Week 13 - Skiing (Isola 2000)

Oh my goodness it is so hot.  I can’t believe that I was sitting in a deck chair on the snow outside a café in a t-shirt.  It was insane!  Big A told me that skiing is a bit like that in Australia but until you’ve experienced it (and I hadn’t before) it’s hard to believe.  Isola 2000 is a purpose built resort so doesn’t have the charm I’d expected but the rooms were modern and our 1 bedroom apartment was very comfortable.  It is the first place I’ve stayed at though where nothing was provided – not even toilet paper or bed linen!  Given I’ve only recently been “re-acquainted” with hotels that don’t provide pool towels, this was a shock! Luckily Big A had noted the fine print (in French) on the booking confirmation that linen would not be provided but could be hired.  So after a bit of hassle confirming this with the hotel (that I’m sure Big A will speak to in his update),  we hired our linen and brought  some necessary supplies with us.     

Whilst our room was clean and comfortable, I was disappointed by the public areas in the resort which were horribly “unloved”, dirty and run down.  It appears that the investment in the staff and maintenance is just not there.  Luckily we didn’t need to bother as we used them only as thoroughfares.  The mountains were beautiful and whilst there hadn’t been a snow fall in weeks and it was so hot, there was still enough snow around to provide plenty of ski runs and the views were spectacular.

Day 1 of Ski School

Whilst I was personally very excited to be on the slopes, I was more excited to see the girls’ reaction.  They were in hog heaven (if there is such a thing).  Big A had booked us girls in for lessons all week and we were all eagerly looking forward to them.  The girls were brilliant.  Having only seen snow in London for the first time and never been skiing before they embraced the experience and went into their classes without hesitation.  Big A I had memories of Little A in day care clinging on to our legs for dear life and crying at the prospect that we would soon be gone, but not anymore. 

On the poma (proof I skied)

The girls went into different ski schools based on their age but both were Flocons and did very similar stages of the slopes.  Big A and I were so proud of them.  By day 2 they were catching the poma from the bottom of the “learners” slope all by themselves (albeit with a few falls along the way) and by day 3 they were ready for a Green Run.  Big A took them up the mountain in the cable car and was thrilled when they handled the runs so brilliantly.  His pride and confidence came momentarily crashing down when Middle A disagreed with her veteran skiing father and insisted that she could stand on a steep slope with her skis point downwards.  Of course she was quickly proven wrong and, after taking out her sister, she continued downhill for over 100 metres headfirst and backwards.  I heard this from them when they made it back to the apartment – where I had been waiting since about 3pm.  

You may ask why wasn’t I with them…  Well I did try to embrace skiing and was keen to join my super talented husband on the slopes for this and future skiing holidays – but I wasn’t good.  I did 2 lessons, fell 6 times and there were times when I wasn’t absolutely terrified. Not only did I take myself out but I also had the misfortune of taking out a couple of small children on 2 occasions as well.  Apart from my lack of ability, they put the adult and junior debutantes in the same area but only give the juniors “L” plate vests to wear.  Therefore, nobody could tell that I was a beginner and as an adult I was expected to get out of the way – but I had only mastered the art of falling over and that’s what I did (taking the child with me).   To make matters worse, I couldn’t get up!  It’s funny looking back on it now but at the time I literally felt like a beached whale.  I was embarrassed by the fall, mortified by taking out a child in the process, humiliated at not being able to get up,  angry that no one offered to help me, disappointed that my skiing ability wasn’t better and worried about how I was going to make it to the end of the run without repeating the experience.  So by the end of the second day my mind was made up and Big A kindly returned my gear.

For the next 4 days I had a lovely time.  I was preparing for an interview / conversation with a company in London (more about that later), finished reading 2 books, met the rest of the family for lunch both down the bottom and on the piste (where I caught the cable car up and down the mountain) and generally relaxed soaking in the experience of being such a beautiful place full of pride of how well my little ones were doing.

