Le Corbier, Les Sybelles, and the heroine of the day
Wednesday – halfway to our skiing holiday, Dutchman and I were enjoying an afternoon of skiing and snowboarding in nearby Le Corbier. It was also the day, the only day in fact that week that the weather was miserable. It was snowing and the skies were a murky grey. Visibility was not great, and with the snow goggles fastened to my face, everything looked bleaker than the Dutch weather I was used to.
Click on the ski map here: Les Sybelles Ski Map.
From Saint Jean D’Arves, we went to the summit of Le Corbier, called Pte Du Corbier (2,265m), then continued our journey to L’Ouillon (2,431m), summit of La Toussuire, then climbed all the way up to the summit of Saint Sorlin D’Arves and of the whole Les Sybelles ski area, Les Perrons (2,620m) – my experiences in the summits I will post in my next entry.
For a backgrounder of this massive skiing area, Les Sybelles is considered part of the top 10 largest skiing areas in the world boasting of 310-kilometers skiing terrain. The European way of measuring skiing terrain does not include the area by volume but the length of its pistes (slopes). Officially, there are 6 Alpine villages connected to the Les Sybelles skiing territory, and which for a certain price, comprises 1 ski pas.
1) Saint Jean D’Arves (check)
2) Le Corbier (check)
3) Saint Sorlin D’Arves (check) 4) La Toussuire
5) Les Bottieres
6) Saint Columban
Official website can be found here: Les Sybelles
Directional signages in the pistes - which village are you going to ski to? On the right foto is Le Corbier - yes, buildings and (boring-looking brown) flats in the Alps. We are so glad we did not stay here, although they have more pistes in the area.
The area is quite huge and all villages are connected with each other through lifts. Some of the lifts are seat lifts which are my favorite as you can relax and watch the immaculate surroundings while being transported up to the slopes, while the other lifts are what we call in Dutch ‘sleeplift’ (sleepliften) or pull-drag lifts (not sure what’s the English term?) where you sit on this little thing on your butt with a pole or thick cord that pulls and drags you physically on the snow. A few of these pull-drag lifts in Saint Jean D’Arves and Le Corbier is notorious for launching you up in the air! It surprised the heck out of me and was I glad I didn’t fell off, ha-ha. Now, that would have been funny.
...............
Here is a video of Le Corbier village by the piste grounds.
...............
Dutchman snowboarding, in action, and at the end of this short snippet, you will see what a ‘sleeplift’ or pull-drag lift is like.
Which reminds me-there is this one particular very long pull-drag lift in Saint Sorlin D’Arves that literally takes forever. I will write about Saint Sorlin D’Arves in another entry, which I believe should also be my last entry about this winter sport holiday.
As for Saint Jean D’Arves, there are not much pistes in our little village as Saint Jean D’Arves is relatively small and if you look at the ski map (see link above), you will see that the village is channeled to Le Corbier where from there one can ski to other ski areas.
The sleeplift or pull-drag lift, and the summit of Le Corbier - 2,265 meters above sea level. It is a bit odd for the French to use the sign of the cross as a landmark. Did someone die here?
So that’s it for the ski area. We didn’t get to go to the other 3 villages, but we had a nice lookout from the piste of La Toussuire. The area is massive, and requires a couple of hours to get to the other side of the mountain. Depending on the type of piste you take, it could take even longer. I never challenge myself with black pistes, NEVER (NO WAY, lol). Red I can do and I will for sure be very slow, ha-ha, but at least I can get down a red slope. The Dutchman is a good snowboarder, he can do any slopes, red, black, or even midnight black if there is one.
...............
Revealed!!! I hate posting this video as you can see how awkward I am with skiing. Moreover, I did not know Dutchman was following me with the camera! I need to learn to go fast, shorten my turns, and not sit on my butt like I am in the loo, lol.
Dutchman actually bribed me during this holiday. Long before during our last winter sport holiday in Austria 2 years ago, he already bribed me to take snowboarding instead of skiing. The carrot: he will pay 100% for my snowboarding lessons. I told him – even if you will buy me the complete enchilada, snowboard plank, snowboard boots and all, I will not! He really thinks its cool for a woman to snowboard but unfortunately I just don’t fancy it. Not a bit. Primarily, I hate the fact that I am standing on 1 plank with both my feet tied on to it. I want to have the freedom of standing both my feet, apart, on the ground, and with a stick to aid balance. I guess you can now say that skiing is for the cowards and snowboarding is for the daredevils, ha-ha! – I do not really care!
...............
Here is a nice footage of the Dutchman preparing to snowboard (I like the background)
...............
Dutchman hugged the camera as he can easily film and snowboard at the same time. I like this video myself.
So going back in track, how did this heroine survived gloomy Wednesday in Les Sybelles?
