A breath of fresh air

At last!  A view of the Dévoluy from the Tabor on Saturday

Given the ankle circumstances, here at 32 Quai Perrière, we've had a pretty slow start to the winter.
Before Brad broke his ankle, snow conditions were pretty bony:

Searching for snow with Brad, François, Thibaut and Annelise

 and have remained pretty mediocre since.   Though he's been amazingly calm about not being able to get outdoors and found new activities to keep him busy (see below), I think Brad's 'cool' has been significantly aided by the poor ski conditions.   He'll always pine away over the mountains, but when nearly every ski report from friends sounds like 'meh', his pain is less acute.

Brad and Ian try out a new weekend activity

In the meantime, I finally got the go ahead from my physical therapist to ski for a half day, and quickly took advantage last weekend on Chamechaude with François

Regard toward Grenoble from Chamechaude

and this weekend on the Tabor with Thibaut and Austin.   While still I haven't yet been on an outing where I didn't touch down on grass or rocks, I was thrilled just to be up there, feel cold biting wind on my face and sweat.   I met Austin, a new temporary addition to Grenoble by way of AMC huts connection last summer.  He arrived a few weeks ago, and yesterday was his first Alps ski tour. His enthusiasm was palpable. While I didn't need much in the way of stoke-inspiration after weeks of being city-bound, the permanent grin on his face was appreciated.

Austin and Thibaut look towards the Grand Armet

Austin and the stoke