Tuesday 5th of March – after snow comes sunshine!
It’s day 3 of our skiing holiday and yesterday was a bit of an off day. Dad pulls open the curtains open of the apartment and the sun pours in like we’re somewhere on a tropical island! I can’t open my eyes it’s so bright.
We have breakfast and start getting ready for a new day. Although I don’t have any dualski lessons today and mom can’t ski yet due to her knee injury, we still decide it’s best if the whole family goes up the mountain. That way, brother and dad can ski and I can spend time in the sun again with mom at the Pano Bar.
Dad goes off first, he still needs to get mom her skies and her ski-pass back from the mountain rescue office and needs to settle the insure stuff after mom’s fall yesterday afternoon. After he’s returned to the apartment we all walk together towards the ski-lift again and the sky is as blue as the ocean. Mom is walking at my tempo now which is fine by me.
At the middle station we already say goodbye to Tibo and dad who take the second lift to the glacier at the top of the mountain while we will stay here at the middle station. Mom and I make our way down to the Pano Bar where we arrive shortly after 10 AM. The bartender recognizes us from the previous two days and mom orders a coffee while we settle into our usual spot.
As opposed to yesterday, this is a beautiful day. People come and go and I get a lot of attention from people we’ve never met before in our lives but are interested in me. We spend some time talking to an English family and show them the video of my downhill adventures of day one – they are very impressed with me and love the fact that I get to experience this all despite my disability.
Around 1.30 PM dad and Tibo join us again. The place is crowded with people and my brother is so hungry he could eat a horse. No Mac and Cheese this time for him… after standing in line in the restaurant for over 30 minutes he comes back with a hamburger and some french fries. Dad seems to like the fries too, he says to go very well with his large beer. It’s good that they get the calories in because this afternoon, he and Tibo are going to the Snow Park Area. Tibo wants to practice jumping with his snowboard so they set off again right after lunch to return around 4 PM for another bit of mountain madness with the DJ of the Pano Bar.
By 5PM we’re all back down in the village. Mom and I took the ski-lift down while dad an Tibo took the slopes down. After putting their skiing gear back in concession at the rental store and freshened up we decide to walk around a little in town and do some souvenir shopping. We stop for groceries and head back to the apartment for dinner. While mom and dad do the dishes and Tibo is catching up on some schoolwork on his computer, I fall asleep – another day has gone by and although I didn’t get to dualski today, I enjoyed the laid back pace of today just as much. all work and no play makes Jerom a dull boy – as the saying goes.
Wednesday 6th of March – Chilling in the village
The room is completely red as the sun shines through the red curtains into the apartment. Tibo and I are still in bed and dad is trying to be as quiet as possible, which is not easy when weighing over 100 kilo. The coffee is simmering and the smell fills the apartment again. Dad decided to go out for fresh croissants early this morning and we enjoy our lengthy breakfast.
Today, mom and I will stay in town. Although it’s sunny outside, the weather forecast is predicting some clouds and snow this afternoon so Tibo and dad are going up the mountain on their own today. As I’m not coming today, they have to get in line to get onto the ski-lift. Tibo is not happy about this so dad feels the urge to give another one of his lectures on how “habituation” is an illness that makes us forget all too fast how lucky we really are when we get to cut the line because of my disability. I can’t image this lecture made the 30 minutes wait any shorter for my brother but by that time, mom and I were already exploring the town.
Comfortably in my stroller we go from one shop to the other and explore the whole village together. Mom decides to have a coffee at a cozy bar that has nice and warm fire elements in their outside tables. I get to warm my hands before we go and explore some more. Mom buys some more gifts for the family back home – her sister is days away from having her first baby so she gets the baby a nice and soft stuffed animal and has it gift wrapped. She is very excited about this because her sister asked her to be the godmother of her firstborn. She’s so proud! And I’m obviously very happy too as I am going to have a new nephew! Yes, it’s a boy – I can tell you that already!
