Since winter is upon us I figured it's a perfect time to talk about wintry things, such as snowboarding/skiing! Now I know the cold, winter itself, and even snow aren't everyone's cup of tea but if you love winter sports such as skiing or snowboarding, then ski resorts and awesome ski destinations are your playground!
In the recent years I've been lucky enough to snowboard in the Alps, once in Italy and just recently in France. Other than Colorado, I've never really snowboarded in big destination resorts. I've always stuck to local smaller mountains which are still boatloads of fun but the Alps were something else!
The first time I snowboarded in the Alps was back in 2011 at an Italian ski village called Madonna di Campiglio, located in Northeastern Italy. It was my first taste of big mountains. I should say endless amount of mountains, where if you're not careful and not paying attention to your path especially if you're going off-trail, you will literally fall of the face of the planet. Literally! Other dangers were avalanches and random rock formations that jutted out unexpectedly but I guess this all added to the excitement haha! Despite all that, the views were amazing, the snow felt like a bed of feathers, the mountain ranges were endless, the weather conditions were perfect, the food was absolutely delicious, and the people in town were so damn nice! It was one of the most perfect adventure vacations I've ever taken. Who knew that five years later I'd get to experience it all over again but this time in France. But before I get into that, here are some memorable photos I took with a bulky DSLR that I somehow lugged around up and down the mountain while snowboarding haha.
This panoramic photo was actually featured in my friend's travel agency site. Their travel agency made this dream vacation a reality! Be sure to check them out at http://classic-travel.com/en/
So much open area!
If backwoods skiing/snowboarding is your flavor, they got that too!
Just my helmet and goggles...and mountains galore in the background.
One of those moments where you really need to stop and just take it all in.
So, let's fast forward to five years later. The same travel agency organizes an even larger group trip, 65 people in total, to ski the Alps, this time in Trois Valles France. I can still remember the day I received the invite. I don't think I even let my friend finish his sales pitch. All I remembered was him saying, "We're going to the French Alps, would you like to..." and I immediately responded "I'll be over in ten minutes with my deposit." I had such an amazing time with their group in Italy that it was a travel opportunity I couldn't pass up.
In a nutshell, France was Bananas! Ironically I wore my bananas suit in France which you'll see as you scroll down. But yes, it was bananas and I went bananas lol. Again, perfect weather, breathtaking mountain ranges, exquisite food, awesome people, and I've never partied so much before snowboarding, during, and after in my life. There were bars and clubs with outdoor parties much like music festivals everywhere! The nightlife was awesome as well so can you imagine eight days of all this?
Banana!
In all, snowboarding the Alps was an awesome experience. If any of you out there are looking to give it a try, I highly recommend it. It doesn't matter what part of the Alps whether it's in Italy, Switzerland, France, etc, you are guaranteed an experience of a lifetime!