We landed at Geneva airport and had a transfer cab that brought us to the chalet. Despite having only 2 hours of sleep the night before, I couldn’t fall sleep en route.

When we arrived, I realized I wasn’t dressed for the environment - I wore snow boots when there were no snow at all. Thank goodness for comfortable snow boots. We checked in, bought our ski passes and rented our gears.

The accommodation was very basic; a far cry from the resort I stayed in during my first ski trip at Sweden.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the village. The village amenities were quite basic. There was only one corner shop and most restaurants were also closed because it was the end of the season.

Finally, it was dinner time. What the chalet lacked in the living quarter standards it made up in its homely and tasty food.

Day 1 - Forced out of my comfort zone

The group comprised 3 girls and 3 guys (Ben, Jer, and me). The girls did not get a ski pass for that day and took the shuttle bus to one of the main skiing villages (t2100). The plan was for the guys to ski to t2100 and rendezvous for lunch.

I started the day with some warmups, all ready for some action.

The last time I skied, I only attempted the green pistes and did not take any chair lifts. Hence, I was apprehensive at the fact the only way to t2100 was to get to one of the peaks and ski on some blue pistes. Did I have another choice? No. And that is the story of how I took my first chair lift and did my first blue piste.

When we reached t2100, Ben and Jer wanted to do some red and the girls could only do pistes that didn’t need a ski pass. As I wasn’t confident of red yet, I decided to gain some by doing a blue on my own. I was rather nervous about that decision, but that was the only option I had besides whining about it.

Confidence is key in skiing, the lack of it can trump any skiing skill. Because this is my first solo blue, I doubted myself and that was my downfall. That lack of confidence caused me to panic, fall, and dislodge my skis. It took me a while to put my skis back on the icy piste. A total of two skiers slowed down and asked me if I was OK in French. Je ne parle pas français. I gestured that I was OK and they moved on. After some difficulty, I finally restored my skis and continued the run. I took a total of about 30 minutes to get back to t2100 and was sweating profusely by the time I reached there. Nonetheless, I felt rather satisfied that I did my first non-trivial solo piste. All the pain was worth it.

We met for lunch at this nice restaurant and was served by an incredibly handsome young man who had the girls swooning over him.

After lunch, I did more blue, with more confidence this time, and made my way back to the chalet with Ben.

The way back involves doing a blue piste R, which leads to the cable car platform. The only problem was that the platform was at a higher elevation than the end of the piste, so stopping at the end of the piste means having to trek uphill in the uncomfortable ski boots for the remaining distance. We didn’t know better because it was our first time on that piste and that was exactly what happened to us. The soft snow didn’t help and made a mere 10 meters require almost 50 steps. After persevering for 50m to the platform, I made a mental note to not brake too much next time.

By the time we arrived at the chalet, I was so exhausted and dehydrated that water never tasted better. Needless to say, I gobbled the dinner like a dog.

Day 2 - Not quite there yet.

The goal for the day was to get to La Grande Motte (GM2). To get there, we needed to get to t2100, then to Val Claret (VC), then take a funicular to Grande Motte (GM1) and another cable car to the peak GM2.

I had accepted the fact that I must ski to t2100 everyday before doing any other pistes. The question is how do I get there safely. The blue to t2100 has some annoying parts that were either narrow, slushy, or flat. As a result, Ben and Jer wanted to do the red to t2100 instead, which is shorter and avoids those annoying parts.

Feeling slightly pressured, I agreed to try the red. As we made our way to the start of the red piste, fear gripped me again as I saw the banner that says: “danger, difficult”. To make matters worse, I couldn’t even see the rest of the piste from where I was. Memories of sliding down an icy piste from the first trip flooded my mind and I chickened out, taking the blue instead. I held on to my red virginity that day.

After meeting at t2100, we made our way up to VC via piste Henri. It was a nice and wide blue piste with some amazing views.

