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ski de fond


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Swissie, c'est moi!

You are soooo right:  le ski de fond, c'est vraiment fantastique!

I am a convert and now I am envious of what you have just posted.

Kandesteg isn't a patch on the Jura.  MUCH too commercial for my taste.

Am in my nice hotel in Geneva and trying to type this on a "foreign" keyboard.  Back in Bordeaux late tomorrow afternoon.

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Off downhill skiing this afternoon at our local slope. Loic our next door neighbour is taking my snowboard and shoes- and I will give him his first lesson today - he is so excited.

Thérèse glad you enjoyed your visit to the Jura- the Mecca of cross country. Discovered lots of new slopes last week but only touched a tiny bit of the range. I feel so sad so many people can't wait to see the end of winter - when there is so much to do and see. Off to St Foy Tarentaise for downhill, off-piste (WITH a local guide) and babysitting!

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Yes!  Just need to perfect my snowplough technique outside the loipe in order to be really confident about going to steeper areas.

But, I am a demon downhill on the loipe![:D]

Sore behind and sore left arm from all the tumbles but I have survived though I ducked out on Friday as I couldn't use the left pole.

Plane delayed about 2 hours and now back in the cold of the Charente:  as cold as Switzerland but minus the snow [:(]

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I had my first go at ski de fond yesterday!

It was a place near Arlon in Belgium.  I would never have found it by myself but I went with a small group of friends. There was a little hut where you could rent all the gear for just €5 for half a day. The old boy running it all showed us newbies how to attach the skis.  He also said that the course was mostly flat with only one downhill section.  'How do you get down that?' 'Close your eyes' was the reply.

Anyway we set off and I found it strange/difficult to get the 'gliding' motion I suppose because I'm more used to alpine skiing.

So we got around the 5km course, including the downhill bit which wasn't bad at all,  We were the first of the day and had to cut (is that the right word?) the trail in the new snow. After the first lap we were breathing hard and the snow was really coming down, so we did another lap which was faster/better.

Yes good fun and great to be out with friends in the open air.  I will do it again but I have to say I prefer downhill!!

Yes I did fall, only once, on a flat no-problem section and it was spectacular.  I have no idea why I fell but my friends said they felt the seismic activity when I hit the ground! Boy do I ache today!

 

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Pierre, nice to see you here as I was going to PM you.

Stayed at that nice Novotel you recommended to me in Geneva.  The room was ginormous and was one that would sleep four people.

Food was great and the tartiflette at dinner was of such proportions that I couldn't finish it.

Once I got the gliding motion and learned to transfer weight from foot to foot, it was wonderful!  I think I did have an advantage in that I was used to poles for Nordic walking.  The SdF poles are longer and therefore you can push harder with them.

Downhill skiing would just be too scary (and dangerous) to learn from scratch at my age.  I feel that the SdF has enabled me to get around in snowy landscape and enjoy an energetic and exhilarating couple of weeks in sub zero temperatures when I would normally be feeling miserable and cold in my house.

Do try it again where the loipes (is that the plural of loipe?) are prepared.  Believe me, they are like greased surfaces on a really cold day and you can glide along at great speed, using your poles to give you easy acceleration.

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Here in the Jura 100s and 100s km of tracks are prepared and all link from one end of the range to the other. Usually there is a wide smooth piste for the skating style, with 2 double tracks for classic on either side. They do a great job. Pierre I have downhilled all my life and there is nothing like it for that adrenalin rush - BUT there is an increasing BUT - I hate the damage large resorts do to the countryside, the huge energy output, the effect on wildlife, etc. Cross country is actually much more physical- (hence your aching in places you didn't know you had!) - but so much more peaceful, ecological, etc - you really feel so close to nature, in such a simple way. Can't wait to continue the discovery of just our small area- then go a bit further. The great thing about the Jura is that you ski on top of the range, rather than in valley bottoms (as in the Alps) - so views can be breathtatking, and areas link well. So glad you seem to have enjoyed your adventure Sweet17 - hope you will keep it up in the future.

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Col des Saisies - happy memories of kids learning to ski in Crest Voland a long time ago. I remember the controversy- and personally agree it was tragic to destroy that habitat forever. If I can remember rightly they had to make some effort to 'put back' afterwards - but such delicate environments took millions of year to evolve and just can'be be reinstated.

I can assure you that here in the Jura all the tracks are on entirely natural landscape. Lots of very special peat bogs here, like in Siberia- but all tracks go around them at a fair distance. When Spring comes, there is NO sign at all that the tracks were ever there. Wonderful.

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

Downhill skiing would just be too scary (and dangerous) to learn from scratch at my age.  [/quote]

Rubbish!  Tell you what, I'll take you out on the nursery slopes and you teach me to do ski de fond properly [:D]

And anyway, after my adventure last Sunday I have a big bruise in the middle on my chest.  I hit a log or something when I fell, it's quite a trophy!  We had an arrangement between the 5 of us that the person who fell the most would buy the beers. My friend ('friend'? Huh!) behind me said it was so spectacular that it was equivalent to 3 of his falls!  (I still didn't have to buy the beer though)

I'm glad you had a nice time on your trip.  I will have to go to Geneva sometime faily soon so I'll stay at the Novotel too (I love tartiflette, I bet I could have finished it [:P] )

 

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Off to St foy Tarentaise for a week of downhill + babysitting! Near us in the Jura we have 4 local downhill resorts - 2 in France and 2 in Switzerland:

Métabief/MtD'Or (where the cheese comes from for your tartiflette), and Les Fourgs (F) and La Robella and StCroix/Les Rasses (CH). All 4 have been great this and last year- but had poor snow previous years.

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  • 3 weeks later...
For total beginners, I'd say Les Rasses/Les Cluds near the small town of StCroix. It's all on the flat, has several cafés dotted around and fabulous views of the Alps. La Brévine is also great, but it can get very cold. If you do want more info. don't hesitate to ask - and do get in touch nearer the time so we can meet you on the piste one day. We live half way between the 2.

see    www.sainte-croix.ch

pm me if you need accommodation and guiding.  Where are you Rowland BTW?

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