to Meribel on the most beautiful sunny day after a heavy snowfall. It was incredible, full of long runs through forests and along stunning cliff edges. There’s a giant airbag in Meribel that I’m gunning for so hopefully I’ll get the chance to go across there again!

It's great going boarding with a big group - although you always end up waiting on half the group or chasing down people that have gone the wrong way. This was the greatest day out, on Clare my roomie from training's last day.

I really don't know where to begin, there's been so much going on.

From building snowmen…

 meeting snow dogs…

and snow gods…

 to squeezing through super tiny snow holes in a snow labyrinth

and finding ancient igloo carvings of Pacman!

I also got to meet an elephant - not who you'd expect to see in the Alps.

And I'm having A LOT of fun dressing up as our mascot, Monty the marmot

And even more fun when someone else does it and I'm just 'Monty's Handler'. Trying to get him in the car was an experience I'll never forget..! The you-can-never-let-Monty-be-seen-without-his-head rule made things a little bit more challenging!

Bunny has been having more fun too.

From hot chocolate at the top of the mountain to making new friends =]

There has been so much snow lately that there is fresh powder every day and I’ve been having the best snowboarding I’ve ever known. I love riding off piste more than anything because there’s nothing better than carving fresh lines in untouched snow!! It feels like gliding through the sky. Taking on the side of the mountain and forging my own path – it’s like nothing else.

And of course with lots of snow come lots of moguls – lumps of snow that gets pushed together with paths carved around them – and so the chance to get some air *jump*. Sometimes completely unintentionally because you don’t spot the bulge in front of you – it’s a huge adrenaline rush when you land an unexpected jump! And a literal kick in the butt when you stack it; which happens fairly regularly. I couldn’t sit down for a week after one session when I went down hard twice on the same spot!!!

I’ve been having a lot of fun in the BK Park too. [Don’t ask me what the BK stands for, I have no idea.] Started out with the rollers, rolling bumps kinda like giant speed bumps where you pick up speed going up and down. Then I moved on to the jumps. There’s a row of 4 and by the third you’ve picked up so much speed that you shoot over with a good couple of feet of air underneath you. It is utterly terrifying, I honestly don’t breathe for the whole time and I constantly think I’m about to die, but MY GOD is it a rush!!! I will have to try and get photos/videos.

I’m also practicing 180 jumps and turning 360 as I go downhill. That’s really fun. Though my current favourite thing is ‘buttering’ which I tried for the first time the other day. You put all your weight on your back leg and lean as far back as possible, lifting the front of your board in the air.

So I’m really enjoying learning new tricks and just being out on the mountain. It’s mostly to do with the guy that I’ve been boarding so much with. He’s really good and inspires me to try harder and push myself. His name’s Tom and he works for Massage Me, a company who come to our chalets and give massages to our guests.

The season has been long and hard, with far too little rest, and a lot of pushing my body to the limits. So I guess it’s good my friend is a massage therapist!!

In fact, said massage therapist might be a little bit more than just a friend. And in fact instead of flying home a month today I might be wending my way back through Europe in said massage therapist’s car… 
Watch this space…