We had a busy, packed week!
I’d just gotten back from the Olympics the night before and stayed up late with Matt decorating for Brooklyn’s birthday.
We decorated everything in pink and gold, her favorite colors, with balloons and streamers everywhere. It turned out so cute! Thankfully, my friend Susan was still staying with us and made us take a photo; otherwise, we’d have zero proof we pulled it off.
We woke her up a little early to surprise her, and she had no idea the dining room had been completely transformed, or that so many gifts were waiting. We celebrated with birthday donuts for breakfast and let her open presents before school.
We can’t believe our baby is 18 years old!!
After the birthday celebration was over, everyone headed off to work and school. I said goodbye to Susan and then made my way to school too, since Ryan had a big day as well, he was being promoted again in JROTC to Staff Sargent.
This time, it was Dad’s turn to pin on his new rank, Staff Sergeant. He’s officially maxed out for the year, and we couldn’t be prouder. He works so incredibly hard.
After work and school wrapped up, we still weren’t done for the day. Next on the schedule was the wrestling banquet. The parents hosted a group dinner with the theme “Something from Home,” and the spread was incredible; dishes from all over the world filled the tables. Each of the kids was presented with awards and earned another varsity letter for the season. To top it all off, the team surprised Brooklyn by singing “Happy Birthday” and putting together a small celebration for her.
Thursday was our only full day at home. During the day, I checked the weather in Méribel, France, where we were headed for a ski weekend. I was shocked to see an extreme avalanche warning; they’d been in a full-on blizzard all day. On top of that, even more snow and colder temperatures were in the forecast for the weekend. After last year’s beautiful weather, I was completely bummed.
I reached out to a few friends who were traveling to the same place and asked if they were tracking the forecast. Some of their friends had warned them that snow chains or snow socks would be necessary just to make it up the mountain roads to Méribel. Since we don’t own either, and, somewhat shamefully, don’t even have snow tires on our car, we started to panic a little.
We spent the rest of the night researching our options. First discovery: we can’t use snow chains on our car due to the tire size, so that was out. Getting snow tires installed the next morning also seemed highly unlikely. That left snow socks as our only way forward. I had never even heard of them before, but apparently they’re a newer alternative to chains; a textile traction cover that slips over your tires and provides similar grip.
We delayed our departure the next day so Matt could drive around to a few auto parts stores near our house to see if they carried snow socks. Long story short, they hadn’t even heard of them. So we set out anyway, hoping we’d find some along the way.
We stopped at several places in Switzerland and France but had no luck until we were almost in the Three Valleys. Because our tire size is so large, they were especially hard to find. We finally tracked down one pair at an auto parts store in one town and the second pair in the next. Finally equipped with the necessary equipment, we headed up the mountain pass.
It was definitely snowy and wet, but we didn’t not end up needing anything to get up the mountain. Temperatures had climbed above freezing that day, so we didn’t run into any slick spots until we were almost at our apartment in La Hameau, “The Hamlet” the highest part of Méribel-Mottaret.
Parking, though, was another story. The lot hadn’t been fully cleared, so we basically had to park on a mound of snow. Cars that hadn’t moved in a day or two were still buried under nearly a foot of it.
We had dinner in the village at a cute restaurant called La Rastro which is known for its hearty Savoyarde cuisine and it did not disappoint! I had my first amazing Onion Soup of the weekend, Brooklyn had a flank steak and Matt and Ryan enjoyed burgers.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our apartment after the long day of driving and stressing over snow socks. Our apartment was so cute! Even though it was perched up the mountain, it was still part of a little village with its own tiny supermarket, souvenir shops, and even an Intersport; our favorite. The village also had ski storage facilities, and we could walk straight from our apartment right onto the slopes.
The space was tiny, though. It was advertised as sleeping four, but it really should’ve been listed for three, since the “sleeper sofa” was actually just a sectional that Brooklyn and Ryan had to share. The bedroom Matt and I took was barely big enough for the bed, with just a sliver of space to walk around it. The Three Valleys can be incredibly expensive, though, so this was the price point that got us in.
