France!

Sleepy Little Town of La Grave

So I am in France now, La Grave to be exact.  It was an uneventful trip over.  It is always a bit stressful figuring out the connections to get where you want to be, and the anxiety of waiting for all of your bags to come out on the luggage ramp never seems to get better.  But sure enough, I arrived in La Grave with no problems.  I am staying in the Gite (hostel) at the end of town currently.  It is a nice place.  My biggest issue so far seems to be my lack of any French speaking skills.  I am am used to a France where everyone speaks English, namely Paris.  It has been fun trying though.  I have been spending most of my freetime practicing French in my workbook when not skiing.  

The mountain La Meije, towers above the constantly shaded village of La Grave.  It is over 7000 ft. from the top of the telepherique back down to town.  Not a bad bit of vertical.  So far the snow has been firm, but skiable, and I have had some good days.  It is a place where you can get lost and put yourself in a bad place pretty quickly.  I also made my first speed flying flights yesterday.  I just flew from about halfway down the mountain, wanted to get a bit more dialed in before flying from the top.  The word on the street is that we are looking at a bit of snow come Sunday night, so we are all hopeful.