An annoying fact about t2100 and VC is that one can do a blue piste from t2100 to VC but one has to either do a black piste from VC to t2100, or three blue pistes. I was certainly not going to do the black, which meant going back from VC will take a longer time than going there.

There were people dressed in fancy costumes too. Presenting exhibit 1: Superman.

After reaching VC, we made our way up via the funicular to GM1. GM2 was closed because of the strong wind so we had to postpone our photoshoot. We chilled at GM1 before skiing down to VC. The other guys did red and the girls and I did blue.

For the rest of the afternoon, The girls and I did the three blues necessary to get to t2100, and then made our way back to the chalet. I introduced to them the rather annoying piste R leading up to the cable car. I remembered to brake less this time, but even then I still had to cover some distance. The fatigue of climbing up is very real.

Meanwhile, Jer, the most experienced skier in our group, decided to try the red leading back to our chalet instead of taking the cable car. The view is awesome but I can’t say the same for the condition of the piste.

Finally, it was time to load up on carbs for the next day.

Day 3 - Fog

By now I am comfortable with blue and I wanted to do a long but easy piste. The goal for the day was to get to Col de Frasse (CF) and take the long green and blue to VC and then make my way back as usual. The villian of the day was the weather.

Nonetheless, the girls and I went to CF while the guys went to explore a different town.

We met at VC for lunch at Aspen burger cafe. We all had the special burger which looked and tasted amazing.

We also met the resident eye candy.

For the rest of the day, most people decided to chill or go back due to the bad weather. I did the routine 3 blues to t2100 and chilled there for a bit before making my way back to the chalet with Ben.

Now that the blues are a routine to me to get back to chalet, I started timing my runs using an Android app. My first solo blue that took me 30 minute the first time only took me a mere 7 minutes now.

Something interesting happened at piste R that day. There was a boy, no older than 12 years old, at the platform who approached Ben and I because he needed to find his dad. Apparently, children are not allowed to take the cable car without adult supervision. His dad must have thought the boy could go back on his own while he continued skiing. The boy gave us a piece of paper and asked if we could help call his dad to explained the situation. We called his dad, explained the situation and waited for his dad to turn up. I thought that the boy was quite brave, to get all the way there on his own, without his dad. Kids really know no fear.

Day 4 - Overcoming the mental barrier

After the red banner incident, I told myself I would do a red by the end of the ski trip. And today is the day I plan to lose my red virginity. But first, I needed to work on my techniques.

The plan for the morning was to train on Grattalu which is a long blue that appears to be often used for lessons. Ben and Jer continued about their business of exploring other reds/blacks while the girls took it easy and had a break. One of them decided to sign up for lesson.

The nice thing about piste Grattalu is that it has a fork to a short red piste at the start. From the lift up, it looks relatively simple as well; it’s probably the steepness that makes it a red. That seemed like the perfect piste for me to start.

Right before I started the red, the same fear gripped me. At least this time there wasn’t any warning banner and I could actually see the downhill piste.

I was off to a good start but when I saw how long and steep the rest of the piste was, I lost my nerves again and fell. Luckily, my skis didn’t come off which meant no need to slide my arse down.

When I completed the piste, I felt a combination of adrenaline and a sense of satisfaction in me that made me wa’nt to do it again. Now I can say I’ve finally done a red!

We met for lunch at the restaurant with the handsome guy, but he wasn’t there that day. Needless to say, that affected the lunch experience for the girls significatly.

For the rest of the day, I worked on 2 reds and explored other blues in the area. At this point, I know I can do some red, but I was still wasn’t comfortable with red like I am with blues.

Meanwhile, this was the view from the guys.

Day 5 - Bros day out

By now I have become moderately comfortable with red pistes. It’s the penultimate day and we hadn’t skied together yet, so we decided to explore the pistes furthest from chalet together. The furthest piste starts near Mount Montet. To get to the local peak there, we had to take a T-lift, which looks like a pickaxe.

