Ski School made for a very early start. We had to leave our apartment with all our equipment by 8:30 every morning to walk to the bus stop, to catch a bus, to walk to the ski school. We were all exhausted by noon. I have never walked on skis so much in my life! There wasn’t really a central area that all the lifts filtered into. They all just came down the mountain into the valley and there was a bus service that took you from lift to lift. Not ideal, but I’m not complaining.
(On this map, blue is easy, red is intermediate and black is difficult)The sun shone bright every day which made it easier to get up each early morning.
It was the first time the kids had seen so much snow (well, Christie did when she was a baby in German… but that was a while ago) so Christie was amazed at her frozen hair,
we were sure to play with icicles (Jack wanted to bring one back on the plane), jump in piles of snow, scope out the Christmas Igloos that the locals made,
make snow angels
and toboggan. The tobogganing we did was awesome! One of the ski lifts had these toboggan’s that hooked up to a button lift (like a t-bar but it’s a round disk not a T). It took you half way up a ski run and then down you came! So much fun!
Here is a video of J's 'no fear' attempt at tobogganing... Look out C!!
Christmas was great. We missed spending it with family, but since I spend every Christmas away from my family it seemed to be easier this year as I kept myself busy with skiing. It was the first Christmas (and pray the last) that we were up dressed and out the door by 8:30 (Ski School) and waited to open all our gifts until the afternoon. The kids didn't seem to mind. They were so excited to ski that Santa seemed a distant thing.
We brought as many gifts as we could pack, opened some before we left and opened some when we returned. Santa was good as he gave mostly ski stuff and things for the 5 hour bus ride.
And now, thanks to D and C, N has a new monkey... he's called Sock Monkey.
On the last day the kids had learned enough to do an easy run off of the bunny slopes. We took them up to the top of the mountain and skied all the way down; stopping for lunch at the lodge half way down. They did great! C took it nice and easy practising her skills. She was exhausted by the time she got to the bottom, but she learned more and more with each turn. J took the brave route and tucked most of the way down. This landed him in the trees a few times, but we couldn't wipe the smile off his face!
Here is a video of me taking J and C slowly down a part of the mountain that was scary for a first time skier.
We had a great time and would love to have stayed for another week. Happy New Year, Merry Christmas and... CHEERS!
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