When dad and Tibo arrive back down in the afternoon Mom and I are on the bottom of the slope waiting for them. As we see them coming downhill I can’t wait until tomorrow when I’ll be skiing with them again. The dualski is great fun but there are only 4 professionals able to work with them in Les Deux Alpes – the village has a total capacity of roughly 30000 skiers so with only 4 available teachers they are fully booked all week as I’m clearly not the only person with a disability here. I’m feeling very privileged to be able to have 4 personal sessions in one week – djeez – now I’m starting to sound like my dad 🙂
After my bath and getting ready, we go out to have dinner at a restaurant tonight. It’s a cozy place where they serve stone-grill that mom discovered this afternoon. She reserved us a table at 7PM. As we settle in to have our dinner the place is filling up – good thing we made reservations! The food is delicious and although Mom had already fed me a warm meal at the apartment during lunch-time, I don’t let the opportunity pass to help finish the overwhelming dish of mixed meat and potatoes the family is indulging in.
After dinner we walk of the calories on our way back to the apartment – well at least the rest of family is… I’m comfortably in my stroller and hanging on to the extra calories. I’ll need them tomorrow when I get to dualski again!
Thursday 7th of March – Time to hit the slopes again
No sunshine today. It snowed all night and everything is covered in fresh snow today. After breakfast we head towards the ski-lift again. I don’t mind getting my shoes wet in this snow, on the contrary – this is fun! Although I can imagine mom is not enjoying it much this time. Her knee still hurts but the pain meds are doing their thing.
While mom and I settle in the middle station, dad and Tibo hit the snow park again. Tibo is getting really good at jumping and dad seems to spend more time taking pictures and videos of him instead of skiing himself. At the middle station we have to sit inside, the snowfall must of been huge last night as the terrace is pilled up with snow and the Pano team is working hard to clear it all.
We are starting to get into everyday rituals it seems. Around lunchtime dad and Tibo arrive back at the middle station for a quick lunch and around 12.15PM dad heads down to the village to meet with Valentin. They take the ski lift back up to the middle station and pick me up at the Pano Bar. No more hustling up and down the mountain – this is starting to feel like a real limo-service for me.
We set off to the nearest lift to take us halfway up the glacier. Clearly Valentin decided it’s time for dad to spend some more time behind the dual-ski so every slope that is not too steep or too crowded, dad takes over. Alldough the weather is not to brilliant, there is very little wind and the occasional sun rays are much appreciated. As the snow is fresh it’s great going fast with Valentin again.
As the afternoon passes and the three of us are having great fun on the slopes, mom is heading back down to the village with the ski-lift. We agreed to meet her down at half past 2 and as we approach the bottom of the slopes she’s already there waving at us. I’m giggling and laughing – this was a great experience again and I loved it.
As Tibo lifts me out of the dualski and sets me down on a bench I can’t hide my enthusiasm. Mom is clearly excited too! We say our goodbyes to Valentin, dad and Tibo store away their ski gear and we head back to the apartment. I spend the afternoon with Tibo in the apartment while mom and dad head back to the first slope. After her knee injury, mom wants to try if she could ski again. That way she might be able to come with me on my last run tomorrow.
About 2 hours later mom and dad are back… it didn’t work 🙁 Mom her knee still hurts too much although I sure the muddy snow at the bottom slope didn’t help much either… It’s a pity she won’t be able to ski with me tomorrow on our last day but I know dad still has a little surprise up his sleeve for her tomorrow.
While they were away, mom and dad also went grocery shopping, tonight we have spaghetti on the menu and boy, do I love spaghetti!
After dinner we watch some tv before finally going to bed. It was a wonderful day again and I can’t wait until tomorrow. It’s a pity that it will be my last run in the dualski but I’m sure I’m going to love every single minute of it… and for the tomorrow, the weather forecast is looking great and dad still has a surprise up his sleeve… I’m really curious to find out what that might be! Hope you are too because you’ll be able to read all about the apotheosis of my first skiing trip in the 3rd and final part of this blog. So stay tuned!
Hope you enjoyed reading this and enjoy the weekend!
C U Soon!
Jerom