Sunday, 5th January, 2014 - Meribel, France

We woke to one of those magic days you often only dream about in the mountains. Yesterday's rain had turned to snow and there had been about 15cm overnight, so everything was covered in white and by morning the clouds had given way to sunshine and clear blue skies.
It felt very odd getting into all the ski gear again after six years, but once suitably attired we walked across the road to the ski storage shop for the ghastly job of putting on ski boots. Richard had very thoughtfully taken our skis to the bottom of the lifts so we only had our poles to carry. Flick arrived by gondola to join us at 10 (Dan is unable to ski because of problems with his leg) and we all followed Richard on to the Rhodos gondola. It seemed to me to be going very high.
It is an awful feeling when you lose your confidence, but that is certainly how I felt. Combined with screaming objections from my legs, the morning was hard going!
Eventually we sent Richard and Flick off to ski on their own as I was holding them up too much.
Dan came up and joined us for lunch as did Jack, once he had finished his lesson, then after lunch we all piled onto the gondola again to have a run with Jack. Or to be more accurate, to stand and watch while Jack shot off down the hill. Once again we suggested the others went off on their own while we went at a slower pace, though with somewhat more confidence than this morning.
Somehow we managed to get quite lost and ended up in Meribel Village, quite a distance from the Chaudanne area where were meant to be. Luckily a little navette trundled up eventually and gave us a lift back home.
This year for the first time I have worn a helmet skiing (Richard and Jack also wear helmets.) It is not as restricting as I thought it might be but it is very, very hot.
Hopefully with all that exercise and fresh air we'll sleep well tonight.

Fresh snow early in the morning.
(Not sure how the photos ended up the way the did!)