Skiing in the French Alps!

Today my dream of cross-country skiing at Montgenevre finally came true! We had been here only once before in winter, in 2006, when Torino hosted the winter Olympics, and we were too busy going to Olympic events or skiing the fresh powder on the downhill slopes to explore the cross-country trails at the time. This time, however, I was determined to try Nordic skiing in the Alps, despite not having slept well from coughing due to a cold. I drank lots of hot tea, waiting for the rest of the family to wake up. When everyone was up, I made French toast (mais oui!), and then we walked down to the village to rent Nordic skis at the little shop next to the tourist center. For 15 euros a day each (the price is less if you rent for additional days), we were outfitted with Salomon boots, waxless classic skis, and poles. We then went to the little hut to get ski passes, which cost 15 euros a day, a seven-day pass cost. We scanned our passes at the turnstile across the street, and three different loops of wide trails groomed for skating and classic were ours! 

This little pass between France and Italy had received loads of snow in the last week, and the evening low had been 20F; at mid-day, the temperature was hovering above freezing, but the trail was not mushy. The pass is just under 6000 feet in elevation, and the sun was intense. I was glad I brought sunglasses.

We did the first little loop, “Le Lac,” which is at the top of the pass and has very little elevation gain. Within that loop, right on the flat lake, is a round loop dubbed “Espace debutant,” where you can ski in your ball gown, or so I thought, until Enrico told me that debutant just means beginner in French. 

Next, we did Le Stade and Le Golf loops which have a couple of steep downhill pitches, as well as some long easy downhill sections, great for double poling. After days of doing little arm exercise beyond lifting another forkful of pasta to my mouth, it felt great to flex a bit and also try to go faster than the downhill skiers on their route parallel to the cross-country trail. At a certain point, the cross-country trail merged with the downhill trail. We were all sweaty and thirsty at this point, so we stopped at a little outdoor café for some water. It was so warm in the sun that we sat outside without feeling the least bit chilled. We also discovered that we were now in Italy, having crossed the national boundary at some point on the ski trail.

The route back to France was a lot of uphill, and we were feeling the elevation. The Sassi ski train was a bit slower on this section of the trail. We got to go on a bridge over the downhill trail at one point, which reminded me of the Birkie bridge. 

After getting back to the start, Enrico and I did another short loop and the boys did another long loop, and then we were all tired and hungry for lunch, so we headed back to our apartment. Lunch was leftover polenta and vegetables and some soup. After a big post-ski coughing fest, we rested for awhile and started planning tomorrow’s ski.