Fette des Lumières (Winterfest Part 2)

Simon and I were slightly rushed getting back home, so we left after just a short chat with his parents. We drove back down through the storm, through clous, i napped, probably snored. And arrived at my apartment around 4 pm. I went in for a quick shower and ran over to the bust stop at the prefecture to catch our ride to Lyon for the Festival of Lights. I napped again for about a half hour on the bus and we still hadn't left chambery. everyone else was on the other bus except Emma, Alison and Leslie. so we finally left. I napped again, and awoke pulling into Lyon around 6. we hopped out and proceeded to not know where the heck we were, what we were doing or where were supposed to go.

After finding a hot dog stand and getting some dinner, we followed the crowd to a massive square, the center of the party, and proceeded to enjoy the fette des lumieres for the night.

Always good to come across something like thisThese were French Native Americans, hmm, i don't know how that works but whatevsThis was the centre of town, a massive square with this ferris wheelAnna is so photogenicIt was pretty cool
Europa Rad, it's just that simple. This was the giant dangling-fish-light thing, probably the coolest one we stumbled across.and it changed colorsEverybody was stoked on itSarah and Anna being stoked on each other
Simon eyeing exotic men's underwear, this 5o-something french couple walked by and she dragged her man back to look at them, and I asked her if she liked any of themVin chaud is awesome, just like the name says its hot wine, but with some fruit in it sometimesI guess the guy at the cotton candy place really liked EmmaSimon's was taller but still not as big as Emma's
Simon stoked on his find
Hilde told us that cotton candy is also called Grandfather's Beard or something like that in Norwegian.
To each his own GrrrrrCoolest idea for a restaurant/bar ever!!! this place was packedSweet Onion chicken Teriyaki's on Parmesan Oregano, just aren't the same in FranceSalim told me this photo looks like a face , i think it would be rad if my mouth glowedAnother fun thing to stumble across, but not when you're already coldMmmmm, warm food, Hilde picking and choosingAnna picked a Nutella WaffleDrinking, on the street, with your friends, next to police men and first aid people, legally, awesome.cool building next to our drinking spotThis is the same castle that i shot photos of in my earlier Lyon post
Emma and the castle
Anna and the church across the river, the church kept changing colors, but i couldn't get any good shotsRight after it took 12 cops to arrest one kid on a scooterAnd as always we ended up in the pub

After a brisk walk back to the bus, standing around for a half hour waiting, a long traffic jam drive back to Chambery, and an arrival at 3:30 am, a walk back to the apartment and a meal with Emma and Alison around 4:30, I did not get to sleep until 6 am.

Day 2, Les Gets (Winter Fest Part 1)

I had been itching to ride again since i let Simon down the last time we made plans, and i ended up missing out on an apparently great day at Val Thorens. However, that day ended in a flat tire and a long wait, so missed out on that too.

So Simon and I were determined to get this thing goin on Saturday, we made plans on Monday and didn't see each other again until friday night at 11pm at a Bar! solidified the plans over a few beers and around 1 am decided we should go to bed if we were really going to get up at 6, be out of chambery by 7 at lifts with passes by 9 riding until 2, and leaving so we could be home to catch the bus to lyon at 5pm. WHEW!!! tight schedule.

So we were asleep by 2 up at 6:30 at my house by 7 slightly late, but still good. until i came downstairs with my gear to a dead car! engine turning over, lights were on, whats up? after searching around the deserted street at 7am on a saturday, down to the service station, simon ran down a french guy to give us a jump, on the road by 8! had to head back to simon's cause he forgot something, on the road by 8:30!!! got up to Clous and justout of clous had to put on chains, yeah there was some snow. got up to simon's parents place around 10....

The road into the Clinch chalet, 3 feet easy. that's the snowgun on the piste, shot from the garage

The cabin right behind there's yeah the chalet's pretty close, and it's right infront of a flat spot, so you get to see some pretty fun stuff when people get stuck

The trail from the chalet to the piste, 100m in 3 ft of snow, toughest bootpacking i've done since silverton last season.The only sun that came out, just as we left.

Rode mostly with Jo all day, who deserves a mention for killing it in such heavy snow. Great day, not a lot of people, still riding fresh on the last run. Almost too much snow. AWESOME second day! especially since we only rode one lift all day and there's 5 others on this side of the valley.

