The French Alps

Kent and I finally planned a ski trip for the beginning of January. We had been talking about it for a few years, and we just couldn't leave Europe without skiing in the Alps! We were overwhelmed by the hundreds of resorts to choose from across France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany and even Slovenia. We finally narrowed it down to a cute resort in France called Les Deux Alpes. Not the most creative name or the poshest ski village, but it was just perfect for our week away. Les 2 Alpes has the largest skiable glacier in Europe and is France's second oldest ski resort behind Chamonix (the Mont Blanc). We found a great package that included direct flights to Grenoble, transfer to the village (only 1.5 hr drive....some other villages were 3-4 hours), and hotel with breakfast and dinner.

Our hotel, Chalet Mounier, turned out to be awesome! Our suite was really comfortable, the hotel had a heated locker room for our skis/board/boots, the decor was very "authentic French mountain village" and the staff super nice. But, the best part of all.....the food at this place was amazing!! The family that owns the hotel also run a Michelin star restaurant and a cafe on the top of the mountain. Our breakfasts and dinners were the highlight of our vacation --- up there with the views from the top of the mountain. The dinners were all four courses, each with beautiful presentation and of course amazing flavor combinations. The wine was paired perfectly and the service was impeccable - especially considering our rudimentary French language skills.

With those meals, I am so glad that we were exercising all day long! It had been over 6 years since I had been snowboarding....that equals extreme soreness after the first day. Meanwhile, Kent was whizzing away on his skis, and was nice enough to wait for me a few times on every run (the runs are really long!). It took about a day for me to get the feel of boarding back, and then I was (sort-of) keeping up with Kent. We stuck to mostly the blue trails, with some blacks on the last day. I tried to avoid the green runs at all costs, as they were mostly narrow, almost-flat cat tracks that connected the blues. Flat = not good for snowboarding. I did a lot of skating and Kent was nice enough to pull me with his poles a few times. Overall, we just had fun and enjoyed the scenery.

The scenery - WOW! The mountains were so amazing - 360 degrees of snow covered Alps all around. The village was at about 1650 meters (5,400 ft). The mountain is "upside down" meaning that the steepest runs - only blacks and reds - are at the bottom, right in to the village. (Red = double black). The nice wide blue runs were at the top of the mountain, so we would take a gondola up to the first run and again back down at the end of the day. Great views from the gondolas, and very nice that they were enclosed cause it was cold!

Great week in France - can't wait to go back!!

Below are a few photo highlights, and here is the whole album: http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=142628296903%3A11084618&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharer

Les Deux Alpes village at night

Our hotel
Lunch on top of the mountain - no hot dogs or chili here!

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