Every time I wake up early for skiing, I question if it worth it to lose a Saturday morning’s worth of sleep. I usually chug my coffee before I have time to answer this question. Even more, I’m in the alps and need to take advantage of the world class skiing while I still can.
I had packed my bag and lunch last night, so there really wasn’t much for me to do this morning. I put some of my layers in my backpack since it was still warm in Grenoble. It’s crazy how it’s supposed to be 75 degrees in Grenoble this afternoon, but under thirty in the mountains. It’s nice to switch in between the two extremes.
Once I double checked for all my gear, I headed to the Grenoble bus station. I got there decently early and found Nick and Harry. We boarded the bus for the hour and a half ride. After our nine hour bus ride to Venice, this felt like nothing.
A nice picture I took from the bus window
Soon the snow started to appear as we snaked up the windy roads into the alps. We arrived at the resort and hopped off the bus. We immediately realized this resort was a bit different than the other ones we’ve been to. It was not abundantly clear where the lifts and actual trails started. Out first stop was the rental place. I got pretty good equipment and opted to try using intermediate skis instead of beginner ones. I honestly don’t know what the difference is, but they’re more expensive so they must be better.
Our next task was to find a locker to store our bags. This proved very difficult. Every resort we’ve been to has a main lodge with free lockers. We saw neither a lodge or lockers. There were only hotels and restaurants at the base of the mountain. We spent a solid hour trying to find lockers before giving up. The lady at the information window told us this one hotel had them, but then the hotel said no. We were out of options and I refused to wear my backpack while skiing since I knew I would fall a lot.
I had to take a leap of faith and found a random spot to ditch my bag. Behind some condos, I found a snowy area that had a tiny utility shed that was snowed in. I walked and discreetly left my bag there an covered it with tree branches. It was impossible to notice. I headed to the slopes and hoped my bag would still be there when I returned.
When took a gondola up to a main area higher up on the mountain. We did a blue trail to warm up for the day. The trail was surprisingly barren and we probably saw one other person. I was feeling pretty good and my skills were coming back to me. We hopped on a chair lift to come back to the top area.
One of the Views from the top featuring Nick
We must have read the map wrong, because we were in a different area now. It wasn’t a big deal, we figured out how to get back. This unfortunately meant skiing all the way back to the bottom and taking the gondola back up. On one of the trails we took to get down, I accidentally crossed my skies and had a really hard fall. I fall decently often while skiing, but most of the time they’re painless and light. This one was different. I flew forward and both my skies popped off. I must have did a somersault because I somehow kneed myself in the head. I luckily was wearing a helmet, but I needed a moment before getting back up.
Whenever I have a hard fall while skiing, it usually knocks my confidence a bit. This must have been the case since I fell a bunch of times on a super easy trail that I should have had no problem with. These falls were much smaller ones granted. After a painful descent, I finally made it down. I was feeling surprisingly exhausted and sore, even though we had only been skiing for an hour.
I was determined to turn the day around, so I headed with Nick and Harry up to the peak of the mountain. I wasn’t feeling very well, so I sat down for a bit while they did a quick run from the actual peak slightly higher up. When they came down, we skied a few trails back to the midway point. I was feeling a little better, so we headed back up to the top. During the gondola, I realized that I really wasn’t feeling better and now felt extremely nauseous and tired. I decided I would just ski all the way to the bottom and told Harry and Nick they could go off on their own.
I felt terrible, but figured the quickest way down was to ski. I slightly regretted taking the gondola back up. What followed was a super long and tiring ski down. My ski skills were surprisingly on point the whole time, but I was super tired and was getting very lightheaded. I took many breaks throughout the four trails to get to the base. After what felt like an eternity later, I made it to the bottom and collapsed on a bench.
This is when I realized that there was a good chance I got a concussion from my one hard fall earlier in the day. A quick google search confirmed some of the symptoms, especially the feeling of wanting to throw up. While I was sitting on the bench, some random dude with an ipad came up to me and asked if I would take a survey. I was really in no mood to do this, but I said yes anyway.
He asked me questions for five minutes about where I rent my skis and my thoughts on the quality and price of the equipment. I was pretty out of it and really had to think to answer his questions. On the bright side, when he finished he gave me a really nice Italian chocolate bar. This reminded me of the scene in Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban where Professor Lupin gives Harry chocolate after a dementor attack.
With the new energy from the chocolate, I got up and went to retrieve my bag. Thankfully it was still there and I returned to another bench. I knew I was pretty dehydrated, so I drank a ton of water. After sitting for a bit, I was beginning to feel a lot better. I was considering trying to find a first aid tent, but I asked two people who didn’t understand my question and the map didn’t show anything.
I was feeling a little better and headed to rental place to return my skies. After doing this, I still had an hour to kill before my bus came. I changed into some dry clothes and sat inside a cafe for a while. Soon Harry and Nick returned, and we all boarded the bus back to Grenoble. I was starting to feel a lot better, but planned to go to one of the walk-in medical places when I got back to Grenoble. I message the BU program director Celine, and she told me where to go.
The bus ride home felt quick and I parted ways with my friends. I went to the doctor’s office, but they couldn’t take me until tomorrow. I am going to come back in the morning tomorrow.
When I got home, A-M was very persistent in asking how I was. I was pretty confused until she told me Celine had called her saying I hit my head skiing today. That makes a lot more sense. A-M gave me a walkie-talkie or as she says, “talkie-walkie” to keep in my room. Andre has the other one and she said to use it if I needed anything in the middle of the night. I appreciated this a lot, even if it was a tiny bit humorous.
The rest of my night was really relaxed, as it should have been after my long day. I showered, then made myself rice and sausage for dinner. I also facetimed my mom for a bit, and of course, typed up this blog post (which has turned out to be surprisingly long).
Shortly after, I called it a night.
Foreign Tourist with No Grasp of the Local Language 
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