2010 X Country Ski Camp
Written by Annie Lush | 16 December 2010
The camp started well... at least everyone made the very early flight from Gatwick (just!), and on arrival to Barcelona our mini bus was ready waiting to take us the 220km to Font Romeu, where the French National Centre for Altitude Training (CNEA) is based.
As we approached the Pyrenees however it became apparent that there was not much snow insight. In fact despite the optimism of all twelve of us, as we climbed further and further into the mountains, there was only blue sky, bright sunshine and grey rock.
We arrived at CNEA in the early afternoon and despite some confusion (mainly because we don't speak French, and they not much English) were shown our rooms and the 'facilities'. The excitement of having a room each soon wore off when we realised that you can touch both walls when standing in the middle, and that the beds are designed more for 470 helms than Star crews.
With reports confirming our fear that there was not enough snow to ski, and nor will there be (until we leave on Friday, when naturally heavy snowfall is expected!), we went to look around the facilities. These were installed in 1968 for the French to train here prior to the Mexico Games, and as some pointed out, have not been updated since! Hence the gym and weights room require some creative thinking to complete our normal workouts, but luckily Pete is on hand to help out and we're warming to the retro style weight lifting!
So, with no snow or skiing prospects, we've not been allowed to sit around enjoying French cuisine (if only that were possible, the food here is…well just imagine bad school dinners), but we’ve been hiking. Pete found us a guide and we've been on 4 - 5 hour hikes. Today we climbed over 1000metres in minus 23 and about 30 knots of wind.... but it was actually kind of fun.
Despite a few blisters, frozen water bottles and attempts at falling into freezing rivers (Flash and myself), we're all alive and have just finished our pre-dinner stretch and swim before football later this evening. Tomorrow we're off to the summit and are leaving at 8.30am, so we're back before it's dark…umm I’ve just realised that's 8 hours of hiking...HELP!!!
Annie x