Life in a year full of Saturdays: Counting Crows

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Chamonix (FRANCE) - Snowriders

Chamonix (France)

10 September - 11 September 2015

Warren Miller's 1995 movie 'Snowriders'. That's when I discovered both Chamonix and the Counting Crows, it was also about that time that my passion for snowboarding was ignited. When I look back at that movie now it actually looks and feels like a movie made in the 90's - remember, this was before the era of the X-Games, before events such as 'Slopestyle' and 'Big Air' made backflips a compulsory part of the layman's run down a slope. What I hoped hadn't changed since that time was Chamonix. I was still hoping for a smallish village style resort at the base of some of the highest mountains in Europe, cobblestone streets, quaint French bistros, beautiful scenery and apres ski life (well, considering it was only early Autumn, just bar life). What i found, thankfully, was all of that.

...What we had to get through however was a 9 or 10 hour drive from San Sebastian to Chamonix. Why? I still don't know, I didn't make the rules for this trip but apparently that's what we had to do. I still can't figure out why the hell we needed to do so much driving, we weren't on a deadline.

We all endured the 9hr ride, for whose benefit I'm not sure. What I do remember however is that the scenery was impressive. Beautiful, imposing, almost regal style mountains overlooking the beautiful village/town of Chamonix. Absolutely picturesque and undoubtedly a stunning place to be once the Winter season was in full swing. You could just imagine how picture perfect this place would be at that time of year. I remember years ago there was a period of about a month when I'd put some serious planning together to make it here for a couple of weeks of snowboarding. Like a few of my trips over the last few years, sometimes life just intervenes and morphs your thoughts and desires into something else entirely. Never the less, here I was. In Chamonix after a wait of some 20 years. So to that I say, 'Alexa, play The Rain King by the Counting Crows'.