The view up there is vastly different from GM1 and GM2, it reminded me of the desert in Morocco.

But first, let us take a selfie.

And off we go! This is the point where I felt like I’ve graduated from ski school.

While making our way down to Val D’isere (VD), we came across a bear. It looked like it needed a hug, so I gave it one.

The highlight of the morning was definitely this red arcelle piste. It was long and steep, with inclination of about 16deg according to my phone,

After a full morning of reds, we arrived at VD for lunch. We sat outside because it was a lovely sunny day, and faced the piste that we just did.

I had a plat de jour which was a sea bass. It tasted delicious, especially after a workout. But, it was also rather expensive, 26EUR, just like all the other mains on the menu. I wondered whether fast food chains like McDonalds could drive prices down if they opened a branch here.

In the afternoon, we made our way back, with a couple of more exciting reds along the way. Finally, we reached our chalet and chilled until dinner.

Day 6 - Skiing together

We had another attempt at getting to GM2. It’s the last day and we wanted a group photo at the peak, and also to ski as a group.

The guys set off first to try some pistes at GM2. The plan was to meet the girls at GM1, before making our way up to GM2 together.

Although I was comfortable with red now, I was still hesitant about black. I felt that I do not have enough control when there were uneven snow. I didn’t want to risk injuring myself on the last day. Hence, while Ben and Jer did the black piste, I did the red.

At GM1, we had to wait for the girls, so I planted myself on one of these.

When the girls arrived, we made our way up and did the customary group shots.

We made our way down for lunch at our favourite Aspen burger cafe at VC. After lunch, we did a couple of nice relaxing pistes together. It was a shame we didn’t bring out our portable speakers or it could have been an even more awesome group activity.

When making our way back to t2100 from VC, we had a choice of either skiing down a black or taking the cable car. We decided to be brave and do the black because it is faster (than a cable car ordinarily). I was rather excited and nervous at the same time, but I kept my fear at bay this time.

There were a few rather steep regions, and standing at the top looking down can be quite daunting. But knowing that people were around me and having done all the reds before, I went for it.

Before I know it, it was over. I was cruising along the flat snow towards the travelator, ready to make our way back. I looked back and I couldn’t believe how high I was a minute ago, and how steep the piste was from the base of it. A sense of great accomplishment overwhelmed me.

Now that I’ve done a black, I need to find the next challenge. How about skiing with a broken ski?

As we started making our way back. I got into a small accident where I lost control and ram into a snow wall. I heard a loud crack sound that couldn’t mean anything good. The ski wasn’t as strong as I hoped. Ramming it into the wall caused an irreparable bent to the front. That wasn’t the biggest of my worries, I still had 20 minute of ski time before reaching the chalet. I had to decide whether I wanted to ski back with a broken ski or not. The thought of walking on snow with the ski boots for the next hour sounded terrifying enough that I decided to continue with the broken ski.

This was quite an experience. A broken ski allowed me to experience how each ski affected my ability to turn. With the front part of the ski bent, putting weight on that ski didn’t cause it to turn much at all, and I had to overcompensate it by delibrately adjusting the ski position to do a brake. The fun part came at piste R when I had to speed down the valley to the cable car platform. I was unwilling to walk all the way up so I decided to speed up anyway. I should hope that no one has to be forced to do that. When cruising down the piste, the effect was more apparent as I slowly started to drift to my right, to the point that my trajectory was the poles at the sides of the piste. I was also at a speed where trying to break by turning would result in a high chance of a fall. My heart really skipped a beat there as I braced myself for a fall. Luckily the uphill section slowed the ski significantly for me to navigate myself out of the situation.

The silver lining is that I had this rather nice shot of me taken, with the said ski.

Last words

Looking back, it was quite an eventful trip for me. I did my first blue, red, and black during this trip and overcame my anxieties for them. I was rewarded with the amazing views and was well fed every day. There was a fair amount of thrill to make me feel alive.