Alp d'Huez. Another great days skiing.

Day 6.

The last day of any holiday is never good, but for me I feel its even worse on a ski holiday. You just always wish you had skied a bit further and faster in the preceding days, this holiday felt no different to previous ski holidays, but there's no point on dwelling on what could have been. In reality we have had a fantastic time, I really felt that the demise of the ski group holiday was tragic, and I wondered if it was the end our skiing holidays, but why on earth would it have been....the ski group will be back in one form or another in the future, of that I am sure, I will do my level best to see to that lads, you would love Alp d'Huez!!

Yesterday, the French prime minister Emmanuel Macron had announced that all schools, nursery's and universities would close in an attempt to prevent the spread of Corona virus, Alp d'Huez had a huge music festival called Tomorrowland planned next week which has also been cancelled, so when I went to talk to the ladies at reception about our departure on Saturday they were all a bit dumfounded with the situation, their children were off school, a lot of events were now not happening and they didn't really know how to deal with the situation. Its a bit strange and surreal, obviously we are abroad and for us its not been a normal week anyway, no holiday is....maybe the UK and Scotland will follow suite and restrictions will be imposed as here in France, and possibly in a more extreme manner as Italy has had to endure. I read a report  before leaving home, saying that the Scottish government reckoned that if this became a pandemic that between fifty to eighty percent of the (Scottish) population could catch the virus........so I really do not feel bad about coming on my holiday, with statistics like that chances are we will catch it anyway, that may sound selfish, but from what we are led to believe our children are least likely to be affected, if any of us have flue like symptoms when we get home we will stay in the house and not visit anyone, particularly our elderly relatives who are more at risk. Its interesting that at the end of today we ate in a returaunt that was completely full, it housed in excess of 200 people and we had to wait for a table.........🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Today dawned a grey morning, but we knew things would improve as time went on. So, after breakfast and some more school work we donned our ski gear and headed up to the slopes. It was pretty mushy even by the time we got there at around 10:45 but to be fair for Joyce the snow conditions were quite forgiving, the runs were slowish and a fall would not have hurt too much, We immediately got onto the Poma and did a few runs, Joyce was doing great, just doing what she has been taught, she maybe didn't realise it but confidence was growing and it was showing. After three or four runs us boys headed up a bit higher, it is a true joy to be at the stage where I
can take my sons up a mountain and ski down it, Callum can now deal with anything we were on, Logan needs a little more time, some of it was maybe a little steep for him but with some encouragement and advice he made every turn and loved it almost as much as his dad looking on. There was a little freestyle park on the way down and Callum was keen to do a few jumps, I was happy to be cameras man. Afterwards Logan met up with Mum,  myself and Callum went up for another run, this time taking the jumps at full speed, I wonder what future years will bring when his speed and confidence increases. Joyce was still working away on the Poma when we came down, happy to be practicing on her own on the smaller slope.

So, that was 6 ski runs before lunch and by now the sun was out so we headed to Le Tremplin bar for our lunch. Pizza, chips, salad and beer or apple juice, that's about all that is required to make a hungry skier feel ready for more action, but we relaxed in the sun until it was time for the boys lessons.  I had a lump in my throat when I said goodbye to Callum today for his last lesson, his new friend....and I hope I have the named correct D'smile.......said to Callum...."c'mon my friend lets go". Now D';smile is ten years old, Callum is five but young people can make friends so easily, they know pretty much nothing about politics or religion, or much about life in general so they just have pure fun, that's what growing up is about surely, its when we grow older that it all go's wrong.......🤔.


Myself and Joyce were left and had a few more runs on the Poma, I went away and explored a few more runs that I hadn't been to before......I need my good friends here to really explore, there are lots of black runs but I shall wait a group holiday to attempt them, an accident now would not be good!!. I met Joyce for a drink and we chilled as the sun came and went, we chatted to a few people we had met over the week, its a friendly place.






At four thirty the young team would be down from their lesson so we trudged over in the soggy snow to await their arrival, I have always seen Callum off and awaited his return, Joyce had done the same for Logan, today was no different. Soon we saw their groups heading down the last runs......and there was a little fanfare when they ski'ed in for their arrival which is great for both kids and parents. Then its medal or badge time, Callum has achieved Flocon (Snow Flake) level but to be fair to him his instructor said he was midway between this and 1st Star......I really do think another instructor on a different day would have viewed it differently, in Callum's favour, but it matters not a jot, he has a wee certificate and a badge,  we are all chuffed to bits with this. It's a holiday and most importantly he has loved his ski lessons and has improved vastly in the short space of time also and made new friends. Logan made the grade also passing his Garolou level from what I can see the highest beginner level, not bad for a 4 year old. Again he has made new friends, they may never meet again but it's a great social learning curve for both our boys.

Of course, none of us were not happy to be finished so we all headed back up on the Poma and ski'ed until the lifts closed....interestingly over the space of the last hour the clouds had rolled in and the temperature dropped, the soft snow had really firmed up to be icy and we all noticed it dramatically......it was Logan who exclaimed......."whats happened Dad, its all much faster now"...this put an added smile on their faces and gave Joyce a taste of what the snow should really have been like. Interestingly I had unknowingly put my Fenix watch in Callum's pocket today, I had meant to do it previously but always forgot....I was curious to know how far he was skiing during his lesson, so, on top of what we had ski'ed in the morning he covered 8.6km of skiing with over 1000 meters of decent, that is pretty good going in my book. I don't know exactly what sort of distance Logan was covering but I will find out next year......😊😊.

We all happily carried our ski's to the Alpe Express for the final time and soon returned all our kit to the rental shop, always a sad moment but also a happy one as no one had gained any injury's. Some new skiing gear for Joyce may be in the pipeline, she has done really well. Learning needs to be at her pace but I think she can see the attraction to the hobby and I really look forward to guiding Team Easson down the slopes in future years. Although I suspect I will be overtaken in the not too distant future unless I seriously up my game. We have met some really nice family's on this holiday, some of whom are parents with their well grown up kids who all still holiday together, not unlike my very good pall Kenny and his son Cammy who have been at it for at least 15 years now, I really do hope my boys want to ski with me when I am well into my sixties.

All that remained was to grab a beer, and then a quick shower and head out for our final night dinner, we have eaten in most nights but that was not happening tonight. We headed to Le Sporting where we had to wait on a table, but eventually we all enjoyed a superb meal yet again....a fitting end to a great trip. Roll on next winter......its my favourite holiday and I think Alp d'Huez may just be the best resort we have been to in recent years for our family, we will return soon.