Alpe d'Huez Ski and Snow Trip 2015 - Day 8

14/02/15

Happy Valentine’s Day!

We woke up this morning to a much whiter Alpe d’Huez. After 7 days of brilliant sunshine the snow mounds were beginning to look a little brown and the snow on the trees on the mountains was beginning to melt. The weather forecast shows it is meant to snow for the next 3 days, so the skiers and snowboarders will have some fresh powder to play on soon.

Today we just travelled back home. We waited outside in the heavy snow for BensBus to pick us back up again. The coach was so late we ended up waiting over an hour - the novelty of the snow wore thin after half-an-hour and we were all freezing. Finally the coach arrived and we made our way to Grenoble Airport. The drive there was excruciatingly long.

When we arrived at the airport we had to check-in and rush through security because the bus was so late. Security at Grenoble Airport was painfully slow but we got through and ready to board the flight. After all that, the flight was delayed for half-an-hour so we were able to grab a quick bite to eat. I slept the majority of the flight home.

I have enjoyed our holiday so much and I cannot wait to come snowboarding again soon. I would highly recommend visiting Alpe d’Huez, particularly if you are a learner as the green and blue runs are fabulous. There is plenty to do there – which I fully intend on doing next time I am there – including Husky sled rides, paragliding, driving snowmobiles and even a zip line. I am leaving with amazing memories with great company, a lot of bruises and even a horrendous goggle tan line (despite wearing sun-cream) but I wouldn’t change any of it.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the daily blogs of our Alpe d’Huez ski and snow trip as much as I have enjoyed writing them!

Thank you all, until my next blog post…

We woke to a much whiter Alpe d'Huez

We finally got to see some snow fall!

Bye for now x

Alpe d'Huez Ski and Snow Trip 2015 - Day 7

13/02/14

Friday the 13^th… No bones were broken, we all made it through the holiday in one piece!

Today was our last day snowboarding and skiing; it was a sad, sad day for all (although our bodies are in need of a well deserved rest). It was rather overcast which was a change after being beautiful sunshine all week but it was nice to have a day where we weren’t swamping after putting our boots on. The cloud did make it a bit harder to see the grooves and turns on the slopes though – we do have some goggles designed for the overcast weather but getting those would require too much effort so we just made do.

After brekkie we went straight to the slopes and got going. We ventured over to the other side of the mountain for a few runs before stopping off for lunch at Marc and Marie’s local (they stopped there at least 6 times for a drink and/or something to eat during the holiday – the waiter even knew their drink order off by heart). Aimee, Richie, Mum, Dad and I then continued boarding for a couple of hours, even heading to the practice stunt park. Come 2 o’clock we decided to call it a day, after a great final run. We didn’t want to push ourselves to do too much more because it would be Sod’s Law that we would seriously injure ourselves on that ‘one last run’.

Instead Marc, Zak, Aimee, Richie and I all bought some ‘bum-boards’ and had a play around sliding down a man-made hollow in the snow – we must have been the oldest ones playing on the slope but it was such a laugh and worth the €2.50 for the bum-boards.

This evening we browsed around some shops, popped into O’Sharkey’s for a drink and made our way to Smithy’s for our dinner reservation. Again the food was absolutely phenomenal – if anyone reading this is going to Alpe d’Huez you NEED to eat at Smithy’s Tavern, there is no faulting it. While we were in Smithy’s it started to snow for the first time since we’ve been here. This was the first time Richie has seen snowfall and it was rather exciting.

One of the nicest runs, mum stalking

Zak falling off the bum-board

Richie also had a go

Nope, I didn't know I was that flexible either...

Marc was the biggest kid having the most fun!

Bye for now x

Alpe d'Huez Ski and Snow Trip 2015 - Day 6

12/02/15

First of all I would like to apologise if these holiday blog posts are becoming repetitive in any way - what can I say, it is a snowboarding/skiing holiday, it is pretty repetitive but tonnes of fun - so I hope you are enjoying reading what we are getting up to as much as we are doing it!

We had a relaxing morning today. We had an extra hour in bed, which was much needed. Mum, Dad and I then browsed in the shops opposite the hotel and Dad needed to go to the chemist to get another support, this time for his ankle. He already has wrist guards, an elbow strap and a bad back – he’s getting old! 

It's nice travelling in a group that can go off an do their own thing. Aimee and Richie spent most of the day together and Marc and Marie had a chilled day to themselves. At around 11 o’clock Mum, Dad, Zak and I finally got going -  Firstly, we headed to the snow-park and boarded down there (avoiding all the jumps – we aren’t that advanced… yet). Half way down, there is a jump you can go down and land on a huge air bag. You can use your own snowboard or skis to practice jumps or you can use the easier option, a blow up rubber ring. Zak and I both used the rubber rings and had five goes each – it was a lot of fun and well worth the €9.

After a couple of runs we had a spot of lunch up the mountain then worked our way back down toward the bottom. We tried to play around a bit with the GoPro, trying to get some family action shots. Zak went back to the hotel when we reached the bottom as he landed on his shoulder a couple of times during the day and needed to rest it. Me and mum did a few more runs heading to the beginners stunt park – I tried to make it over a couple of the beginner ramps and jumps, stacking it a few times but sticking the landing on the majority. I will definitely be back on the ramps again tomorrow!

