This is what we woke up tp this morning! It's the view from our hotel. R was feeling her worst yet, so she stayed home. T absolutely refused to go to ski lessons, so we let him stay in the kids' club today. We tried, but he was so miserable This is his vacation, too, and we want him to enjoy it rather than dread every morning. So the rest of us headed to the slopes, where some changes awaited.
First, it was race day for the kids' classes. S will get her results tomorrow. It was very involved, with loud speaker announcements, numbered jerseys, and a long slalom course. E's class was finally headed up the mountain on the gondola to the long pistes. His teacher brought them on a blue, but made them go down part of a very steep red, just for fun. My teacher was headed up there, too, but I wasn't interested. I'm not so confident yet that I wanted to try the things I'm not confident about on a much more difficult course. The other people in my class said they weren't feeling ready, either, despite having been in class yesterday. It seemed silly to me to pay to upgrade my pass just so I could be unhappy and uncomfortable. So I swallowed my pride and asked to move down a level. That was a very good choice! I went from a class of twelve with no useful feedback to a class of only four in which I got tons of very good instruction. I know which class I'll be with tomorrow! My new instuctor, Richard, does not need to be given a false name.
(E just told me that tonight he was talking to someone who asked about our lessons. He told her and she asked, "You don't happen to have Fritz (my original instructor), do you?" E said yes. Without any prompting she quoted Fritz, "No, Madame, no!" and confirmed that he is really awful.)
Luckily we had reserved a seat on the restaurant terrace. We ate lunch without our coats looking out over white mountains and a flawless blue sky. It was perfect. But how can it feel so warm when it is below freezing and we aren't moving?
After lunch we stopped by and saw T sledding. L was fast asleep in the stroller. T did another disappearing act which resulted in a crew of Eskimo ski instructors being sent out to search for him, but the less said about that, the better. Somehow we have to drum it into his head that he has to stay with his current adult until he is officially passed off to another! Then E, S, and I went up the mountain. E had told us about the wonderful, long, wide, shallow piste he had been on that morning with breathtaking views. It had one very short steep part, but after that it would be easier than the beginners slopes. S was raring to go. I was convinced. If it was everything E said, then I would feel like an idiot if I was too scared to even try it.
We went up the gondola then walked through a long cave to the beginning of the piste. Then the race was on. We had less than an hour to ski down to the the cable car, and then ride it back up to the gondola station in time for its last descent. Below, on the left is the slope I've been skiing all week. On the right is the beginning of the one E thought I might like. It might not show in the picture, but the one on the right is significantly steeper. Also, it is narrow and has a drop off a couple of stories high on the side.
It was very pretty, though, and S loved it. She had lots of room to go fast. I think if I took a few runs and got the lay of the land, I would like it, too. But I did not enjoy the first run. One thing that made it especially stressful was that there were so many incredibly fast skiers up there. Our trail crossed over reds, blacks, and yellows. None of the children seemed to consider the skiers downhill from them at all and had no qualms about whizzing by me or cutting me off with just inches to spare.
Speaking of close calls, we made it back in time for the last gondola down. Thank goodness. S and E might have made it down otherwise, somehow, but the only alternative for me was sleeping in a mountain restaurant or summoning a rescue helicopter. One of the coolest parts of the day for me was when we reached the bottom of the gondola. It drops us off at the top of the kiddie slope. Because the button lifts and T-bars were closed by then, and E and S went down ahead of me, I had the entire slope to myself. It was awesome! Closing the place down like that it really perfect planning. We caught the last electric shuttle (Tootmobile) back to the hotel, showered, and it was already time for dinner.
Rescue!
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