New Year was spent in Le Grande Terche, a ski village south of Morzine in the French Alps where this Adventurer happens to be lucky enough to own an apartment.
It is part of the Porte Du Solaire one of the most expansive ski regions in the world. However Le Grande Terche is a small family resort consisting of one black, three reds and three blue ski runs. In the village it has three bars and three restaurants. A friend Gavin and his girlfriend came to visit for the New Years festivities.
The evening started badly, I had roasted a chicken for dinner prior to tearing up the village at midnight. Even Gavin a kick boxing coach could not beat the toughest bird any of us had ever encountered. Not to be deterred Champagne was opened and the EFS (French ski school) set off the evening with a touch lit descent followed by an early fireworks display. The fireworks were set off early due to health and safety reasons, i.e. nobody could be trusted to be sober enough at midnight to light the fireworks. Now that is the kind of health and safety I agree with.
The last time I was out with Gavin he had worn a ‘Morph’ outfit to the public house we were visiting, much to the amusement of all patrons. It was no surprise therefore that after the Champagne he produced face paints explaining he could not get the Captain America outfit into his luggage. Once suitable attired we went off to paint if not the town, then the New Year revellers red, green, yellow and blue.
At 4am after a night of partying where at one time we had a cue of revellers waiting to have their face painted we decided to call it a day and slopped off to bed.
For the next few days paint was found on sheets, table clothes, towels etc. people we met that night came up to us shaking our hands wishing us Happy New Year, or shaking their heads and running in the opposite direction. What a couple of pounds spent on face paint can do is truly remarkable.
New Years day, a little jaded we approach the pieste for the real excitement of the holiday. Gavin and I set off to teach the debutant girls how to snow plough on the green slope before lunch. To our great delight both girls seemed to pick up the basics quickly leaving us to try a little more difficult slope in the afternoon.
Now I am quite a reasonable skier as one would expect of the Adventurer who owns an apartment in the French Alps. I was taught by my cousins who were in the Canadian ski team. So I had a quick look at Gavin’s style told me he was an intermediate skier with lots of fitness and upper body strength to get him out of trouble. I took him straight off pieste and watched him slip down the mountain on his back side.
Tough chicken? If there is one thing that annoys me, its people who criticize my cooking!
It is part of the Porte Du Solaire one of the most expansive ski regions in the world. However Le Grande Terche is a small family resort consisting of one black, three reds and three blue ski runs. In the village it has three bars and three restaurants. A friend Gavin and his girlfriend came to visit for the New Years festivities.
The evening started badly, I had roasted a chicken for dinner prior to tearing up the village at midnight. Even Gavin a kick boxing coach could not beat the toughest bird any of us had ever encountered. Not to be deterred Champagne was opened and the EFS (French ski school) set off the evening with a touch lit descent followed by an early fireworks display. The fireworks were set off early due to health and safety reasons, i.e. nobody could be trusted to be sober enough at midnight to light the fireworks. Now that is the kind of health and safety I agree with.
The last time I was out with Gavin he had worn a ‘Morph’ outfit to the public house we were visiting, much to the amusement of all patrons. It was no surprise therefore that after the Champagne he produced face paints explaining he could not get the Captain America outfit into his luggage. Once suitable attired we went off to paint if not the town, then the New Year revellers red, green, yellow and blue.
At 4am after a night of partying where at one time we had a cue of revellers waiting to have their face painted we decided to call it a day and slopped off to bed.
For the next few days paint was found on sheets, table clothes, towels etc. people we met that night came up to us shaking our hands wishing us Happy New Year, or shaking their heads and running in the opposite direction. What a couple of pounds spent on face paint can do is truly remarkable.
New Years day, a little jaded we approach the pieste for the real excitement of the holiday. Gavin and I set off to teach the debutant girls how to snow plough on the green slope before lunch. To our great delight both girls seemed to pick up the basics quickly leaving us to try a little more difficult slope in the afternoon.
Now I am quite a reasonable skier as one would expect of the Adventurer who owns an apartment in the French Alps. I was taught by my cousins who were in the Canadian ski team. So I had a quick look at Gavin’s style told me he was an intermediate skier with lots of fitness and upper body strength to get him out of trouble. I took him straight off pieste and watched him slip down the mountain on his back side.
Tough chicken? If there is one thing that annoys me, its people who criticize my cooking!
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