What I love about Valmorel ski area, and this is the ‘Le Grand Domaine’, are the wide slopes. France is known for this and this is in fact what made us decide to stick to the French Alps, for now. It is a great place to practice skiing, at least for me who needs to work on the technique and my speed. Dutchman prefers the Austrian Alps actually while I am keen on trying the neighbouring mountains, the Italian Dolomites and the Swiss Alps, soon.
Our ski class: Moi with 3 Frenchies and 1 English woman, the courageous Mrs. CA on the left.
We are practicing here, skiing and jumping over mounds.In the mornings I had my ski lesson for 3 hours while Dutchman discovers the area on his own. Later in the afternoon we ski and snowboard together.
My ski class was nice because all of us are on the same level. We all have several years of skiing experience under our belts and our main challenges are perfecting the technique and speed.
In the class I met Mrs. CA, an English woman who runs her own management training and consultancy business in the UK. We were partners in ski class and we could not stop talking the whole time, haha. She’s a bubbly entreprenurial type, very friendly with a cheery face on all the time, she always have something cool to tell. I am sure she can moonlight easily by hosting a talk show, haha.
Nevertheless, she told me that she had an accident 5 years ago in Valmorel and the week we are skiing was the anniversary. She showed me where the accident happened and how. She was hit on the wrong angle by a snowboarder at break-neck speed. And it happened on the slope that we ski on everyday, quite a painful and I guess horrifying reminder I guess.
She recollected that she was badly hurt during the accident, her bone sticking out and all. She was in shock. The agony, her operation and stay at the hospital and the whole experience in itself had her traumatised to bits for years. Until now she still suffers from the pain. She said that for this skiing week she is taking pain killers to help her go through the day. I can only stare at her with awe.
She said she never thought she could ski again. But, here she is now 5 years later... back and skiing on the very same slopes... even with the pain.
I immensely admire Mrs. CA’s courage. She is a woman of determination and example. Well done!
Here is moi skiing below and to see a video of me in skiing action, go here: Dutched Pinay in skiing action
Travel Period: January 2012