The following morning, we woke up to cloudy skies and a light snowfall. We strapped on our skis anyway and headed out, determined to make the most of it. Our plan was to ski from Méribel over to Val Thorens. We started with a couple of laps around Méribel to warm up, then made our way up the mountain.
By the time we reached the peak, it was snowing hard. Visibility was terrible, we could barely see; but we managed to make our way down into Val Thorens, where the snowfall had eased up a bit. We stopped for lunch, hoping the weather would clear while we were eating.
We had an amazing Valentine’s lunch, complete with pink macarons for dessert. Unfortunately, the snow still hadn’t let up by the time we finished. When we finally headed out, it was coming down harder than ever.
By the time we reached the top of the mountain to cross back into Méribel, it was a full whiteout—honestly, pretty scary. We waited for a group of other skiers to start down so we could follow them, since you could barely see two or three feet ahead and we definitely didn’t want to lead the way.
The trip back to our apartment took an hour and 40 minutes. It’s one of the longest ski routes in the world, and having to go extra slowly made it feel even longer. We were all frozen from the sideways snow by the time we got back to our apartment; even Brooklyn’s hair had frozen!
Matt and I grabbed a quick après-ski while Brooklyn and Ryan napped in the room. Then we headed to dinner at Le Croco, just a few minutes walk from our apartment. There, we ordered the grilled meat platter and cooked it ourselves on a traditional Savoyarde grill set right on the table.
The next day was supposed to be cloudy with snow, but when we woke up, we watched the clouds and fog clear almost instantly, revealing bright blue skies. We were shocked, in the best way, so we threw on our skis and headed out to make the most of it.
Our plans for the day were to ski over to the Courchevel Valley, where our friends were staying and where we’d planned to meet up. It took several gondolas and a mix of ski routes to get there, but eventually we made it to central Courchevel. It was absolutely beautiful, and the conditions were incredible with all the fresh powder from the day before.
Ryan met up with his friend at the terrain park and they took off to work on jumps. Matt and his friend headed to lunch, and Brooklyn and I found a cozy café to warm up for a bit.
When all the boys finally joined us, we headed to Burger Factory Courchevel for lunch and ordered their famous fried red smash burgers. After that, we skied a little more before it was time to make our way back to Méribel.
Brooklyn and Ryan powered all the way back to our apartment from Courchevel, while Matt and I made a strategic “morale stop” halfway at La Folie Douce for their iconic après-ski party. A couple of Aperol spritzes, great music, and some very entertaining dancers later, we finally skied the rest of the way home.
By the time we got back, we were exhausted, so we took a quick nap and then had a “Carrefour dinner,” our term for walking over to the grocery store, picking out whatever everyone wanted, and heating it up back at the apartment.
We spent the evening continuing our Dexter marathon. The forecast was calling for a lot more snow overnight, so Matt and I went out a couple more times to brush off the car and pull it out of the spot, just to keep it from getting buried. We also finally put the snow socks on the car, sure we would need them to get down the mountain. We were honestly nervous about how we’d manage to leave in the morning.
It had started snowing around 6 p.m., and by midnight they’d already gotten about eight inches. Between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., another eight inches were expected in that hour alone. When we woke up at seven, there were nearly two feet of snow on the ground.
We headed out to dig out the car, and thankfully the snow was light and powdery. Maybe we had a shot?! We could see the plows working their way up the street, so we packed up the car, cleared off the last of the snow, and waited for one to pass. As soon as it did, we took our chance and headed out.
The first few minutes driving down the mountain were terrifying. I couldn’t even bring myself to take a video, which I normally always do. The snow socks definitely helped, though, and gave us much better traction. After about 45 minutes and roughly 2,000 meters of descent, the snow turned to rain. It’s wild how such a short distance can make such a huge difference in the amount of snow!
Once we were back on pavement, Matt pulled over and removed the snow socks. After all the stress of tracking them down, I’m so glad we got them; and now we’ll have them for future trips into the mountains.
The rest of the drive home was uneventful, and we made it back in time to pick up the dogs and relax with them for a bit before heading back to work and school in the morning.
Gilcrests Abroad 