It was in Le Corbier, in the blue narrow slope that was not really steep but it was a long graded slope that if you go parallel ski, meaning head on straight, you will shoot down so fast like a bullet. It is narrow so there is not much option to even turn, so the best technique to use was to just swoosh through it really, which I always did when I pass through here.
So it was not my first time. And because I have had experience of this slope, I was confident enough, even if it was snowing a bit, and gloomy.
Me on the piste of Le Corbier during the fatal Wednesday. As you can see in the foto I am wearing my ski goggles. It is hazy white; quite gloomy and snowing a bit. On the next foto is Le Corbier during a bright sunny and somewhat busy day.
Here is a video of me taken I think an hour before the fall. I look and sound like a mouse on the camera really, ha-ha!
...............
I am speaking Dutch here so you might wonder what I am talking about. Basically I said I was a bit tired, then I said hi - waved to the camera like a little mouse, and said it is going to snow.
Fotos in my album can be found here: Le Corbier Fotos
“Get out of the way!!!”
“Oh!” Dutchman looked back surprised, and quickly gave way to me while laughing his heart out – he was not expecting for me to go at breakneck speed as he thinks I am a too careful and slow skier.
%$)#+@!*&^# WHAM!
I hit a mound when I reached the plateau and went flying into the air just like a rocket being launched to the moon. My left skis went off but my right ski did not and I went crashing down hard with it to the ground.
I was literally stunned. It came as a shock-you know when accidents happen, they are so fast, so quick that you are stuck in a limbo moment for a few seconds wanting to pinch yourself if it really happened. Deja vu - I remember when I had a car accident in Manila. I came out of the car without any scratch, and bewildered.
At any rate Dutchman saw the entire flying incident and he regretted not taking any footage of it while I on the other hand, after recovering from the shock, screamed on top of my voice -- TAKE OFF MY SKIS! QUICK! Repeating several times as Dutchman was 50 meters away from me and could not hear easily.
He didn’t know I was hurting and when he saw tears on my eyes he knew something was terribly wrong. He dashed to me and unfastened the skis on my right foot.
IT WAS SOOOOO PAINFUL.
Dutchman managed to take a foto of this fast guy - if you look closely he has a shovel swung up his shoulders. Wonder what he was up to?
I could not move. I was worried that I might have broken or dislocated my right knee. I stayed immobile for 10 minutes waiting for the pain to subside before I moved it a bit. Luckily nothing was broken. The damage, we assumed was a sprained ligament in my inner knee badge as it was forced and twisted during the fall, but nothing really serious at all. The good news is the front, back and outside part of my knee were all fine, and I could still bend my knees without immediate pain.
The culprit was the little mound. It actually surprised everyone who hit it but most of them did not come down at breakneck speed like I did so they were spared from the flying-on-air drama I had.
Anyway, after half an hour of rest, we continued to ski down back to Saint Jean D’Arves. We called it a day.
That evening, I was limping and oozing with a lot of pain. I couldn’t stretch my right leg; I was bending it all the time, which was advantageous because skiing is all about bending your knees. In the morning, I woke up with my entire leg looking like a corpse. It was as if someone sneaked into our chalet in the middle of the night and cemented my right leg while I was sleeping. Not wanting to feel morose about my already dire situation by staying longer in bed, I dragged myself out of it and out of the bedroom with my left leg. The pain was enormous, uh, unspeakable. However, and thankfully, there was no swelling, just utter pain and horrid stiffness.
...............
Another cool video of Dutchman snowboarding on full speed, and a snowboarder overtaking him.
I prefer this type of lift than the sleeplift/pull-drag lift.
I obviously was not happy about this development as we still have 2 more days of skiing, Thursday and Friday (well our ski pas was officially valid until Saturday). So I moved around the chalet a bit trying to get as much blood activity flow on my veins and leg, and to see if there is still a possibility for me to ski. I am not the type of person to give up easily, no! If my knee was swollen, and if there was pain when bending it (very important as skiing is all about bending your knee), I probably would not have skied, and would have gone straight to the doctor however it was not the case.
Well, as expected, this limping heroine, after a flying free fall, decided to ski that day, and the next day too!
I have never ever felt so fulfilled this holiday, amidst all the pain, ouch and all, I persevered, and well enjoyed too ;-) It was however a challenge getting into my ski outfit, and oh dear me, the unyielding ski boots. They are a pain, really a pain, and for those with ski experience, I know you will understand and empathize with me.
So right now I am still limping on my right leg.
Dutch sister who is a Physio Therapist says there are no telltale signs that I should be worried of, and she advised me to apply cold press pack 3x a day, or as often as I could, and wait until the end of the week to see some developments. If there are no improvements, I will go to the doctor.
