My little jaunt into Italy

Anna spent some of christmas in Val d'Isere, so Simon, Sarah and I hatched a plan to go visit and ski for a day, long 8 hour drive story short, the pass through italy to Val d'Isere is closed in the winter and google maps hates me, so we just ended up having a pizza in Italy, which was stellar by the way, and then driving back.The tunnel through Mont Blanc is about 10Km long and takes about 15 minutes to drive through, start in France, pop out in Italy.Scuzi scuzi, gratzi, bellisimo
Simon not stoked after driving 3 1/2 hours and having to pay for the mont blanc tunnel (30€) again.Mont Blanc, although technically from this side it's Monte Blanco

All in all not the greatest day ever, but we tried.

Christmas

Spent a wonderful Christmas in Les Gets with Simon's family. the house was always packed never less than 6 people and 2 dogs in 3 tiny apartments. Went snowboarding everyday but 5, the 2 before we got there, the 2 after i dislocated my shoulder and the last sunday heading back to Chambery. not a ton of photos, because like i said, i was snowboarding.

Bummer view waiting us as we arrived, with an outside tree
The trusty Holden keepin it real
The setup, not a bad hall
The "fireplace"
Many nights were spent wasted on Zelda and other Wii games
Jasper and Cleo kickin it, they're pretty good singers, just like Hailey's Charlie back in the states.
Dog kisses
Christmas king, the American was the only one to keep his hat on all through christmas dinnerThe man in blackBig discussion about whether he's stealing the stars or releasing them
Watching the fireworks display from the bottom of the piste
Vin chaud after the displayThe whole family + Lyns and her rentals.
Bummer outdoor icerink
We got snowed on halfway through the vacation, only about 3 inches at the chalet, but depending on where you went, up to a foot and a half of freshies. Me playing twinsies with Jimmy's mate Alex, sometime during the last 2 weeksWe got to watch the cat groom the pistes every night, not bad

Sledding (sledging) down to the pub is probably the best way to travel, until you get yelled off by cat drivers.

Sarah learns the shred

Sarah has snowboarding a few times last season, so this season, she trooped back out again with Simon almost everyday and started linking turns, mad props. You should have seen her bruises on her knees, snowboarding is not for the frail.
Sunsets are lame on the ChavannesWatchful eyeWorking on turnsLooking across the valley to Mont CheryA portrait of the artist as a young man

The Mexicans learn to Shred

Salim and Israel are two cousins that i go to school with, Salim and I are in the same class and pretty good buddies. They're both from Mexico City and I doubt they had seen snow before a month ago. They were so stoked to learn how to ride, so after class got cancelled, and there was 5 inches in town, we went on a little adventure.
Anna came along for some shredAnna borrowed my coat and took her turnsAll she did was get my nice new coat dirty, and make me smileSalim already looks proThese girls were making a snowoman that had defined lady partsThis is so French, walking home and you run into a protest full of teachers and studentsOn day 2 israel came a long and was an even quicker learner than SalimSeriously.... first daySecond day 180Sending photos home to the fami got my turns too, back1 front 3....to dirteven the chinese kids were stokedmy little worker bees, building a kicker for masterwe're still learning some thingsall smiles
Will Mexico give up??? NEVER!!!!!