Lyon

Last Wendesday, on a whim, Anna and i hopped a train to Lyon to kill an afternoon. It's only about an hour away, but the ticket was 30€. We ended up running into a fire, finding a subway getting denied and finding another one so that i could eat my sweet onion chicken teriyaki, booyah. curiously named electric company in Lyon.This was a funky little fountain on a nice part of town, no cars allowed just a large walking area with shops and a little winter expose. This same expose was in chambery just a few days before, fake cross-country skiing for kids. lame. In chambery they did have a little slope for teaching kids how to, good crashes, oh yes, entertaining. Chambery however, did not have a fake tubing hill, which is a rad idea. Bummer sunset
This is a cool castle overlooking the town, more pictures of this castle in the Fette Des Lumières post.
It's got a nice little tower to accompany, overshadowed by construction.
same thing
this is a rad little bridge we crossed to get back to the train station, this is about 5 seconds before i jumped on it making it sway and the old french guy said somethin i didn't understand but will translate as «Little hooligan!»

A nice trip to kill sometime, got to do a little shopping too. Thanks Anna!

Mont Caly Pano

This is one of the first pano's i've done, this was on the hike with simon's family on Mont Caly in Les Gets, not a great pano, but gives you a good idea of whats goin on

I believe that the large mountain on the left is Mont Blanc, highest in france at 4807m or 15,770ft.

Thanksgiving

So Thanksgiving....second video blog (cause the first one didn't work)


So Happy Thanksgiving to all the family, and to all the people here who let me in on their little celebration, Lee, Allison, all the kids on the 4th floor at the Alps house, and those darned canadians.

New Shred Stick

There was a thrift store sale, which here they call "charity shops", specifically for snow stuff, however i missed the first three days, so i got some pretty slim pickings, there was one monoski and 4 snowboards left. so for 25€ this is going to be my new splitboard!!


It was either this or a huge thing called a Clem Surf, it had a Huge fat pointy powder nose, but it was pretty beat up, i'm hoping that once i take off those hardboot binders, this thing won't weigh 20 lbs.

Monte Caly

With the English weekend, we spent Sunday afternoon hiking up to Monte Clary, which is the other half of the Les Gets resort. Since there had been a warm spell, the roads were clear enough to get up to this little village on the ridge and walk the rest of the way. the village had maybe 10 houses and one bar/restaurant. It was not a bad hike at all, and the sun was out and it was pretty warm. once again, this is only a handful of the photos i took.

Not a bad view to star the hike off, actually I don't know why i went any higher.
The whole family, John, Dorothy, Jo, Simon, Sarah, Jasper & Cleo
Jasper & Cleo running amok
Simon's dad John very content with his Sunday afternoon
Simon and Jasper
Simon and Jojo
Once again, why did we keep walking
Oh by the way, all this terrain is apparently skiable in the winter, so cheers. here's a bench marked for the snow, so you can have a nice view halfway down the hill
Don't remember what we were talking about here, but I'm assuming we were looking for the Chalet on the other side of the valley
And I have no idea what was in that direction
Admiring the view again
Simon & Sarah, same thing
It wasn't exactly the easiest hike ever
Once again, enjoying what you've left behind
Always pointing somewhere
Meanwhile the dogs are searching for moles and mice, they caught one in the end, sorry i wasn't close enough to get a good shot though
Little water for the dogs, but I'm pretty sure that snow dehydrates you, oh well
Jasper and Cleo being pretty stoked on the break
This is where they all gave upSimon and I kept going
this is as close to the to pas we got, we were 1 crest away, and about 300 ft. below the summit
Sarah and Jo, found them where we left them
The photographer has to have his picture taken
Newt and Harold's going international, didn't you get the memo?
Glamour Shot, I forgot to say we brought a windmachine with us, or I could crack a joke about Sonic the Hedgehog
A Mum being a Mum, and carrying all our stuff
Another pause on the way down, the siblings
Had to jump a little creek at the bottom, ACTION SHOTS!!!! blah!
Most remote bar i've ever seen
Just a man with his dog in the mountains, not bad
Not a bad finale


The hike was rad, the weekend was amazing, and I had a great time. Thanks again to the Clinchs.