Boondock Puffins

*Alpine life for non-Alpine dwellers*

Moving to the Alps in the height of summer during a heat wave in both England and France did not do us any favours for being prepared for the winter. Combining this with very little ski experience between the two of us, and it’s safe to say we were a bit surprised by the cold!

In summer, the bubble lift remains open but we didn’t have a pass and didn’t want to fork out for where we could already hike. But when one of the chair lifts opened, Tom agreed to take a break from his dissertation and we enthusiastically paid for a ticket to go for a ride up and down one edge of the mountain bowl. Unfortunately, Eliza’s French was a tad rusty. In a similar vein, our understand of the temperature changes higher up the mountain was somewhat lacking. As a result, we enthusiastically hopped on the chair lift in and amongst the mountain bikers going up, wearing our shorts and T-shirts, fleece and hot chocolate packed into a tiny rucksack…

After a wander around at the top, Eliza was getting a little cold so we made our way back to the chairlift to head down to home again, only to find that it was in fact a one way sort of system, and the only way down was the long hike around the side of the mountain! Thankfully it was only downhill so we could skip down fairly fast, but we learnt our lesson about being prepared with multiple layers, no matter how tame the planned expedition!

Only a few days later, we headed out for a hike that we had been told was a “simple loop”. Eliza had sold it to Tom as a quick hour walk, and something that could certainly be completed even if setting of at 3.30pm. 3 hours into said hike, it became very clear that we had been misinformed of the route, we had no map, no head torches, and twilight was creeping ever nearer with worrying alacrity. Deciding to follow the path home that looked the most direct (top tip: in summer this is almost certainly a dodgy move), we found ourselves a long way into a mountain bike path with little option but to carry on. Scrambling down a black route with bear vertical sections gave us a new respect for mountain bikers, and also taught us another valuable lesson for life in the mountains – always take a paper map and a head torch! You can’t guarantee any device will stay on, and who knows what the weather will do at high altitude.

As the promise of snow loomed on the horizon, we dutifully took ourselves down the mountain to the Bourg and Seez ski sales – here, we picked up remarkably cheap salopettes (pink cords for Eliza, green Planks ones for Tom), and a cheap set of skis each – Eliza’s for the questionable price of only €8.

There is always something worrying about buying an item that should, to all outward appearances, be a lot more expensive… what is wrong with them? But, as Eliza can confirm a couple of months on from the original purchase, they have been a stellar, solid pair of skis and ones that she is not at all worried to leave out in the racks if we go to grab a coffee somewhere out and about, nor does she care if someone runs over the back of her skis in the lift queue. Maybe a cheap pair of skis is really just a hack to having a less stressful existence out on the mountain? Or maybe that is just a thought we have as we have yet to experience a really nice pair of skis…

So, post-sale experiences, we were kitted out with most ski wear and skis. Boots we didn’t want to skimp on and so asked family to chip in for birthdays and Christmas to bring the cost down on a new pair – something that has been absolutely worth it as our feet have remained so comfortable throughout the winter.

Keeping warm enough has never been an issue for Tom. For Eliza with raynauds, it is far more tricky. For anyone suffering from this, or if you are just more susceptible to the cold, we would recommend Therm-ic heated soles or heated socks. The socks are useful as they can be used in multiple different shoes so they are a bit more versatile, but the soles are exceptional for the ski boots. When the temperature dropped to -20, these kept our ski days fun and kept Eliza enjoying herself without her feet suffering so much. The problem persisted in her hands though. Even with a trusty pair of, what we keep being informed are iconic of the 1980s, Ami Chaud mittens, her fingers lost circulation so quickly. This was eventually solved, much to Eliza’s embarrassment for the final look, by Tom’s suggestion that she use her motorbike heated gloves out and about on the slopes. While Eliza does now appear to be ready to fight anyone on the mountain who irritates her with her bright red light on the back of her hand and Kevlar knuckle protection, she is at least warm while she does so!

So, what was the point of all these tales and explanations? Partly, of course, to entertain our family and friends with the stories of calamity and stupidity during our first few weeks and months here in the Alps. However, we are hopeful that this may also give some useful ideas for anyone moving out here in the future as to what sort of things you might want to look into either before or when you get here!