Calligraphy in Les Contamines
Lone Ski Calligraphy Track...
please click on picture for larger image.
We were engulfed in high pressure cloud in the lower valley, but above us the webcams were showing brilliant sunshine! which is a normal occurance in these parts. We decided to go to Les Contamines today. The skiing is fantastic there… everywhere you look it’s skiable, on piste, off piste, everywhere! The only thing is, Les Contamines can get very, very cold as it’s North, North East facing, so when it’s cold, and there’s a Northerly blowing, it’s perishing! There aren’t too many bins/cable car lifts about, they are mainly chairlifts, so it can be extremly exposed in an icy cold wind. On a cold day, you really need to wrap up warm, or go somewhere else?! But on a warmish day, it’s just brilliant! Today, was one of those days! – We had a great time skiing, all over the place, drinking in the awesome views (even living here, we never tire of the views, they just get better!) We have a bit of a Les Contamines ritual, that whenever we ski here, we always make our way to the ‘Restaurant at the End of the Universe’ ok, ok, I jest! but I can’t remember the name of the place, only that they do the best French Onion Soup in the whole of Christendom! you get my (snow) drift?! The snow is really well preserved on this side of the mountain, purely because of the altitude, and North Easterly position, it keeps it in great condition. There are snow dunes, and corniches, it’s a very dramatic landscape, not easy trying to capture it on camera, it doesn’t do it justice. I just loved this shot of the Lone Ski track, (I thought it was a Board track, until on closer inspection you can see the pole plants, and a section of division between two skis.) Years ago I used to do calligraphy, and it reminded me so much of the strokes the paint brush, or pen nibs I used to use made, almost identical!
Again, we had a lovely time of it, making our own tracks…. Towards the afternoon, and heading back, down the mountain, as the sun was lowering, and shadows lengthening, we were joined by ‘rent-a-crowd!’ don’t know where they all came from, one minute we were on our own the next we were in the midst of a merry ski-a-throng! quite funny really. On the way we passed a mini ski-jump, for the babies, it was a joy watching the tiny tots, ski jumping! The instructor was demonstrating, by ’assuming the position’ and they did it so well. I tried to get some shots, but sadly didn’t quite catch them in the air! Some more pics in the gallery. If you’d like to see where exactly Les Contamines is, please take a look at the Piste Map.
