We met Daniel at Les Contamines in early February. He was a lovely man who was trying to learn to telemark. Since meeting Daniel, he has called us a couple of times to invite us to stay at his house near Annecy. Unfortunately, every time he rang us we were about to head off somewhere, first to Slovakia and then Livigno. To be fair we were also a bit reluctant to go off and stay with a bloke we had only met for a couple of hours and could hardly communicate with.
But we decided to trust our instincts and meet up again with Daniel. The easiest place for us both seemed to be back at Les Contamines, the resort where we had first met. Daniel knows the resort well and we still have free tickets there.
2/ The Lunch Gathering
Our meeting with Daniel is remarkable in that he really does not speak English and we really don't speak French. As you can imagine our whole day was full of hilarious miscommunications and widespread reliance on Franglish.
Even more challenging, the idea behind the day was for Graeme to give Daniel some telemark lessons! We'd double checked with Liz some key phrases we could use - "flechez les jambs" , "poid egal" and "regardez on ba la montagne"!
It was so hot today and the snow turned very quickly. Our best skiing was done mid morning before "la neige devenir comme souppe!" Along the way, we learnt quite a bit about Daniel. We knew that he was separated and that he has 3 sons, David, Jeremy and Timothy, who are all grown now. He also has a little grand-daughter.
Graeme can't believe how so many people feel the need to "unburden themselves" to me. In the past, without any prompting on my part, Te Wanaka guests would often reveal the most random "dark secrets" to me. I have no idea why? I've checked my forehead to confirm there's no tatoo saying " Tell me all!" or "I am your confidante". But suffice to say, Daniel too, felt the need to share his dark secret with me today while riding the chairlift. There was nothing lost in translation, but the wonderful thing is that after a hard 3 years, he now has a second chance at life and is revelling in the opportunity to re-establish his relationship with his 3 sons.
By lunch-time both Daniel and I were pleading with Graeme - "On n'a plus les jambs!" (We have no more legs left!). Kindly Graeme stopped the lessons and we enjoyed a healthy lunch of pomme frittes in the sunshine. [The budget is starting to get pretty tight!!] Over lunch, Graeme pulled out his map of the area and were were able to establish exactly where Daniel lived and where he worked. He lives in a little village called Le Villard in Parc National Reg. du Massif des Bauges. And he works as a remontee mechanic at a tiny resort called Margeriaz.
Lunch was a long one. We all seemed to have lost enthusiasm for tackling the "souppe" again. But we wanted to get some photos and film footage of Daniel skiing, so we managed to have a couple more runs before we called it a day.
It is always surprising how you can still communicate when you have a common interest. We had a really fun day with Daniel and we are pleased he persisted with us. We wish him well for the future and hope that we can keep in contact with him.
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