A Weekend In The Snow - Crans Montana
As you may, or may not, have known, there was no snow in Switzerland at Christmas. So little, in fact, that when it came to wanting to go skiing one morning, we could bear no more than 2 hours on the slopes because the artificial snow that the resort had put down was melting away faster than we could ski down it. It was horrible (especially for Tom who had travelled all the way from Cornwall for a week of skiing) and of course, they forecast for it to start snowing the moment we left. Sure enough, it did.
We decided as we were coming home that we would rebook flights for February, and hope for at least a few days of skiing. We got really cheap flights thanks to Easyjet (I say "thanks to" very half heartedly -- I've had my fair share of problems with them in the past) and flew back to Geneva on Wednesday last week. We were so excited to see snowy covered mountains! I grew up with snow ever Winter, so I took it totally for granted. It was just normal to me. I skied every weekend (to the point that when I became a hormonal teenager, I didn't want to go anymore because I was missing out on weekend parties), and snow was just another thing that happened when the seasons grew colder. Now that I live in Cornwall, where it has only snowed once in the (almost) 6 years I've lived here, I can finally say I miss snow.
Not only do I miss it, but suddenly I realise how beautiful it is. Landscape photography is not something I used to consider myself wanting to do (nor do I consider myself particularly good at it -- yet!) but the more we walked around, the more I found myself forcing my family to stop while I took photos of our surroundings. Perhaps it's because I miss Switzerland? Perhaps it's because I'm older? Perhaps it's because my eye has developed? Perhaps it's just cause it looks good on my Instagram feed...?! Either way, I'm really enjoying landscape photography more and more. Do I think I have a career in it? Not really, it's just something I'm enjoying doing.
I'm lucky that my parents own an apartment in the mountain resort of Crans Montana. We used to own a flat in Verbier, but as the resort began to attract more and more tourists, it became too crowded for us (you could no longer walk into a shop without them greeting you in English rather than French!). They sold that flat, and moved over to Crans Montana, still a very popular and touristic village, but less so than Verbier. The skiing in Crans Montana is great; not too hard, but if you're after something more challenging, you'll definitely find it. It's also South facing, so you're blessed with more sun than if you're on the North facing side of the valley (if you're lucky... we were not). The village itself is on a flat plateau of land, so you're not constantly walking up hill which sounds like a bit of a petty thing to say, but it's so nice to be able to just walk around without sweating in your ski jacket!
We had such a great time. We skied loads. The snow was amazing. The weather wasn't *too* bad. The slopes were groomed, the food was good, everyone was friendly. The only bummer? My mum had the flue so we didn't get to have as much fun with her as I'd have liked -- but I'm going back soon so that's ok! If you're thinking of going for a ski holiday before the season is up, I definitely recommend Crans Montana. Flying to Geneva is your best bet, and if you do what we did and book a few weeks in advance with Easyjet, you should find flights are well priced. The season ends on April 17th, so you've still got plenty of time to get there.
Will you be heading to a ski resort this Winter? And can you recommend me any great places to go?
