My World of Travel and Food: Briancon, Skiing.

Tuesday 17 January 2017

Briancon, Skiing.

When in Briancon one skis in January. Usually. I had high hopes for the ski section of our trip. Little did I know it was going to be the worst winter for snow in recent history late December early January.

Briancon is one of those snow sure places. So high in altitude, it is a sure thing. Not this year. Most of the greens were closed. The blues that were open were pretty steep. They were reds in essence, just a tiny bit wider. Makes no difference (that width) to a beginner. Steep is steep.

And some were very steep indeed. I admired Katya so much I couldn't even tell her how much because I sounded gushy. I'm a very very slow learner in the ski department. Katya came having skied a couple of times on learner slopes. Not at all since she was 10. Never skied off a chair lift. And hadled the first day with absolute dignity.

Yes she fell down a few times. Usually a plop down not a fall. We went down some awesome blues and Andy is a really good teacher. We had the most incredible first day. The girl's a natural.

Second day and just before lunch (and on the final final getting to the blessed flat bit at the bottom) she did fall. Properly. She was doing so bloody well because by Christ we weren't going to go down that particular run again. It was from a different part of the area and I was freaking out internally, thinking if we get down here we will go back to day 1 after lunch. But she twisted her knee. Bugger. She's a brave wee soul and wanted to continue but nope. I couldn't handle the stress if nothing else! I'm very very pathetic when it comes to the ski department.

So Katya was assigned to sitting outside in a cafe in the snow which she enjoyed (free wifi) , me and Andy did a final run then went into Briancon for lunch and called it a day.

So how do you call it a day when in Briancon, near the Italian boarder, just after lunch, nothing to do until dinner? Go to Italy of course! So we did.....(next post).