First skiing trip...

This past weekend I went on my first skiing trip! 

My sister, her hubby and 6 of their South African friends planned a week long skiing trip to Champoluc in Italy.  They invited us along but as we just recently returned from South Africa we could only join them for a long weekend, but what a great weekend it was!

Hubby and I rented a car and drove to Champoluc on the Saturday morning.  It was a 3 hour drive that was pretty stressful as we were driving a new car, on the opposite side of the road (right hand side) on a route we did not know in very cold and snowy conditions and up narrow winding mountain passes.  We were both very relieved when we arrived.

On the way there

Champolac looked magical and everything was covered in so much snow and the houses looked so quaint and the mountains looked huge.  It really looked like a winter wonderland!

The rest of the group had not arrived yet so Hubby and I got the keys for Champoluc Apartments (http://www.champolucapartment.com/eng.html) where we were staying and got kitted up in some serious winter gear before walking into town for lunch.

The town is very small with one main street running through the centre. On each side there are shops and restaurants. We found a nice restaurant I ordered pasta while Hubby opted for a cold meat dish served with salad and bread.  The food was good and the service was definitely relaxed.

Enjoying lunch

After lunch we headed to the Ski School and booked a lesson for Sunday morning. Then we headed to the Tako Ski Rental (http://www.skirentalchampoluc.com/index.php?lang=2) to get ourselves sorted and kitted out for the next day. We rented ski boots, skis, ski poles and helmets.  You store your equipment there, which is great as it is so heavy to carry around and the rental place is close to the Ski Lift. We then bought our Ski pass for Sunday. We were all ready and prepared for an early start on Sunday!

We then headed to the only supermarket in the town and bought a few supplies for the apartment and ingredients for dinner, as it was our allocated evening to cook.

In the late afternoon the others arrived (minus 2 people as a passport was lost between flights).  They were tired after their travels but excited to be in the wintery snowy Champoluc.

After a few drinks in the pub below our accommodation, we went upstairs to cook and all had an early night ready for Sunday’s skiing.

Hubby and I got going early as we had our ski lesson booked for 9am.  We headed to the ski rental shop and got kitted out in our gear. The ski shoes felt so weird to walk in as you can’t really straighten your legs with them on and the skis are heavy to carry so it all look a while to get used to. 

Feeling a bit wobbly we headed to the ski lift which took us high up the mountain.  It was beautiful looking at the view (although it was very hazy so we could not see too far).

Going up the ski lift

We met our instructors at the ski school and started our lessons.  As Hubby had skied before (12 years ago) he picked it up quite quickly and was doing very well.  While I on the other hand, was a complete novice and struggling on the very baby slopes. The instructor was helpful and by the end of the hour I had learnt to stop (pizza slice style) and zip zag left and right, all on the baby slopes.

All kitted up

I stayed on the baby slopes the whole morning and only managed to fall once, but what a spectacular fall it was! I was on the steeper of the 3 baby slopes and my sister had just headed down before me. I started my decent and was going from side to side when I started picking up speed and could not pizza slice stop.  I shouted to my sister as I was about to fly into her and she slowed enough so that I just clipped her skis. She fell over but I flew forward onto my stomach with my hands in front of me, and my skis and legs somewhere behind me and proceeded to slide down the hill for about 20 meters with snow spraying in my face. Hubby heard me shout at my sister to move and turned around just in time to see my spectacular fall. After I assured him that I was fine we all had a good laugh. What was even worse was that it happened next to the escalator that takes the people to the top of the slope so they were all watching. And after my fall I could not get up with my skis on so I had to take them off and do the walk of shame down the slope! Ha ha, good times!

After a late lunch at the one of the restaurants at the slopes I called it a day and started the process of desending down the hill and returning my equipment to storage for the night.

It was a tough day

The 2 missing friends arrived! Amazingly the South Africa embassy in Italy were great and arranged a temporary passport and visa so they could stay and enjoy their trip. Well done SA!!!

We all went out for dinner. I ordered a pizza with parma ham, rocket and parmesan; while Hubby opted for beef and polenta. Both were very tasty and was washed down nicely with some red wine.

The gang

Sis and her Hubby



Is it a frozen tree or a fountain?  We still don't know



Monday morning was a bit of a slower start with everyone feeling a bit achy and painy after the day before. I felt exhausted and could hardly drag myself and equipment to the ski lift. I did the baby slopes again but called it a day after a couple of hours. 

The sun trying to make an appearance on the slopes

We met for lunch on the slopes and then Hubby and I had to pack our things and head back to Geneva!

On the way home

We had an awesome weekend with my Sister, her Hubby and their friends. THANKS SIS!