We went on a 7-day ski holiday to the resort Sodeu in Andorra with our friends Cui-Cui & Ting. Andorra, a tax haven known for good ski resorts, is a small mountainous country in between Spain and France
We booked the beginner's package which included a week of ski lessons. On our first day they divided us beginners into three groups - Joe got in the top beginner's class while Ting, Cui and I were relegated to the bottom class.
Joe progressed fast. By the second day he was going down a blue run while the rest of us were still snow-ploughing our way around the nursury slopes. Knowing that Joe had gone down a blue run, Ting was feeling confident he was ready to take on a blue as well... So at the end of the day, we decided that Joe was to take Ting down a blue run while Cui and I take the gondola down, and we would meet at the bottom.
At the bottom of the run, we waited and waited for the boys to arrive. It was late afternoon, and lots of people were descending on their last run of the day.
After awhile the chairlifts stopped, and the traffic of people coming down slowed to a dribble. We went to retrieve the boys' boots from the ski lockers as it was near the lockers' closing time. By that time the traffic had stopped completely and the only people still out there were rescue workers in orange vests. I was feeling slightly anxious - the run should have taken no more than 30 minutes to ski down...
After a long time, two figures appeared on the slopes. They were descending very slowly, with one of them - Ting - falling down a lot. It was another 20 minutes before they made it to the bottom...in total they took an epic 75 minutes coming down the run.
It was a lesson well learnt for Ting - who finally realised the
importance of knowing how to turn.
Joe and Ting arriving at the bottom - Joe in the foreground, Ting at the back. The people in between are rescue workers. lol
That night at the pub quiz organised by our ski operators, there was a competition to create a holiday-themed sculpture out of aluminium foil. Joe got runners up for his al-foil masterpiece entitled "Ting falling down the mountain".
The next evening we went taboganning & tubing. Tubing is where you kick a big blow-up rubber tube, and throw yourself on top of it as it slides down the hill.
Despite this awesome action shot making me look like i'm flying down the slope, my landing was off and I didn't quite make it on to the tube. Still, I looked pretty cool!
The worst part about toboganning is it takes 30 seconds to go down but 10 minutes to drag yourself back up the hill. Quite exhausting after a hard day skiing!
We experienced a range of weather conditions at Andorra. There was one stormy blizzard day where the wind was so horrible our class was cut short because we could barely stand upright in the wind. Luckily most days were beautiful, sunny and so warm I could almost ski without a jacket.
After a few days of practice, we all got good enough to explore the blue runs. And boy the scenery is amazing!
Although there were some tricky parts on blue runs that we got stuck on. Ting and I got stuck pretty good on this particular steep bit of a blue run - while joe took photos of us falling over from the bottom of the hill.
The trick is to never lean back... though easier said than done!
More fine weather shots of the slopes...
By the end of the week, we were all exhausted but so happy that we could all ski comfortably down blue runs. I was amazed how much I skiied and how much I enjoyed it - every day from ski lift opening til close for six days straight! I had an amazing time and I would highly recommend Sodeu for beginners & intermediate skiirs. The food at the pub ain't bad either!
I hope we get to go on one ski trip every year!
