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 4

10/02/15

It was a slow start to the day this morning. We had a relaxed breakfast and were in no real rush to get going - Marc and Marie decided to ditch their lesson so they joined us for breakfast. After going down one of our regular runs a couple of times we decided to venture further up the mountain and we managed to find a run with hardly anyone on it which was perfect for us. Mum, Dad and I didn’t fall over at all (result), and Zak, Aimee and Richie kept the falling to a minimum so we all felt pretty good come lunchtime.

At around 11 o’clock, we packed our snowboards and skis away and all 8 of us headed towards the top of the mountain. It started with a quick ride in a lobster pot from the centre of the town to the bottom of a gondola. A lobster pot is a little cage you can stand four people in and it works the same as a gondola. From there we hopped on one gondola that took us above the snow-park and to the mid-point called DMC – this is at roughly 2700m high. Marc and Marie stayed at this point on the mountain, as this is where they felt comfortable. Marie isn’t too keen on heights and Marc is a bit claustrophobic (the next cable car to get to the top of Pic Blanc wasn’t massive and it held 80 people like sardines). While we made our way to the top, they waited at this point for us and visited an ice cave with carved ice and snow sculptures.

The top of Pic Blanc is 3330m (almost 11,000ft) high and the views were absolutely incredible. We chose the perfect day to go to the top – there was very little wind and no cloud, which meant we could see right to the bottom of the valley. After a good look around and a few photos we headed back down to DMC to meet Marc and Marie. From there we rode a gondola half way down and got off at the top of the snow-park at a restaurant for lunch.

In the afternoon we headed to the gift shops and supermarket to pick up some supplies. We sat on a pile of snow outside our hotel and watched the sunset over the valley. The night concluded with another trip to o’Sharkeys bar, too many cocktail jugs, and a gathering at Richie and Aimee’s room for a nightcap.

Tomorrow it’s Richards birthday and we are all planning to head to La Folie Douce – an alfresco bar/club on the mountain. This could be interesting…

Mum and I - all the gear, no idea

The run we practically had to ourselves

In the lobster pot

We also took a Guernsey flag - the image didn't come out as well though

Our view over the mountains

My favourite image of the trip so far

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