The First Ski Of The Year

We all jumped in the jeep on Tuesday and headed up to Gréolieres for a morning’s skiing. We, (sorry J), had originally planned a mulled wine and minced pie thingie but as the snow is exceptional at the moment and the forecast had been good, we decided that we could not miss the opportunity to take advantage of the conditions. Quite a group of us had planned to go, both skiers and non-skiers. The non-skiers would come up slightly later and we’d all meet in the restaurant and have a long, lunch.

The weather was perfect as we set off, skis on the roof rack and mountains of boots, poles and other assorted paraphernalia in the boot. Unfortunately, Shadow could not accompany us as he’s not allowed on the slopes for obvious reasons and he sat there with that sad look on his face as we all piled into the car and left the drive. ‘Guard, kill’, were his usual instructions which means he’ll just go and lie in his bed on the terrace all day.

The snow was exceptional and even with the kids now on holiday the queues were not too bad. The pistes were empty as we got on our first chairlift heading for the first run of the season. Will your legs still know what to do? Will your edges hold on that first turn? Will you still have the courage to do that first shush? Will you still be able to do a racing stop at the chairlift queue or will you take everybody out?

I’m pleased to say that everything worked out fine although I seemed to be the only person on old ‘long’ skis – I MUST change them.

The weather was fantastic. There was this remarkable thing that as the chairlift left the station, a warm current of air gradually became stronger and warmer as the lift progressed up the slope. It was amazing. And when you got to the top, the views over the Riviera coastline were incredible – we could even see Corsica in the distance.

Photographs were taken. Snicker bars were handed out. Admonishments given to the children for trying to ‘wipe out’ French pensioners who only ski because it’s free and then the wipe out of all wipe outs as Kitty came hurtling down the slope, lost control, nearly hit a fencepost and then flew about 10 feet like Wonderwoman, face first into deep snow. Hilarious.

Lunch beckoned and we had the remaining few sandwiches the bar had left. Strangely, they had plenty of wine to sell but few sandwiches – why is that?

The non-skiers went sledging and J and I just sat in the sun having a few glasses of wine, the odd coffee and the remaining snickers bars. It was a terrific day.     

The picture was taken from the top of one of the lifts. From this vantage point you can see virtually the whole Riviera coastline from St Tropez to Italy with Corsica in the distance.