Porte du Soleil

"the Door of the Sun" is where we went skiing this Saturday with the CERN skiing club. La Porte du Soleil is a group of ski resorts (or stations, as they are called in French) which cross the French/Swiss border. You can take lifts or telecabines from one resort to the next, it's very cool. Ski Club planned a fabulous outing where guides would take us on a circuit through all of the resorts and following a path which would give us the most spectacular views. Views of Lake Geneva, of Mont Blanc, etc. We were psyched for this trip! Unfortunately, it was more like La Porte du Brouillard (the door of the fog- brouillard pronounced brew-yard sort of). It was a miserable, rainy day.
There were no views, at times you could barely see 3 feet in front of you, much less the majestic vistas of the Alps! And when we got there we discovered that due to the bad snow and poor visibility most of the pistes (pee-sts), meaning slopes, were closed. Basically, one resort had some slopes open that was Avoriaz, the resort we went to one of our first weeks skiing. So, we tried to make the best out of it. We skied with a group and with an instructor who took us over jumps and fun stuff like that. *A warning for Dr.'s Mom: there is a possibility that you will not wish to read any further as it might cause heart failure* But if you do continue, remember you went sky-diving which seems much crazier than anything we've ever done.

The instructor thought it would be fun to go into the little snowpark. This is where there are jumps and rails and all sorts of crazy stuff for skiers and snowboarders to play around on. I usually do not ski here...but I thought, "hell, if the instructors think we can do it, I'll give it a try" We first came to three wooden jumps. I would think that they normally have snow on them, but I'm really not sure. The first jump the instructor said because the snow was so low you'd have to "step up onto from the side" he demonstrated, it looked easy enough. No one could do it. The next jump was easy. Just a nice little ramp et viola, you were flying through the air. OK, flying may be an exaggeration. It was a very small jump. I even landed it...er... practically landed it. Naturally, my athletic hubby had no problem with the jumps. He did two in a row. I skipped the last one because I was still recovering from my spine jarring landing of my first jump. Hey, the snow wasn't exactly soft that day. Then we came upon a "bridge" a large wooden structure about 10 -12 feet high. You ski up the ramp, across the top and down the other side. No one but the instructor attempted this the first time around. Seriously, we thought he was joking when he told us to follow him! We then came upon another set of three small wooden jumps. Easy right? Wrong. this time the snow around the jumps was so low you had to jump up onto all three of the ramps. The first one you had to step up from the side again. I managed to get one ski up and that was it. The next one I was ready for. As I got closer I thought, "JUMP. JUMP NOW!" Only my legs weren't listening to my brain and I didn't jump. I just skied straight into the end of the ramp. Here I drew an illustration for you. You should be able to click on the picture if you need a better view. Seriously, it was like a character in a comic strip. My body just kept going forward and my skis were stuck against the wooden ramp! And guess what? I didn't even lose my skis. Nope, they stayed tight to my feet. I decided to take a pass on the next jump. Naturally, DH managed to get on the ramp and land the jump without much difficulty (read with a slightly bitter, slightly proud mixture in your voice). So, we made it down the slopes all in one piece. Oops, no actually. We lost one of our members. One guy had fallen in the middle of a narrow part of the slope and he got hit by a snowboarder. He ended up having to be taken to the hospital and had a torn ligament in his knee where the boarder had hit him. Ouch! Keep in mind, (hmm,hmm Dr's Mom) his injury had nothing to do with the jumps and things we did - it was just a freak accident.
So, we had survived the first run. We decided to do it again. We made the first jumps, high-fived a huge gorilla statue (wish I had a picture of it) and attempted the "bridge". The instructor showed us again, gave us a few tips and then it was our turn. One by one. DH went before me and did great. It turns out he was going a bit too fast and our instructor nearly had a heart attack watching all of us zooming towards this big wooden structure. I went after my husband. I was nervous, but I was willing to give it a go. As I was approaching the bridge I heard the instructor yelling something, but I couldn't here him. I tried slowing down by doing a snow plow, but as I approached the ramp I realized, "Oh shit! I've got to get my skis back in parallel" The ramp was to narrow for anything else. So at the last minute I'm trying to get my skis in the right position. I make it to the top with a yell of fright and as I'm going across the top I realize I'm going to go off the side. With a scream of pure terror I plunge off the side and nearly land it. I end up sitting on my backside with a huge grin on my face happy to be alive. DH thought my scream was the best thing he had ever heard. He said it was primal and he had never heard anything like that issue from my mouth before. He thought it was a yell of delight and triumph. I had to inform him that it was a scream signifying, "Oh shit, I'm gonna die." He thought this was hysterical. Our instructor thought that we were crazy. After lunch he asked us were we were from. "Ah, the States. That's why you are crazy." I'm still not quite sure what we did that was so crazy, but maybe it was just the fact that we tried everything and were good sports about it. Who knows. Then again, I do have a nephew who calls me "Crazy Aunt Mel" so who knows, there could be some truth behind it.

Well, I'm tired of writing at the moment. I do have a few pictures we took so I will post those later. And, really, don't worry. We were fine. A little stiff and sore on Sunday, but fine. In fact, most of my pain came from a spectacular face plant I did while just skiing normally - not on jumps or anything crazy. yeah, I used my face to scrape the icy snow off the mountainside. Now that was fun (note the sarcasm). Speaking of snow! there is a little snow flurry going on outside! Oh great, the laundry is going to be clothesicles again. Damn!