Up in the mountains for lunch

Of course food has to have it’s own section and here it is…  We mainly ate dinner at two places, La Marmotte and La Buissoniere.  La Marmotte was a bit hit and miss but had free wifi.  We then found La Buissoniere was slightly better in terms of the food but on a completely different page when it came to the staff.  There were two girls who were fantastic and drew us back for the rest of the time we were there.  Lunch was spread around a number of the bistros at the resort and pretty simple like crepes, baguettes and chips but on the last few days I caught the cable car up to a little bistro overlooking the resort and surrounding mountains.  It was simply beautiful.  While Big A was off exploring the mountains and the girls were in their lessons I got to read my book over a coffee soaking up the sun and stunning surrounds in the middle of snow covered mountains.  Then they joined me for lunch before I returned to the bottom by cable car and they skied down. 

The skiing week was a great success and something I would want to do again.  The trip back to Valbonne was pretty uneventful apart from Middle A being sick in the back of the car -  luckily she caught it all in her jacket.  On the way back we rang the Mr and Mrs  Charlemagne (our landlords) to meet them at our new home in the Village of Valbonne.

Big A's Perspective:

We managed to complete our first ski trip without too much incident. Child bride discovered that she adores the mountains and the mountain bars and restaurants but isn’t that keen on actually skiing. Middle A discovered that sometimes Daddy actually might know best…and Little A discovered that she can make friends without having to rely on her sister and it might actually be possible for her to be better than her sister at something.

The drive to Isola 2000 from Mougins was about 140km and took about 2 hours. It’s a great drive for the driver but probably pretty awful for the passengers….unless the passengers like being thrown from side to side and feel like being sick for an hour. I loved it and dreamt of how awesome it would have been to drive my old Maserati here or one of the race cars.

Once we arrived in Isola 2000 it took us about 30 minutes to find our residence. We stayed at a place called C2A Les Terraces. The room was actually a pretty good size, quite new and clean. The location was only 500m from the central lift station which would be fantastic if there was a decent amount of snow because you could probably ski back to the room – however, when there is no snow this seems like 10 km when you are walking in ski boots and carrying your skis and poles and the kids skis. The distance from the lifts is magnified because there is only 1 lift for the entire residence meaning you often have to take the stairs or wait for up to 10 minutes! I’d forgotten just how much stuff you have to take with you to ski….I’ll never complain about a beach holiday again…surfboard, towels, umbrella – done!

The girls skiing dow nwith the resort in the background.

However, although the rooms and location of the C2A residence itself were pretty good, our overall impression was the same as that for the resort as a whole….unloved and the maintenance and administration is done on the cheap. … for the few hours each week that reception is open, it is operated solely by teenagers …there really is no focus whatsoever on the customer here.

After having spent a lot my twenties in the mountains skiing I hadn’t hooked on a pair of skis for 12 years. However, it wasn’t long before I started to feel quite comfortable on them. ….and Isola 2000 is by no means a difficult place to ski. With some decent snow I’ve no doubt there would be some decent off piste runs there (albeit quite short) as there are a few different mountains to ski and skiing under the chairlifts and gondolas would be fun. However, the place is unloved…it lacks ‘soul’. I couldn’t think of a ski resort that has less character.

Up in the mountains before skiing down - so cool.

Now…just a quick word regarding the ski school….I love the way the French ski…and I love the way they teach. However, at Isola they are neck and neck with the Italians in regards to lack of organization. …it’s unbelievably poor. But having said that the girls loved ski school and their teachers were so so nice….and by the 4^th day I was ecstatic to be able to take my daughters up on the gondola and ski down with them in the afternoon……another dream come true. Tick! 

However, the ski trip wasn’t all roses…..I ended getting an acute infection in both eyes and having 3 weeks of visits to the doctors, eyedrops, pills, eye pain and headaches. Apparently the UV rays were the cause, so our family activity for the last week of the girls vacation pretty restricted.