Days 10 and 11

Tuesday 15th and Wednesday 16th January

Well, on Tuesday the weather was fairly terrible, but I went out anyway. It was snowing quite a bit when I started out on the easy slopes, but Paul went up higher, leaving me to play on the lower slopes, and returned to say it was clear on the higher slopes. So we caught a long chair that took us right up the mountain. However, as we ascended, the clouds suddenly closed in, and by the time we had reached the top and got off the chair lift, visibility was very poor indeed. This made my descent rather problematic, as I couldn't really see where I was going. The descent back to the lower village is quite a long one, and I found I had little confidence in my skills as I couldn't see the surface of the snow I was skiing on. Parts of the trail were not difficult, but I found the steep bits hard and was slow in parts. 

As we got lower down the mountain we came out of the cloud, and once I could see, I did a bit better. I found the last bit of the slope, which descended steeply to the lower village of Plagne Centre quite difficult though, and ended up in some powder snow at the side of the piste, into which I sank right up to my knees. I wasn't anxious to go back up into the clouds where I couldn't see, so we caught a bus back for a late lunch. It continued to snow and was very foggy, so Paul didn't bother going out again either - he doesn't particularly like blind skiing either.

Wednesday dawned bright and sunny and clear, so I decided to give my knees another workout, and started out on the easy slopes again just to be sure the snow was reasonable. Anyway, taking the beginners lifts is a way of getting high enough up the hill to be able to ski down to the big lifts. Otherwise you have to climb up to them, in your big boots and carrying your skis. The sun was hot, and we both had to take some clothes off, as were were far too warm.

The same chair lift took us up the mountain, and what a contrast from yesterday! The sky was an unclouded deep blue, the snow crisp and white and sparkling, though the pistes were a little more crowded. I managed the miles down to the lower village with no difficulty, until the very last steep bit above the village, which took me some time to get down. After that, I had to sit down to rest my legs for a short while.

Then we found another shorter chair lift, and I was able to spend some time going up and down an easier slope, with no scary very steep bits. Paul got very cold again, and had to put his clothes back on again - his old black anorak isn't as warm as his new red one, and I am wearing his new red one, because some of my ski clothes are missing. By this time I had been skiing for well over two hours, and my legs had turned to jelly, so we made our way to the bus stop to catch the bus back up to our village. 

As we had missed the bus, we had to wait for the next one, and watched the arrangements here for clearing the snow. Workers with big shovels loosen the big hard heaps of snow, and a delightful little machine with spinning discs at the front chews up the loosened snow into powder and throws it out in a stream over the road. Then a big snow plough scrapes it off the road and piles it up in an unused corner of a big car park.

After we got back to the apartment and Paul had warmed up a bit, he went out again, but came back after only an hour or so, saying it had got freezing cold after the sun had gone down.