Cross-country skiing

The Ecole de Ski Français here in Megève (French Ski School) has been putting on a demonstration of cross-country skiing every Monday night for the last couple of weeks. The other Monday I was working but Adrian had the night off so he gave it a go and thought it was so much fun that I should have a try the following week. It was a bit iffy in terms of how much snow was left (it was in the middle of town and we haven’t had snow in aaaaages), but luckily they were foolhardy enough to put it on so we headed on down. We conned Ed, our new Ski Royale recruit and fellow driver/chambermaid, to come with us and try his hand as well – he’s a fellow snowboarder so I didn’t feel too bad about embarrassing myself in front of someone else who can’t ski to save themselves!

Swapped over the shoes for some random soft bootie-like things with hard clips on the edge and headed over to get fitted for some skis. They’re about as tall as you are, but only about 5cm across which makes it pretty hard to get your balance! I had a French instructor helping me out and we palmed Ed off on the poor English speaking instructor who had had to deal with Adrian the previous week as well… (I hope she gets paid well!)

When you’re on the flat it’s kind of like walking (because you’re in the grooves that have already been made by other skiers), but uphill you have to use your poles a lot more and then downhill was a bit interesting! I got to grips with snow ploughing in the end though!


Couldn’t really handle the whole ‘skating’ across on the flat (when you ski without the pre-made grooves) but on the whole it was heaps of fun and a big shout out to those ever patient instructors!



As well as the skiing they had a place where you could try shooting (so, trying the entire winter biathlon competition where they cross-country ski and then shoot at targets at different points along the course). I hadn’t shot an air rifle before and was totally up for it! It was pretty easy lying down when you could steady yourself (I got 5/5 of my targets!) but standing up it was a different story completely…(I think only 2/5 there).

I could definitely consider doing the rifle range again, but I think I’ll stick with the snowboard thanks! Check out all the photos here.