Mum then went back to the hotel to meet Zak and go for a swim in the hotel pool while Dad and I went back up to La Folie Douce looking for the others. Once we made it up there we realised no one we knew was there so we enjoyed a few drinks in the sun and admired the view by ourselves.

Later on in the evening we all went for a walk through the town (standard routine now) and had a meal at a restaurant called La Sporting. The food was lovely – we haven’t had a bad meal since we’ve been here – consequently that is burning a hole in my pocket and not helping my waistline! The healthy eating and normal exercise routine will commence when we are back home.

Tomorrow is our last day skiing and we fully intend on making the most of it.

Jump with the rubber ring

Zak flying about - probably how he first hurt his shoulder!

Trying to get a family action shot proved more difficult then we first thought

Dad and I enjoying the sunshine and the view from La Folie Douce... alone

Bye for now x

Alpe d'Huez Ski and Snow Trip 2015 - Day 5

11/02/15

Happy Birthday Richie!

I was feeling pretty fragile this morning after the amount of vodka consumed last night. My head felt fine, but my stomach was in knots – I didn’t even eat my breakfast, which is not like me at all.

Q. What is the best cure for a hangover?

A. Gorgeous sunshine and ice-cold snow.

Marc and Marie ditched their lesson again and headed up a gondola to the top of a green run. Mum and Dad took them down the first time then they continued as we went further up the mountain. After a couple of hours we headed to a French bakery opposite our hotel to get some lunch and something sweet to eat. After having some grub I felt thousand times better.

Once we had eaten something, Mum, Dad, Zak, Aimee, Richie and I headed back up the mountain to snowboard and ski some more then at 3 o’clock we ventured to La Folie Douce (which we now know means Beautiful Madness which sums it up perfectly!). There were people dressed up as Scooby Doo, Woody from Toy Story and Where’s Wally dancing on the table. People had their shirts off, the music was loud and drinks were flowing. There was even a blowup doll flying around. The atmosphere was electric and Richie fully intends on getting us all up there again tomorrow.

At quarter to 5, just before La Folie Douce closes, Richie, Aimee, Marc and Marie headed back down the chair lift while Mum, Dad, Zak and I snowboarded/skied back to our hotel. Once we had all showered and got ready we walked into the main town to a Tex-Mex and BBQ restaurant called Smithy’s Tavern. The atmosphere was great, all of the staff were English and the menu had a huge selection to choose from (including lots of vegetarian food for Marie). The food was totally phenomenal. We all decided on a starter and a main course but we couldn’t squeeze in a desert. We loved it so much we even booked the same table again for Friday night, our last night here.

Slipping into a food coma I thought it was time to go back to the hotel. Mum, Zak and I made our way back home while the others stayed out for an extra few drinks to celebrate Richie’s birthday.

We have some fun plans for tomorrow so keep an eye out for my next blog post!

Donny going down his first green run

Whoops

Richie shredding powder!

La Folie Douce - Champagne spraying - Beautiful Madness

Bye for now x

Alpe d'Huez Ski and Snow Trip 2015 - Day 3

09/02/15

Every limb is aching and all my muscles were stiff this morning. I’ve been using muscles I didn’t even know I had until now!

The day started with the routine of uploading yesterdays blog post in the bar downstairs and then breakfast before getting our snow gear on (slowly with a few moans and groans here and there due to aching muscles) and getting out on the slopes. The morning had a bit of a bothersome start… After getting to the top of the ski lift I realised the binding on my snowboard wasn’t working correctly. This meant I had to do the ‘walk of shame’ and head back down the ski lift in the gondola - NO ONE has to go DOWN the ski lift (except Richie who also broke his binding later on in the day and had to make his way down too). Once reaching the ski hire shop to get it fixed, I tried to tighten the binding and it worked perfectly… typical. So I had to trek back up to the ski lift and up to the top of the run again after realising there was in fact nothing wrong.

After having the confidence, and wind, knocked out of me yesterday, I got my mojo back and loved every minute of snowboarding today. We decided to go down some ski runs that were a bit more advanced and we were all progressing brilliantly. I even managed to make it down 3 or 4 runs without falling over - trust me, that is a HUGE improvement from yesterday's carnage.

Once we had a quick lunch break we headed to a ski lift called the ‘scare-chair’. It takes skiers from one mountain to another, following the gradient of the mountainside. It dips right into the valley and up the other side. In order to get to some green runs we had to make our way to the opposite side of the mountain - This meant we ended up skiing and snowboarding down red and blue runs to get there (I think we impressed ourselves and each other with how well we handled them). The views from the second mountain were beautiful - At this point in the day all the cloud below had cleared and we could see right to the bottom of the valley.

We continued to ski and snowboard down some blue and green runs and come 4:30pm we had to make our way back on the scare-chair before it closed. We made it back to our hotel in one piece (just about - we all managed to stack it at least once today, including mum). Then we headed to the bar for a hot drink and met up with Marc and Marie. The evening commenced once we had all showed and changed and we headed for a walk around the main town then dinner at a restaurant not far from our hotel. Straight after dinner we all turned in for an early night.

