Misty Mountain Hop

I’m sure I’ve touched on this one before, but I constantly get asked why it was that I would move to England. At first, I really didn’t know why either. I am a proud Canadian and an avid snowboarder so when it really comes down to it, moving halfway around the world to a country with virtually no mountains and absolutely no snow makes absolutely no sense. For the first few months my answer to the question would always be: “Meh, why not?” Well, for starters, the cost of living in England is among the world’s highest, the food really isn’t all that great, and the English people generally aren’t overly friendly. At first I, too, was confused. At my first job, I was barely even making enough money to cover food costs, let alone put any into travel and savings. But now, after a couple months of proper income, I now truly why I came to London: The weekend getaway.

The weekend getaway is a new concept and though this is technically the second weekend getaway I have taken, I proudly present this blog’s first ever official Weekend Getaway topic:

The French Alps

Working in the mountain sports industry, it has been hard up until now seeing people all buying equipment for one of my greatest passions, but this past weekend, I got my first real life taste of ski culture in Europe. I am, of course, generalizing and therefore assuming that ski culture in Austria, Italy and Switzerland (the other Alps countries) is similar to that in France. In some resorts in Switzerland, it is actually technically possible to go into another country and them come back into Switzerland all in the same run. Cool, eh?
Though there is sometimes snow and there do exist ski resorts in the western Scottish mountains, most English people are forced into Europe if they want to hit the slopes. Alpine skiing (downhill – not to be confused with Nordic skiing, ie. cross-country) can be done in many countries in Europe, and though the largest mountains and highest peaks are in the Alps, many vacationers head to Sweden, Bulgaria, Slovakia and even Northern Spain in search of snow. From London it is possible to drive yourself to virtually anywhere in Europe, but for the most part weekend or even week-long package deals are the easiest and cheapest ways to go.
In one of the best recent snow years in the Rockies and, ironically, one of the worst ever years in Alps, I was still determined to use my snowboard (yep, the old K2) that I foolishly brought to England. And, as always, determination paid off. My flat mate (roommate – for those in North America) and I booked a neat little package getaway through skiweekends.com which began on a Thursday afternoon at 5pm at London Victoria Coach station, would make a couple stops further along the way and carry-on through the night to arrive at our quaint little mountain village, Brides-les-Bains, in the lower Méribel valley. We would have three full days on the slopes of including legendary ski hills of Méribel, Courchevel, and Val Thorens, which make the greater Les 3 Vallées, the world’s largest ski resort. The package included 2 nights in a hotel, two overnights/door-to-door transportation on a licensed coach and 5 full meals (including desert!)…the only thing it was really missing was the lift pass and unlimited booze!

Being back at work on Monday is always like getting hit with reality. Sleeping on a coach and going without a shower makes it even harder, but even with major traffic delays on the M25 headed back into London, knowing that you just had three full spectacular days in the mountains really softens the blow.

Of the countless (more like 250) pictures of the French mountain valleys I photographed over the weekend, I can’t actually decide which ones I like the best from my first trip to the Alps. I was, of course, working with equipment I was not overly familiar with, since, as stated in an emergency entry, I lost my own little camera. The weather was pretty much unbelievable allowing for clear skies, great light and, just our luck, a dusting of snow each night. Basically, we couldn’t have asked for much better conditions. I even came out of the whole deal with a killer goggle tan – all thanks to the weekend getaway!

So now whenever anyone asks me why I came to London, my has changed and often goes a little something like this: “What did you do last weekend? Oh, I went snowboarding in France.” That’s why.