Into the Hidden Valley

Me, just before I left to go skiing this morning

On my day off today I was fortunate enough to catch up with some friends from back home in Sydney who are staying in Val D'Isere. The group was rather huge - 20 of them - and despite having only been here a few days, they were able to show me an absolutely amazing off-piste run called The Hidden Valley. This run is definitely not for the faint hearted. It requires the taking off and putting back on of skis many times, the skiing over of mini bridges, the abseiling through rock holes and the climbing through crevasses. But it is most certainly worth it as you ski through a beautiful little hidden area that seems barely touched, apart from the ropes left by predecessors enabling you to climb more easily.

Having accomplished this amazing adventure, we stopped for lunch before splitting off into smaller groups to do our own skiing. Nick - who is a friend from back home - and I both went off and did lots of fun off-piste powder skiing in knee-deep powder. Unfortunately I fell more than a couple of times, but it was definitely a huge amount of fun creating our own tracks and was a memorable afternoon!

On another note, earlier this week I was skiing with our chef, Robbie, and his 2 male mates and encountered another type of skiing adventure, but one that didn't end up as successfully! Robbie (who is probably going to read this so I should be careful of what I say) decided I had the capability to do a 15 foot rock jump. As the others did the jump I started to feel a bit uncomfortable about the idea of doing it myself. I wasn't the only one looking on though. The chairlift right next to the jump meant that all the passers by felt the need to add their own encouragement and yells of "you can do it", "go on, what are you waiting for" to my own internal voice that was most clearly yelling a "that's probably not the best idea". So of course I crumpled under peer pressure and did the jump. I stacked magnificently, with both skis coming off in different directions and me face planting into the snow! After about 20 minutes of climbing up the thick powder to retrieve my skis, I made it to the bottom of the snow dome and, after skiing back to the ski lift, I left the guys and shakingly skied home. Not going to do that again too soon. To be fair though, Robbie does take me to lots of fun jumps and, while I might not enjoy the 15 foot ones, I do have heaps of fun skiing with him and the other staff I work with!

Just about to head out now for some quiet drinks because it is my night off. I was a good girl last night - in bed before 10pm - so I suppose it's not too bad to head out tonight.

Feeling as though I am not being too successful in my attempts to keep in touch with everyone back home, but know that I am sending lots of love!