Tignes, France

Skiing in the French Alps was absolutely amazing! We had good snow the entire six days, and we had two really big powder days. The entire skiable area is above the tree line, which was a bit strange at first, but gorgeous. We skiied the six days straight from about 9am to 4pm, usually with a quick break for lunch. By the end of our trip I was exhausted and my shins were very sore!

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You can't ski without fuel. We ate one traditional French meal while we were there, and it was raclette. The name both refers to the cheese itself and the dish, and derives from the french verb 'to scrape,' which makes a lot of sense. The cheese is placed under heat lamps, and as it bubbles and becomes gooey, you scrape it onto your plate, on top of potatoes and slices of meat. It's kind of like a more active form of cheese fondue! Here it is before (placed under two heat lamps), a picture of Lindsey scraping one side off, and the final product. We tried really hard, but we just couldn't finish it!

This was the underground ski lift/tunnel that went up the mountain- it was warm and really fast!

This was our first run on the first big powder day. You'll have to ask Lindsey how much fun it is to search for your skiis once you lose them in powder! The last picture is her attempt to hike out of it- that didn't last too long.

I can't explain how cool it was to be skiing amongst such scenery, although I took many pictures in an attempt to pass the feeling on to others. It's hard to capture the 360 degree scenario, but nonetheless, here are my attempts.

A few of Lindsey and I,

One with Tignes in the distance,

A few from the top of the glacier,

In this picture I was trying to capture the hundreds of lines through the fresh powder on this hillside,

This is the natural arch that I fell in love with, and just had to ski through. This, however, would require a bit of hiking...

From the top of an off-piste area we were about to ski. The French kindly translated the important signs like this one. Don't worry, the snow was fine.

And finally, just a few more scenery shots...

Guess what? It turns out I like the Alps!