Snowboarding in Chamonix

Well, I finally got too experience one of my snowboarding/skiing dreams, “Snowboarding in the Alps”. Actually we went last year but we only had time for one day and the conditions were horrible. It was snowing so hard you couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of you. With no time to react, every time a bump appeared in front of me I would launch off the top and fall face first down the mountain. Needless to say I was very sore the next day.

This year was totally different. We spent the weekend in Chamonix at one of Valerie’s friend’s chalet. Chamonix is about 30 minutes from Valerie’s father’s home. So we spent the first night at her fathers which is located in the valley below Mt Blanc. In fact the weather over the weekend reminded me a lot of Sacramento. There was absolutely no sun in the valley due to fog. However, 20 minutes up the mountain the sky was blue, sunny and the snow was abundant.

It just so happens during that particular weekend there was a promotion at the station we went to offering woman a free lift ticket. I have never seen a deal like that before and it covered the whole weekend. I believe salomon was hosting it otherwise I can’t imagine how the ski resort could survive losing that kind of money. Anyway it always seems to be the women never the men. It just so happened that there was four of us total; me and 3 girls (oh la la).

Not forgetting the mountains. When you travel up the chair lifts in any of the resorts around Chamonix the view is magnificent. You see Mt Blanc, the mer de glace (glacier), and about hundred other white cap mountains that seem to stretch miles or kilometers as the Europeans would say. It is truly inspirational. Normally you would also have a beautiful view of the valley but unfortunately, it was covered in fog that day.

Ok, I think I am a pretty good boarder but the whole day I was trying to keep up with these 3 girls on skies who were tearing down the mountain. Not only that they were trying to get me to go on black diamond runs that have bumps about waist high. This is not an easy task for a snowboarder. I personally like boarding in the bumps but when they look more like a wall in front of you I tend to find myself on my ass more than my board.

Midway through the first day I was already feeling dead-tired and ready for the lunch break. I must say there is nothing like a hot wine to help you relax at lunch. Sitting in a lounge chair with a sandwich in one hand and a hot wine in the other staring at some of the most beautiful mountains in the world is really living. In the US we would spend most of our lunches at Le Chamois at Squaw Valley drinking beer and eating pizza which still ranks as one of my favorite ski breaks however, there really is no view. Maybe Le Chamois foreshadowed my future.

Anyway, after a day of skiing it was time to experience the nightlife of Chamonix. There is no shortage of nightlife in this town and most of it speaks English. It is like a second home for the English. Life is good when your currency is stronger than the rest of the world.

The town is alive at night. We ended up starting with a bit of champagne and having a not so traditional after-ski dinner of crepes (normally you eat fondue or raclette) but since the owners of the restaurant were giving us free appetizers we felt obligated. After, we went to the bars. There are a lot of good bars so we tried to go to as many as possible. After 4 we realized that was all we could handle. Luckily the chalet we were staying at was within walking distance.