Ski Week: Returning to Chamonix
First tele turns on Le Tour!
This has been our first week away since I was diagnosed with cancer and started going through all my chemo treatments and surgeries. Every February we have a ski week break from school and it’s become a tradition to go away with a group of skifreak friends and their ski crazy offspring to enjoy the mountains. We’ve been to Chamonix, Livigno, and Austria. This year we re-visited Chams for the 3rd time.
The excitement of being able to ski again overrode any concern about snow conditions. The weather forecast was for full sun and no snow. Sun in these mountains is as good as gold as far as I’m concerned. Being able to wake up in the morning and have Mont Blanc quietly sitting above me and the skyline of jagged peaks stretched out before my eyes was something I couldn’t wait to take in. There really is something to being healed in beautiful environments or taking in the view of the lake and mountains from a hospital bed. We can’t ignore the healing power of how our body and mind responds to the natural beauty when we are enveloped in it.
This first ski day came exactly 10 weeks after my second lung surgery. I had been preparing mentally for this day and this week for a long time and was so excited to get out in the mountains. I wanted to get back into my ski gear and enjoy that feeling of floating down the mountain with each turn.
After seeing my Oncologist yesterday for my next round of chemo, he said that it was clear the mountains were good for me and I even put on some weight (all muscle:) of course! My next operation is April 7th and I was reminded by my doctor to make sure I take time to be in the mountains before heading into this next surgery. It makes the Spirit strong and that’s a big positive for pre surgery prep.
We started at Le Tour, an area we have skied at before and loved it for its’ wide open area with lots of area to ski off piste. The runs are relatively short which is good for my first day on the slopes. I was a little nervous about skiing because I had no idea how my body would feel. I am still recovering in my ribcage and diaphragm area and I really haven’t had much time to get my legs in ‘tele’ shape. I found out there’s nothing like doing to get the feeling back!
The body is amazing at remembering what it's good at. Back on the skis, I felt strong like I hadn't missed a turn! I kept telling my body how incredible it is and what a good job it's doing! Our bodies work hard for us and they need a lot of reassuring and pats on the back. Once you've had your body go through something major like being cut open in surgery, it's incredible how the body's laser focus to find its way back to its original healthy blueprint takes place. To me, I experience it as a miracle knowing how much I was taken down to being completely dependent on the care of others to being able to have a feeling of ‘bouncing’ back towards my own inner strength again.
Skiing on the hill with no fresh snow is a different feeling than having a dump of fresh powder and for this condition, I finally went to fat tele skiis a couple of years ago. I am so thankful I finally made this choice because my Armada All Mountain ski allow me to feel confident on any slope and I know they’re going to get me down to the bottom of the run in style!
The sky is a brilliant blue, the big mountains of the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc take their place in the skyline exuding a powerful stillness that my vision never tires of.
