Ski parallel - Courchevel revisited

Practically from the day he came back from our previous ski vacation a year ago, Israel had been talking about and planning our ski vacation this year in Courchevel, France. Things to consider were - do we go again to La Tania near Courchevel or try another resort? where do we stay if we go there? who do we go with? How do we get there? Deep existential dilemmas, which were researched and discussed in depth (see my previous post on some of the research conducted).

In addition, there was the somewhat less discussed (but more preoccupying in way) issue of whether I would like skiing and this kind of vacation. We were both wondering what would happen if I didn't like it (because last year I only really got a taste of what skiing is about, and truthfully, I didn't actually get the hang of it). What would Israel do with a bored energy bomb sitting in our tiny apartment in the resort reading books all day?! What would I do with myself? Climb the walls, maybe?! and then, like the worrier that I am, I also worried about what would happen if I did ski and I fell, and if I didn't fall and actually like it, would I be OK? and would there really be enough to do, even with the skiing?!

To spare you the suspense, I think my picture above tells all. We went to La Tania and had a fantastic vacation. To answer the questions above - La Tania was chosen (basically because you don't change a winning horse); we stayed in an apartment close to the ski school (adhering to the ski in ski out principal); we went with ourselves and had the time of our life; we took my car (and I bought snow chains (which we didn't use) and magnets for the car roof to put the skis (which we did use) and I drove Israel a bit crazy worrying about driving in the snow (but then everyone has their job, no?! I worry... and he drove us safely to our destination)).

La Tania is a lovely resort, well organized and the people on vacation there (mostly from the UK) are nice. The skiing school is very good and the atmosphere there is great. We were lucky with the weather and could ski every day (which is a good thing, considering it was Jan.).

On the left you can see a picture of the apartment building where we stayed (you can consider this picture also as "still life with ski poles" although there are people in the background - many of Israel's pictures from this trip seemed to have disappeared, so the selection of pictures this time might seem a bit small...). We took an apartment for 4 people but there were just the two of us in it. The apartment was just the right size for two people, might have been OK for another couple, but they would have had to be people we really liked, otherwise it would have been a bit much. We stayed at the Le Britania apartment building. Basic but quite acceptable, if you can live for a week without a cutting board and a cheese grater which the room didn't seem to have. Israel said that if these things were all we found missing there - then we were doing OK. He's got a point there....

I signed up to the debutant (beginner) class again, but this time for a whole week (which made a world of difference from last year; you really need the whole week to learn to ski, unless you're some kind of sports wiz which I'm not). The girl in the school's reception desk and Israel both told me that I should be optimistic about being able to learn to ski (I must have looked a bit worried about my prospects in this...). We rented skiing equipment for me (Israel has his own). I had these much more comfortable shoes this year - which don't seem to be in production anymore - Nordica AFX 86. Much easier to put on and take off than those with all the straps and also more comfortable to wear (at least for me).

My instructor this time around was an extreme sports guy who likes to fly down black routes and off piste... and do other crazy things. But he was pretty tame with us.

This time I finally got what I need to do to control my skis (OK, not always, most of the time...). It's a bit like learning to ride a bike in the sense that at first you have no idea what they want from your life and you can't manage to get from A to B while keeping your balance and not falling. Especially, since you've got to lean forward instead of backwards to maintain your balance and also lean left to go right and vice versa. Then, at some point - like when you start riding a bike - you're suddenly not falling, but moving quite smoothly (if a bit slowly) from the said point A to B. What's the trick? Don't know... (but looks like I grasped it).

The other issue is that first they teach you the snow plow position - so you're not falling, can stop and can propel yourself forward in a weird position. Then, once you've grasped this concept, they tell you to unlearn this and have your skis parallel at all times more or less, which is a lot more challenging and frightening (because then you go much faster and you can see yourself flying off the route into the trees beyond, or rolling over down a hill...).



Above you can see me - on the left - going up in a gondola to ski down the mountain. Yes, I look a bit worried, this is a bit of a challenge when you're a beginner and it's icy coming down.... (and then Israel told me to stop looking worried and smile - and that's the picture at the top of the post). On the right you can see me in the snow plow position, which I was not supposed to be in anymore at the point when the picture was taken - but then it's effective in keeping one from sliding down the mountain...

Our group was made up of half women and half men. The men, with our instructor, kept going faster and jumping off little hills (at some point an adorable British kid said to his father - let's go through here, it's very bumpy (he said it boompy, like the Brits do...). The women - we were afraid of the speed - and kept going sedately down the main routes... in spite of being encouraged by our instructor to go with them on the little hills and keep our skis parallel. I mostly fell off the little hills (or at their bottom) because I kept leaning back...

Where was Israel during all this? In the advanced group flying down red and black routes and coming back exhilarated and wild eyed from the experience (he's second from the left, on the left and in the middle on the right):


So, the lessons would go on for 2.5 hours in the morning. Then, Israel and I would meet and he would gallantly ski down the green (very easy) and blue (easy) slopes with me - so I could practice - for another 2-2.5 hours.

and then? We would go have some hot wine or cool beer somewhere -


Later, Israel would cook (with a lot of onions) and I would help chop the vegetables and make rice (my speciality). For the curious, the menu over the week included - Shrimps in cream (to die for...), with rice, chicken in curry sauce (with rice... also very good although Israel kept claiming it didn't have enough curry and really needed curcum (turmeric), too (he went easy on the spices because of me)), pasta bolognese (because it wasn't spaghetti) and a wonderful vegetable soup.

and we read some books (a lot of time to kill during these ski vacations, but very restful, too). We both read - Meir Shalev's new book - "The story went like this" (it's not the "correct" translation but it's more similar to the name in Hebrew - hadavar haya chacha), a great tale; Tomi Lapid's biography, written by his son, Yair - excellent, touching at times and highly recommended. Not at all what you'd imagine or expect of those two (at least not what I imagined). I read another two books as well - The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which I didn't really get while reading it but it became more relevant after the earthquake in Haiti (it deals with a man and his son walking the roads in America after a major disaster (nuclear bomb?) in the future leaving everything burnt). Finally (actually firstly, because I started with this one) I read: The life before us by Romain Gary writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar. Wonderful book. It somehow manages to paint a positive picture of the life of an Arab prostitute's child growing up in the house of an old (and now very poor) Jewish madame in Paris after the war.

To sum up the vacation? We're going back next year....