Place: London - Geneva - Val D'Isere
Date(s) of Travel: April 6 - April 13, 2013
My Experience:
I heard about skiing from my colleagues for the last two years. I am always up for adventure sports which is more fun than sitting before a computer all day. After getting few suggestions from friends, I decided to go to Val D'Isere resort in the french alps. I booked a ski holiday package through a non-profit french organisation called UCPA which was suggested by my french colleague Xavier. The holiday package includes dorm stay, ski rentals, ski passes, trainer/guide and food for a week. I bought some last minute winter clothes and a ski goggle from sportsdirect shop, since they were cheap and I only need them for a week. On Saturday early morning, I flew to Geneva from Heathrow and took a bus from Geneva airport to Val D'Isere resort which is operated by a coach company called benbus. The bus journey was quite amazing and the views of Alps on both sides were stunning. After a few stopover in different resorts, I reached my resort in the afternoon.
I was little anxious, because I am aware that french people tend not to speak english. But to my surprise every french person in the resort spoke english and were very friendly. Then I realised non-english was more of a Paris thing. After dropping my bag in the room, I went for a stroll round the town and to the resort base. In the evening, I collected my ski equipments from UCPA store which is in the hostel ground floor and put them in the locker room. To my surprise, all my roommates were British guys and as usual they started drinking from the moment they checked-in to the room.
Next day afternoon, I went for my first ski session and I was very excited. Actually, I was enrolled for Beginners course and in my group there were four girls and me and our ski trainer who was a girl too. :). First they taught us how to walk, side walk, applying brakes etc. Skiing looks easy but putting them into practise was tough(at-least for me). I fell down so many times, crashed in high speed into a corner and I got tired of it very quickly. But I was determined to learn the basics as I had paid so much money for the trip. In the dinner, I met some nice people like Mariana, Court, Fran, Anais and started to hangout with them for the whole week.
The Ski pistes are classified by colours like green, blue, red and black with green being the easiest and black being the toughest one. For the first 2 days, we trained in the green pistes and still I couldn't get my turning correct and fell down more frequently than others. But in the third day, suddenly I started picking up things and was able to control my speed in the downslope, able to turn and brake too. In the mid week, most of the people from UCPA including myself went for a night out and it was so much fun in getting to know lot of people. In the last two days, we went to the upper slopes mostly blue pistes and it was stunning to see white snow everywhere. Some of the blue pistes were little steep but over a period of time you get used to it, but I learnt them in a hard way by falling and rolling. :)
The other thing I want to mention is the food in UCPA. The lunch and dinner were so awesome and I ate so much food for the whole week. French people love their food especially dinner along with wine and also they chat a lot while eating. Basically I like french food and in UCPA, I loved the salad with blue cheese, chicken drumsticks, potatoes, baguette, cheese fondue, different types of cheese and deserts. I made so many friends and everyone I know offered me wine during dinner. In the last day of our course, our group decided to have lunch in a restaurant at the top of the resort. It was a sunny day so we went for a barbecue and it was nice but little expensive though. There is a party place called "La Folie Douce" at the top of the resort where you can party during the ski break. In the evening, we all went there to have few beers and the techno music with trumpet was mind blowing. In the night we partied in the resort clubs till wee hours and it was fun. I said bye to all the nice people I met during the trip which is always a little sad feeling.
Next day morning, I had few hours of time before catching the bus back to Geneva and I decided to practise one last time. I did few blue pistes and one small red piste and it was quite a nice feeling. Evening I got back to London with lot of nice memories and a sore bum. I hope I go back next winter and hone my skiing skills.
Thought of Day: To travel is to take a journey into yourself. - Danny Kaye
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