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You are here: Home / Archives for skiing

Adventurous Chamonix: A Winter Wonderland

March 24, 2011 By Guest Blogger

Chamonix, better known as Mont Blanc, has become a real Mecca for winter and summer sports enthusiasts. Drawing in skiers and snowboarders in the winter months, the beautiful valley boasts breathtaking backdrops and fresh powder, which serves as the perfect drug for all the adrenaline junkies that visit this beautiful resort. Savour the magic that fills the Chamonix valleys when you capture the stunning scenery of the mystical peaks of Mont Blanc. Now isn’t that an image you’d like to wake up to through your bedroom window every morning?

Despite your intentions, this famous angle of the French Alps is brimming with character and a distinct charm that will certainly transform your winter holiday extravaganza. If you have no aspirations in becoming the next Eddie Eagle or conquering the monster slops Mont Blanc has to offer, you will still fall in love with this magical town. With history, culture and allure lining the picturesque streets you’ll become lost in a beautiful wilderness. Think shopping, delicate and exquisite cuisine, romantic walks and sightseeing in a town which boasts the most impressive scenery the French Alps has to offer. It’s certainly not all about the physical elements of your escape!

However, if you do feel the need for speed, Chamonix has an obscene amount of thrilling activities to offer. Whether you’re visiting as a family, a couple or a group of friends you’ll never be caught at a loose end. Apart from the obvious skiing and snowboarding opportunities, think mountain biking, paragliding, dog sledging, speed riding, ice climbing, trail running and many more exciting options available – all aiming to feed your appetite for excitement.

Worried that your lack of experience will hinder your Winter Wonderland experience? There are always options available! Naturally, there are slopes aimed at different levels of ability, but if you’re still anxious about being set loose on slopes or breaking a limb or two, Chamonix offers a range of options to make sure you feel safe and secure on your decent down some of the steepest and breathtaking slopes the world has to offer. High Mountain guides will teach you all you need to know at your own pace. Affordable and an experience in itself, meet friends along the way and sport new skills and tricks on the slopes that you learn off these friendly professionals.

Whatever your preferences, Chamonix makes the perfect winter or summer getaway destination. Whether you’re setting to throw yourself head first into a world of thrilling winter sports, or your planning on savouring the more relaxing elements this ski resort has to offer, look no further because you’ve found the perfect option to fulfil your every possible need.

It’s never to early to start planning for next winter.  Check out  My Destination Chamonix for a local travel guide including, mountain bike guides, planning tips including five free things to do in Chamonix!

Author: Hannah Copues is a young travel writer who loves nothing more than to travel and write about her experiences worldwide. Hannah has travelled to over 20 countries and is currently planning her next adventure.

Thanks to Hannah for today’s guest post.  If you’re interested in guest posting with IShouldLogOff, email us at info [at] ishouldlogoff.com.  Thanks!

Filed Under: Destinations, Europe, France Tagged With: skiing, winter sports

Bucket List Challenge: Skiing

February 18, 2011 By Jillian

Since we’re getting somewhat of a more traditional life back together now, we thought we’d keep the spirit of adventure alive through our Bucket List. So we’ve challenged ourselves to continue to regularly cross things off. Because of the time of year and the fact that it was Danny’s Birthday, the first bucket list challenge taking a ski holiday.

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Before we get too far into this let me defend myself. Yes, I’m from Pennsylvania, and yes there are ski resorts within 45 minutes of my house. The problem is my parents are from the Midwest, where people enjoy cross country skiing, not downhill. Then there is Danny, from Ft. Lauderdale, where the only skiing is done with a tow rope from a speed boat on water. Enough said. Sure we’ve skiied down a volcano and even a sand dune but snow…that was something new.

“Dude” and “You” take a lesson

We arrived at the hill just after opening and were thrilled to find out we were the only adults signed up for the morning lesson. The instructor, a typical ski bum, called Danny “dude” no less than half a dozen times in the first 20 minutes, leaving me to be named “you” for the lesson. “You,” she asked me, “Why can’t you pick up your feet? This isn’t the Olympics.” As I looked around at the other lessons, I saw four year olds advancing faster than us.  Thirty minutes in, we had progressed to allowing gravity to pull us slowly down a 2% incline.  Progress it seemed, would take time.

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Figuring there was no way we’d be “hitting the slopes” that day, I was shocked when no more than three minutes later she ordered us to the ski lift. “Shit,” I thought, as I struggled to the lift, unable to propel myself through the snow with any sort of grace or speed.  Sure enough, I ignored almost all the instructions our ski bum had given us and arrived at the chair freaking out. Fortunately the resort was practically empty (a benefit of going during the week) and chair lift guy stopped the lift to allow me on.  Humiliating to say the least.  Flopping back into the chair lift, with the safety bar down I reminded myself it was “just like the sky ride at Disney World.”

Thrilled to have escaped injury or death on the chair lift, we made our way to the slope where ski bum worked on our “wedge” and promptly took away our polls. Wedging down the slope, we made it in one piece, and headed back to the chairlift, where we passed the 4 year olds whose learning curve had slowed drastically. This time, without our polls again, we learned to turn, and a third time to go faster.  By the time we were at the bottom for the third time I had built up enough confidence and our day began in earnest.

And then it got interesting…

Hitting the steeper run wasn’t so bad…until I hit the steep part. At that point, some rather unlady like words audibly escaped my lips and I pretty much freaked out until half way down when I realized I wasn’t going to die. Of course, I never admitted this to my husband, instead I agreed to do it a second and a third time, each time willing myself not to crash and burn before the bottom.

As we hit steeper slopes our mantra changed from repeating “I’m not in control, I’m not in control” to “Keep the wedge, I can do this, sharper turns, stop there.” Even though I had asked the ski bum if there was a proper way to fall – she advised just to ‘go with it’ and make it ‘spectacular’ – we really didn’t have but a couple of fairly minor missteps as we continued to larger slopes…even trying a couple of jumps at the end of the day. (We did however pass on the route labeled double back diamond.) It was a fun day and I look forward to working up to bigger hills and perhaps one day a real mountain, but now I’m content crossing one item off our Bucket List.

IF YOU GO: If you live in any kind of vicinity to some slopes, you can probably find a cheap place to do what we did by doing an Internet search for “inexpensive ski resorts near” and add in a zip code or a city name. We found an article by a local news station that featured at least 10 sites and we chose the closest one, which also happened to be the cheapest. The whole day (lessons, tickets, equipment) only cost us $70 total for both people, mostly thanks to the generous midweek specials. The hills though were not mountains which made them great places to learn on but not a place to spend a week by any means. If we go back, we’ll likely take snowboard lessons.

Filed Under: Bucket List, Headline, USA Tagged With: bucketlist, skiing

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