weekend du snow

Jianhui came over to visit for the weekend, and we went snowboarding yesterday. Not by choice, but rather out of default as we struggled to find somewhere to go/something to do to no avail on Friday. Probably because we were so last minute in our search. (We wanted to go to either Mont Blanc or Turin, but there were no trains to the former, and it was too expensive to go to the latter.)

Friday night came and went, and by Saturday morning when we woke up, we were still pretty clueless as to where to go and what to do. To make matters worse, it was already drizzling and it looked like it was going to be a wet and dreary day ahead.

In the end, we decided to head up to the mountains, either to snowboard or to snowshoe (snow-hiking), in the hope that the weather would be better above cloud cover. =)

Went to the Gare Routière to get our bus tickets. Jianhui had already gone skiing at Chamrousse the day before and I had pretty much visited most of the Oisans area before, so we settled on the Vercors region for our virgin snowboarding experience.

The bus ride was pretty short, and although we left Grenoble only about noon, we were up at our intended destination, Lans-en-Vercors by 1330. Got our snowboard equipment pretty quickly, and instead of heading up to the ski/snow resort proper, we went to Parc de loisirs de l'Aigle, a small but well equipped snow park. We figured out that since we were beginners, there was not much difference in the location where we snowboarded, as long as the basic facilities were there and that we had more time to snowboard. It helped too that the park fees were also considerably lower as compared to the resort fees! =P

first views of the village

ready and raring to go

Snowboarding turned out to be a great choice for the day. Even though it seemed at the beginning that it would (literally) be an uphill task learning how to snowboard, I found it relatively easy as compared to skiing. Of course I kept sliding around and falling uncontrollably, but it was only for the first few runs, unlike skiing, where until now I have no idea how to do it correctly. For snowboarding, I managed to get the hang of it and was able to execute switchback turns after a while. I guess its easier with just one board as compared to two skis and two batons!

snowboard poseur

jianhui

Based on what we had read on the internet and by observing the other snowboarders at the park, we spent the entire afternoon perfecting the basic snowboarding moves. I was glad that this time, the park was pretty empty save for a couple of kids so it meant that I would have a lesser chance of actually killing somebody. Heh. It was also less tiring this time because there was a travellator installed on the slopes, in addition to the usual téléskis. It was much easier going up the slopes on these travellators (just like those you get at Changi airport), as compared to walking up or taking the téléskis as I am pretty sure that I would not be able to survive the ride up on the téléskis on my snowboard!

The only complain that I have is that unlike the other time I went skiing, I did not have proper ski pants. I borrowed a pair of "water resistant" pants from a friend, and since I had to sit down very frequently to affix my board to my boots, it was no surprise that my pants got wet pretty quickly! In the end, my wet pants combined with the cold air wreaked much havoc on my nether regions, right until the end of the day when I finally took off my pants back home. Really ball-shrinking cold! =(

me coming down

jianhui's turn

trying the humps!


getting the hang of it at the end

at the end of the day

Après-snow is an important part of the snowboarding experience, and so we adjourned for some fondue and tartiflette (both regional specialities) after reaching back in Grenoble. Roanna joined us for dinner at this popular restaurant Altitude 4810 (4810 for 4810m, the height of Mt Blanc, the highest peak in Europe). Dinner was great and both Jianhui and me stuffed ourselves silly after a long cold day of snowboarding. After that we even managed to hit the Estancot for some drinks before heading home.

Finally time for some TLC for my aching buttocks!!! =D

delectable spread

satiated diners

à l'Estancot

All in all, it was a great day and I liked how things turned out from zero to hero. Now, the question would be whether to go snowboarding again before the season closes..

Should I? =P

Anyway, check out Jianhui's account of the day here.