It’s getting better so far, I think. My right leg should be fine in a few more weeks. Time will heal this and before I know I will be jumping with one leg, my right!
Travel Period: January 2008
Destination: Le Corbier (Savoie - Rhone-Alpes), France
Click on the ski map here: Les Sybelles Ski Map.
From Saint Jean D’Arves, we went to the summit of Le Corbier, called Pte Du Corbier (2,265m), then continued our journey to L’Ouillon (2,431m), summit of La Toussuire, then climbed all the way up to the summit of Saint Sorlin D’Arves and of the whole Les Sybelles ski area, Les Perrons (2,620m) – my experiences in the summits I will post in my next entry.
For a backgrounder of this massive skiing area, Les Sybelles is considered part of the top 10 largest skiing areas in the world boasting of 310-kilometers skiing terrain. The European way of measuring skiing terrain does not include the area by volume but the length of its pistes (slopes). Officially, there are 6 Alpine villages connected to the Les Sybelles skiing territory, and which for a certain price, comprises 1 ski pas.
1) Saint Jean D’Arves (check)
2) Le Corbier (check)
3) Saint Sorlin D’Arves (check) 4) La Toussuire
5) Les Bottieres
6) Saint Columban
Official website can be found here: Les Sybelles
Directional signages in the pistes - which village are you going to ski to? On the right foto is Le Corbier - yes, buildings and (boring-looking brown) flats in the Alps. We are so glad we did not stay here, although they have more pistes in the area.
The area is quite huge and all villages are connected with each other through lifts. Some of the lifts are seat lifts which are my favorite as you can relax and watch the immaculate surroundings while being transported up to the slopes, while the other lifts are what we call in Dutch ‘sleeplift’ (sleepliften) or pull-drag lifts (not sure what’s the English term?) where you sit on this little thing on your butt with a pole or thick cord that pulls and drags you physically on the snow. A few of these pull-drag lifts in Saint Jean D’Arves and Le Corbier is notorious for launching you up in the air! It surprised the heck out of me and was I glad I didn’t fell off, ha-ha. Now, that would have been funny.
...............
Here is a video of Le Corbier village by the piste grounds.
...............
Dutchman snowboarding, in action, and at the end of this short snippet, you will see what a ‘sleeplift’ or pull-drag lift is like.
Which reminds me-there is this one particular very long pull-drag lift in Saint Sorlin D’Arves that literally takes forever. I will write about Saint Sorlin D’Arves in another entry, which I believe should also be my last entry about this winter sport holiday.
As for Saint Jean D’Arves, there are not much pistes in our little village as Saint Jean D’Arves is relatively small and if you look at the ski map (see link above), you will see that the village is channeled to Le Corbier where from there one can ski to other ski areas.
The sleeplift or pull-drag lift, and the summit of Le Corbier - 2,265 meters above sea level. It is a bit odd for the French to use the sign of the cross as a landmark. Did someone die here?
So that’s it for the ski area. We didn’t get to go to the other 3 villages, but we had a nice lookout from the piste of La Toussuire. The area is massive, and requires a couple of hours to get to the other side of the mountain. Depending on the type of piste you take, it could take even longer. I never challenge myself with black pistes, NEVER (NO WAY, lol). Red I can do and I will for sure be very slow, ha-ha, but at least I can get down a red slope. The Dutchman is a good snowboarder, he can do any slopes, red, black, or even midnight black if there is one.
...............
Revealed!!! I hate posting this video as you can see how awkward I am with skiing. Moreover, I did not know Dutchman was following me with the camera! I need to learn to go fast, shorten my turns, and not sit on my butt like I am in the loo, lol.
Dutchman actually bribed me during this holiday. Long before during our last winter sport holiday in Austria 2 years ago, he already bribed me to take snowboarding instead of skiing. The carrot: he will pay 100% for my snowboarding lessons. I told him – even if you will buy me the complete enchilada, snowboard plank, snowboard boots and all, I will not! He really thinks its cool for a woman to snowboard but unfortunately I just don’t fancy it. Not a bit. Primarily, I hate the fact that I am standing on 1 plank with both my feet tied on to it. I want to have the freedom of standing both my feet, apart, on the ground, and with a stick to aid balance. I guess you can now say that skiing is for the cowards and snowboarding is for the daredevils, ha-ha! – I do not really care!
...............
Here is a nice footage of the Dutchman preparing to snowboard (I like the background)
...............
Dutchman hugged the camera as he can easily film and snowboard at the same time. I like this video myself.
So going back in track, how did this heroine survived gloomy Wednesday in Les Sybelles?
It was in Le Corbier, in the blue narrow slope that was not really steep but it was a long graded slope that if you go parallel ski, meaning head on straight, you will shoot down so fast like a bullet. It is narrow so there is not much option to even turn, so the best technique to use was to just swoosh through it really, which I always did when I pass through here.
