![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I have returned from a week in Val d'Isère, and jolly pleasant it was, too. My thanks to the very kind ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fintlewoodlewix for the accommodation! Co-conspirators were drpete & mmcpoland - amongst other non-LJers - and I managed a few drinks with reverendjim, pingopark, lostcarpark and jamesb - but not, alas, madangie, despite my appeals.
I've spent roughly 2½ days learning to snowboard, which involves falling over more often than you can possibly imagine, sometimes very painfully, & another 2½ days learning cross-country skiing, which is much the same but the scenery and company are better.
Snowboarding apparently revolves around intentionally throwing yourself down steep hills at high speed on a low-grip surface, on a rudimentary vehicle with no brakes and no safety features whatsoever. I actually found the part about getting it to move at high speed while staying upright on it and avoiding obstacles to be relatively easy - it's just not remotely enjoyable. This may be because my stopping technique from speed or on any kind of slope consists of violently throwing myself at the ground. I may resume my efforts but I doubt I am going to be a convert.
The XC is much more fun and doing it in good company is even better. Val offers 3 Pistes de Fond and while I only explored two, they were delightfully scenic and even have proper parallel grooves laid down to facilitate things for beginners. Alas, if you're some 6' tall, your skis will be over 2m long and thus tend to pop out of the groove on all but the gentlest of curves. If one is heading downhill at the time, this tends to result in a sudden significant increase in the angle and speed of one's downhill movement, followed by complete cessation of all movement except feeble twitching. This is usually rather painful. Apart from that one does rather get the feeling of being a sort of human Scalextric car, but it's all good clean healthy outdoors fun.
Which is doubtless why, after 5 days of intense aerobic exercise at 1,850m altitude in temperatures around -5°C, I succumbed to my typical deep-lung Hæmolytic Streptococcus infection and spent the last 2d in bed. [Sigh] Less fun.
Still, back here and back to the grind... And tonight: Skeptics in the Pub! Come along!
fintlewoodlewix for the accommodation! Co-conspirators were drpete & mmcpoland - amongst other non-LJers - and I managed a few drinks with reverendjim, pingopark, lostcarpark and jamesb - but not, alas, madangie, despite my appeals. I've spent roughly 2½ days learning to snowboard, which involves falling over more often than you can possibly imagine, sometimes very painfully, & another 2½ days learning cross-country skiing, which is much the same but the scenery and company are better.
Snowboarding apparently revolves around intentionally throwing yourself down steep hills at high speed on a low-grip surface, on a rudimentary vehicle with no brakes and no safety features whatsoever. I actually found the part about getting it to move at high speed while staying upright on it and avoiding obstacles to be relatively easy - it's just not remotely enjoyable. This may be because my stopping technique from speed or on any kind of slope consists of violently throwing myself at the ground. I may resume my efforts but I doubt I am going to be a convert.
The XC is much more fun and doing it in good company is even better. Val offers 3 Pistes de Fond and while I only explored two, they were delightfully scenic and even have proper parallel grooves laid down to facilitate things for beginners. Alas, if you're some 6' tall, your skis will be over 2m long and thus tend to pop out of the groove on all but the gentlest of curves. If one is heading downhill at the time, this tends to result in a sudden significant increase in the angle and speed of one's downhill movement, followed by complete cessation of all movement except feeble twitching. This is usually rather painful. Apart from that one does rather get the feeling of being a sort of human Scalextric car, but it's all good clean healthy outdoors fun.
Which is doubtless why, after 5 days of intense aerobic exercise at 1,850m altitude in temperatures around -5°C, I succumbed to my typical deep-lung Hæmolytic Streptococcus infection and spent the last 2d in bed. [Sigh] Less fun.
Still, back here and back to the grind... And tonight: Skeptics in the Pub! Come along!
