Snowboarding in the Alps

Well my friends. My time here is drawing to a close in about three weeks and so now I begin to wrap this blog up as well. However a description of my time here in France would not be complete if I did not include an entry on skiing/snowboarding in the Alps. Snowboarding, as many of you may know, is one of my bigger passions in life. I love riding in the mountains, all alone or with friends, through powder fields where I can pick my own fresh line, go "off-piste", and enjoy the silence that accompanies fresh powder. So being able to ride in the Alps is essentially a dream come true for me. The first time came at the beginning of November at Tignes, a resort about 2 hours from Chambéry. It was very chilly and the wind threatened to render all of my outerwear quite useless but it didn't take long for the sun to come out and then the weather is what any skier/snowboarder wishes for...sunny and clear with nothing but bluebird skies. It was still very early in the season so there was not an abundance of snow but being high in the Alps was absolutely unreal.
The next adventure in the Alps came the weekend before Christmas break at a world-renowned resort called Courchevel. This place was incredible! It is part of the famed "Trois Vallées" (the 3 valleys) which together boast 183 total lifts that range from giant, 40-person cable cars to 8 person, high-speed gondolas, regular open-air high speed lifts and drags. This weekend was sponsored by my school and was for students who wanted to learn to ski or snowboard. Since I have always wanted to learn to ski, I plunked down the 80 euros it cost for round-trip transportation, four hot meals, and a two day pass, rented some skis, and went to tackle the mountain. I had to admit I was quite nervous about skiing for the first time but that came mostly because I thought it would be relatively simple to learn and was worried I was underestimating the difficulty. Fortunately I was able to learn easily right off the bat and since bombing down the mountain on a snowboard isn't all that foreign to me, I found myself itching to open up the throttle on some of the runs. The weekend was great and we couldn't have asked for better weather. The views of the Alps were breathtaking, I have never been in the midst of such giants. I can't wait for January 9 and 16...I already have plans to go up again then!

And finally, on a parting note, even though I am a snowboarder, I really loved skiing as well and so I am excited to pursue both of them.