Up and up?

So, staying true to form I went skiing again this Thursday (yesterday), though it was the first time in two week. I am also going again tomorrow for a full but I think that my skiing season will soon be coming to an end as hiking seems very appealing at the moment. The snow was also disappearing quite rapidly from the lower altitudes at 7 Laux (its base is at 1350m, summit 2400m). The snow that I was skiing on was reminiscent of a slushee. That being said, there was an avalanche yesterday while I was skiing. It must have been pretty big as there were lots of helicopter flying back and forth. I heard that it even took out the skiiers who were on the route underneath. No need to worry about me though, I'm still not good enough to be on those types of routes. I think it was a black diamond route... but I could be wrong about that. Tomorrow I will be at 2 alps, it is a lot higher in elevation (base at 1650m, summit at 3200m) so I think that it will be much more enjoyable.

I also rented myself a bike today. I'm pretty excited about it. Its nothing special, just a standard city bike with 3 gears. This is not much of an issue because the entire city of Grenoble is flat, aside from the hill to my residence. I think what I will end up doing is locking my bike at the bottom of the hill and walking up. I don't think there is any way I would make it up the hill, the lowest gear is just not low enough. 6 switchbacks are just too many for me. Not to mention that my legs and heart are not strong enough.

My bike rental also includes 3 locks and I am supposed to leave on my bike at all times. Bike theft is quite an issue in Grenoble and I have seen many bikes with parts missing. Bike thieves even go as far as to steal your seat if you don't lock it to your bike frame. So I have that lock, a "U" lock to lock the bike frame to something sturdy and a lock that immobilizes the rear wheel. If that doesn't discourage thieves I don't know what will.

That however was not the most interesting portion of my day. As I was locking my bike up at the bottom of the stairs I was approached by a photographer. He told me that he was looking for a model for one of his clients, which is a jean company. He then went on to mention I have the profile (as in side of face) that this company is looking for. I was original quite skeptical because these types of things don't just happen in everyday life. However, he was not pushy at all and gave me his business card so I could check it out for myself. So upon returning to my room I looked him up, and everything seems to check out. What do you guys think? His website address is "levetchristope.fr" if you want to look at it for yourselves. The jean company is called April 77. In any case, it was quite flattering to be approached by someone and being told that they would be interested in having you model for them. It was even more flattering because I had some excellent helmet hair and a rather red face as I had just biked back from University in 20 degree weather.