We have some fun plans for tomorrow so we are all eagerly anticipating the day ahead. Come back tomorrow to see what we get up to.

Family photo on the ski lift

View coming up the scare-chair

The beautiful morning sky from the fifth floor

Bye for now x

Alpe d'Huez - Ski and Snow Trip 2015 - Day 2

08/02/15

Today is Zak’s 21^st birthday and what a way to celebrate, snowboarding in the French Alpes! The day began with a trip down to the hotel lobby to get wifi and upload yesterday’s blog post (we were meant to be able to get wifi in the rooms but apparently it doesn’t stretch as far as the fifth floor). We then went for breakfast overlooking the mountains that consisted of a croissant, a pan au chocolate and a pancake – not the healthiest of options but when in France…

We were keen to get to the slopes so straight after brekkie we grabbed our gear and got going. Richard has never snowboarded before so Dad took him under his wing to teach him a few things before his lesson in the afternoon. We assessed the nursery slope and the drag-lift and decided to ditch that and head straight up a chairlift instead. Richie threw himself straight into snowboarding and picked it up so quickly. Aimee was skiing really well too, only having skied once before years ago but unfortunately, she fell ill and decided to give the afternoon a miss and try to get better for the rest of the week. After a quick lunch stop we headed back up the mountain and Richard went to his lesson. By the time he had his lesson; he already knew all the basics they were teaching (resulting in him ditching the last half of the class – the instructor didn’t speak English very well which was just another reason to abandon that idea).

During the course of the day I managed to wind myself twice and had a few hard falls. This just knocked my confidence and I struggled to get into the swing of things for the next couple of runs. Zak on the other hand surprised us all. He had his face covered the whole time and was flying down the mountain, so we decided that it wasn’t Zak under the mask, it must have been the Guernsey Stig. He was a natural and picked it up like the last time he’d been snowboarding was last week (not 6 years ago!).

We all had a few prangs, barr mum who was skiing and was very graceful. When we got back to the hotel I assessed the damage - my arse looked like it belonged to a baboon and my knees are now black and blue. After a warm shower and a few drinks in Marc and Marie’s room we headed to a restaurant across the road to celebrate Zak’s 21^st – we managed to persuade him to try a strawberry daiquiri and some vodka & lemonade but he wasn’t keen, spitting in back out into the glass (nasty).

Overall the day was brilliant, we all had a great time on the slopes and Aimee was feeling a bit better toward the end of the night. I can’t wait to throw myself back into snowboarding tomorrow and really try to build my confidence. If I wipe out a few times at least it gives the other skiers, watching from the ski lifts above, something to giggle at. It’s all just fun and games.

The view from our balcony this morning before the ski lifts opened

The birthday Stig and I

Zak's reaction to his first alcoholic beverage
a strawberry daiquiri

Bye for now x

Alpe d’Huez Ski & Snow Trip 2015 - Day 1

07/02/15

I thought it would be a fun idea to blog each day of my ski and snow holiday to Alpe d’Huez in the French Alpes as a record of my time here and a way my family back home can keep up to date with what we’re doing (hi Gran & Grandad!)

Day 1 had an early start with the Thorne household up and ready early (for once), keen to get to the airport and get away. After waiting for the rest of our party to arrive – Richard, Aimee, Marc and Marie – we checked in and headed through departures and to the duty free shop – priorities. Once purchasing copious amounts of alcohol we then headed through to the café to get a bite to eat then onto the plane. The flight with Aurigny was direct to Grenoble from Guernsey and was only 2 hours long.

After arriving in Grenoble we got on a BensBus coach without any waiting around. The coach journey was roughly 2 hours long as well and took us right to our hotel. The coach meandered through the mountains and up through and out of the clouds to reveal brilliantly blue sky and thick glistening snow – the scenery was absolutely stunning.

Once checked into our hotel, Le Pic Blanc, we went and collected our ski passes, skis and snowboards in a shop that was far to cramped for my liking and smelt like BO. Never the less we gathered our gear, all prepared for tomorrow and headed back to the hotel.

The night ended with a couple of drinks in an Irish bar called O’Sharkeys in the centre of the village, a pizza from a small café named Chicken Roll and a frosty    (-6^oC) walk back to our home for the next week, Le Pic Blanc. Although today was mainly travelling and sorting ourselves out it lovely to see the snow and the ski runs we will soon be snowboarding (rolling/falling/tumbling) down. It is Marc and Marie’s first time skiing so they are having lessons in the morning and Richie’s first time snowboarding – in fact, today was the first time Richard has seen proper snow, not just Guernsey slush that we endured last week, so that was exciting in its own right!

Come back tomorrow to see what we get up to on the slopes…

It was an early start for Zak at the airport

Mum and I are sharing a room and it was a royal mess just five minutes
after opening the door - whoops!

The view at night from our balcony - Mum and I in our matching beanies

Our home for the next week - Hotel Le Pic Blanc

Bye for now x