Baby it's cold outside

After sitting around for two days watching snow fall, we were determined to get out skiing today. Up early and on the 8.15am gondola up the mountain, we were keen to get some exercise and enjoy the day. But oh my goodness was it cold...-20C on the top of the mountain and by lunch time it had only 'warmed up' by one degree.

I felt like a trussed up stuffed turkey with all my layers of clothing, two pairs of socks, heated gloves and glove liners.... It hardly helped as I was so cold. I could not do more than two runs before having to find a mountain restaurant in which to warm up. Thankfully, Gavin felt even colder than me so this time it was not just me whinging about the cold, he was the one asking for a coffee break.

As we arrived at the top of the mountain I saw my shot of the day. You know, the one that was going to win me all the competitions and a spot in National Geographic. The sun shining over the mountain peaks with just a residue of the pink sunrise feathered across a few clouds, and two paragliders standing on the edge of the mountain precipice about to jump into the valley below, their parachutes billowing out into an arc which naturally framed the mountain peaks on the horizon. But did I get it? No, my best shots are the ones in my head that I never get! It was far too cold to stop and get the camera out, my hands were numb after about 5 minutes of being outside.

This was taken with my little camera which was more convenient to carry in the backpack when skiing. It was a quick view over the one valley where we had stopped to warm up with some coffee. We did have our 12 minutes of sunshine - in fact we probably had about 3 hours of glorious sunshine, but by lunchtime it had clouded over and as we finished lunch and came out again there was almost a blizzard with no visibility so we caught the gondola back down again to come home. All the runs down to the village had been closed due to these conditions, and it is still snowing heavily now