So it was not my first time. And because I have had experience of this slope, I was confident enough, even if it was snowing a bit, and gloomy.
Me on the piste of Le Corbier during the fatal Wednesday. As you can see in the foto I am wearing my ski goggles. It is hazy white; quite gloomy and snowing a bit. On the next foto is Le Corbier during a bright sunny and somewhat busy day.
Here is a video of me taken I think an hour before the fall. I look and sound like a mouse on the camera really, ha-ha!
...............
I am speaking Dutch here so you might wonder what I am talking about. Basically I said I was a bit tired, then I said hi - waved to the camera like a little mouse, and said it is going to snow.
Fotos in my album can be found here: Le Corbier Fotos
“Get out of the way!!!”
“Oh!” Dutchman looked back surprised, and quickly gave way to me while laughing his heart out – he was not expecting for me to go at breakneck speed as he thinks I am a too careful and slow skier.
%$)#+@!*&^# WHAM!
I hit a mound when I reached the plateau and went flying into the air just like a rocket being launched to the moon. My left skis went off but my right ski did not and I went crashing down hard with it to the ground.
I was literally stunned. It came as a shock-you know when accidents happen, they are so fast, so quick that you are stuck in a limbo moment for a few seconds wanting to pinch yourself if it really happened. Deja vu - I remember when I had a car accident in Manila. I came out of the car without any scratch, and bewildered.
At any rate Dutchman saw the entire flying incident and he regretted not taking any footage of it while I on the other hand, after recovering from the shock, screamed on top of my voice -- TAKE OFF MY SKIS! QUICK! Repeating several times as Dutchman was 50 meters away from me and could not hear easily.
He didn’t know I was hurting and when he saw tears on my eyes he knew something was terribly wrong. He dashed to me and unfastened the skis on my right foot.
IT WAS SOOOOO PAINFUL.
Dutchman managed to take a foto of this fast guy - if you look closely he has a shovel swung up his shoulders. Wonder what he was up to?
I could not move. I was worried that I might have broken or dislocated my right knee. I stayed immobile for 10 minutes waiting for the pain to subside before I moved it a bit. Luckily nothing was broken. The damage, we assumed was a sprained ligament in my inner knee badge as it was forced and twisted during the fall, but nothing really serious at all. The good news is the front, back and outside part of my knee were all fine, and I could still bend my knees without immediate pain.
The culprit was the little mound. It actually surprised everyone who hit it but most of them did not come down at breakneck speed like I did so they were spared from the flying-on-air drama I had.
Anyway, after half an hour of rest, we continued to ski down back to Saint Jean D’Arves. We called it a day.
That evening, I was limping and oozing with a lot of pain. I couldn’t stretch my right leg; I was bending it all the time, which was advantageous because skiing is all about bending your knees. In the morning, I woke up with my entire leg looking like a corpse. It was as if someone sneaked into our chalet in the middle of the night and cemented my right leg while I was sleeping. Not wanting to feel morose about my already dire situation by staying longer in bed, I dragged myself out of it and out of the bedroom with my left leg. The pain was enormous, uh, unspeakable. However, and thankfully, there was no swelling, just utter pain and horrid stiffness.
...............
Another cool video of Dutchman snowboarding on full speed, and a snowboarder overtaking him.
I prefer this type of lift than the sleeplift/pull-drag lift.
I obviously was not happy about this development as we still have 2 more days of skiing, Thursday and Friday (well our ski pas was officially valid until Saturday). So I moved around the chalet a bit trying to get as much blood activity flow on my veins and leg, and to see if there is still a possibility for me to ski. I am not the type of person to give up easily, no! If my knee was swollen, and if there was pain when bending it (very important as skiing is all about bending your knee), I probably would not have skied, and would have gone straight to the doctor however it was not the case.
Well, as expected, this limping heroine, after a flying free fall, decided to ski that day, and the next day too!
I have never ever felt so fulfilled this holiday, amidst all the pain, ouch and all, I persevered, and well enjoyed too ;-) It was however a challenge getting into my ski outfit, and oh dear me, the unyielding ski boots. They are a pain, really a pain, and for those with ski experience, I know you will understand and empathize with me.
So right now I am still limping on my right leg.
Dutch sister who is a Physio Therapist says there are no telltale signs that I should be worried of, and she advised me to apply cold press pack 3x a day, or as often as I could, and wait until the end of the week to see some developments. If there are no improvements, I will go to the doctor.
It’s getting better so far, I think. My right leg should be fine in a few more weeks. Time will heal this and before I know I will be jumping with one leg, my right!
Travel Period: January 2008
Destination: Le Corbier (Savoie - Rhone-Alpes), France
