On Monday we made the 7.5 hour drive from Predazzo, Italy to La Clusaz, France. And we got to go through some really beautiful and old towns nestled into the sides of the mountains, and almost every one of them had a castle on the highest part of town. Just so you know – not every castle was created equal and some were waaay more majestic than others. But I’d still want to live in any of them.
Also, it wasn’t a great time to get claustrophobic, because there were a lot of tunnels we drove through.
We got to go through the Mont Blanc tunnel, entering from the Italian side and 11km underground later, coming out on the French side! The drive was made simultaneously more exiting and terrifying when we read facts about the 1999 fire while driving through the tunnel, behind a big truck. Facts: in 1999, a truck carrying flour and margarie caught fire and of 50 people trapped in the tunnel, only 12 survived. The fire burned for 53 hours and reached 1,832 degrees F. It took 5 days before it was cooled down enough to start fixing it. So! Sorry to begin the post with grisly facts. I promise it’ll get better here on out.
The photo alone is enough to get you carsick! Agh!
There were some crazy bridges and sketchy roads, but we made it in one piece!
Another crazy and kind of sketchy road
La Clusaz is a super pretty little town in the mountains, with some unreal backcountry and alpine skiing. Especially since it just dumped a ton of fresh powder on us. Sadie and I were tempted to do a little skiing off the course! It was foggy when we first got here but the past few days have been sunny and AMAZING, if slow, skiing.
Holy cow, that's a ton of skis!
Andy ready to classic in the fog
I almost keep missing the turns in the trail since I’m busy staring at the backcountry skiers coming down the mountains!
pretty
Liz, Holly, Ida and Matt out for a cruise
Sadie and I soaking up some sun (Sadie photo)
Sadie and I have a picture from so many different venues that looks almost exactly like this one. I bet by the time we both retire we’ll have one from every race venue in the world! 🙂
