After meeting an Aussie guy (Doc, playing a banjo...) and his Belgian GF in the campground in Barca, he put us onto this place in the Spanish Pyrenees. Great spot, near deserted but luckily for us still open. We had free parking right at the bottom of the ski lift. Snowboarding all day for 35euro each. Home for lunch and beers makes for a cheap day out. Here's how it went down...
29/03 Skiing Vallter 2000. First ever
attempt at snowboarding. Got the hang of it pretty quick unlike Purdy, who
invented new and interesting ways of landing on her ass… Within an hour I was
promoted to the ‘advanced beginner’ slopes, and started the much steeper decent
alone… After nailing a few high speed turns I thought I was pro… Then I forgot
what rail was front or back, and promptly backslammed into the not very powdery
ice at about 40kph… tailbone impact, whiplash neck and a long time on the
ground brought out the rescue team. But like a proper Aussie, I was back on the
horse within minutes… After ‘getting it’ for a bit longer it was time for a
high speed front cartwheel with a triple pike and a shoulder ac joint tear. No
worries, got to get this by the end of the day. Apparently the total lack of
people on the slopes meant that the snow was turning slushy and not very good.
Persistance paid off and I finished the day with a few faultless runs on the
intermediate slopes before packing it in and licking my wounds for the rest of
the day. The next 3 days are a blur of serious pain medication, massages and
old man walking as I deal with the ridiculous levels of bodily pain and
apparent broken rib… Seriously, this is stupid… Like crashing a motocrosser at
60 and cartwheeling into trees then off a cliff to break your fall.
30/03 Oh my god it hurts so much! In a
world of pain and it’s out with the strong pain killers and Voltaren cream. Hit
the road at midday and the road down the mountain gets the brakes on Bessy
pretty hot. They are smelling bad and starting to fade as we get to the bottom.
I can hardly change gear with my shoulder feeling like there is real damage,
great. Cross into France without knowing, somewhere near Duilhac Sous Peyretuse in the hills NW of Perpignan.
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| Home for 2 days |
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| Snow dummies not bunnies... |
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| 1 hour lesson and into it - EASY! |
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| The most patient instructor in the world. Didn't help, she doesn't listen... |
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| Stru, slightly unconsious, after the 'big one' |
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| Most of her 2 hours were spent like this... CAN'T WAIT TO TRY IT AGAIN!!! |
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