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Saturday February 1st - Skiing
Day 1
The bus rolled into Samoens just as the sun was rising over the mountains.
It appeared that there was significant new snow on the ground, even on
the valley floor. The group was a bit groggy, but cheered up quickly
with the promising snow and the clear blue skies. We stopped at the
Becchi Hotel - our residence for the weekend. We were welcomed with
a hot breakfast, plenty of coffee, and a pack-it-yourself lunch buffet.
By 8:30am we were revived and ready.
We changed into ski wear, left our bags in hotel storage, and boarded a shuttle bus for the ski station. Within 5 minutes we were at the gondola, and being carried up to the top of the Samoens station. There were several gear rental shops at the top, where I rented skis and boots. The crowds were low, and by 9:30am we were going down our first powdery piste. The snow did not disappoint - in fact it would turn out to be the best powder that many people had seen in years.
Samoens is a strange station - it consists of three or four summits
that are accessed in series, meaning that to cross the entire station you
are required to ski down and lift up about four times. Once the highest
peak is reached, you are still several valleys of ups and downs from where
you started. Our group was too big to stick together in the complex
station, and we ended up splitting into two main parts. Mike, Marc,
Cecilia, Marie Pierre, Tullio, and I stuck together in the early morning,
but split up for the last hour or so before lunch. I followed
Marc down a black run that was knee-deep in powder, and it really strained
my quad muscles during the 45 minutes that it took me to make it down.
I have never exerted so much during one run of skiing. By the time
we reached the bottom, my legs were toast! We managed to find
the rest of the group for lunch on top of the highest peak. Mont
Blanc was visible only a few kilometers to the south, and the panoramic
view from our lunch spot was spectacular. It brought back memories
from our adventure there in August (for more details, click
here), as we could see the entire route that we used to get to the
top of the mountain.
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We did not finish lunch until 2pm, and the afternoon was dedicated mainly to getting back across the various valleys to our original station. Marc, Cecilia, Marie Pierre and I managed to get a bit lost on the return route, which required us to go up and down a few extra times By the time we had figured out the correct route, it was 5pm and the sun was setting. We hurried to make it down the final required runs, and feared that the last lift would close at 5pm. Indeed we were greeted by closed lifts in our traverse of the final valley, and we were required to do a bit of hiking to make it to a piste that accessed the only remaining open lift. I think for a few moments we all feared that we would be stuck hiking through the snow in the dark. We made it up the last lift at 5:30pm, just before closing. We returned our rental gear, took the gondola down, caught the 6pm shuttle, and were back at the hotel shortly thereafter.
Cecilia and I checked into our room, showered, and met the rest of the group in the lobby. We walked into town, where we found a bar for hot wine and beers. It was a perfect way to start the night. We walked back to the hotel by 8pm, and to a racket dinner served for the entire Schlumberger group. The dinner was held in a dedicated Schlumberger party room, and also had, in my opinion, an unwelcome form of entertainment - Karaoke. There was even a Karaoke DJ who tried to coerce people into singing - the aggressiveness of the DJ did not go over well with our table. He passed out request forms, and I filled out one in Doug's name, requesting the song "New York New York". The DJ played along with my intended joke, and forced the microphone into Doug's hands. Doug resisted as first, but then I saw a change in his face as he reached an inner decision - that if he would do something stupid, he would do it right. Doug got up from the table, and walked to the front of the room, where he proceeded to sing a rousing version of New York New York. Mike also managed to pick up a second microphone, and backed up (and often replaced) Doug's lyrics. It was a precious moment.
After dinner we retired to the hotel bar, which we found closed.
Everyone was exhausted after lack of sleep and a full day of skiing, which
combine with the lack of available beverages led to early retirement of
the group. We were back in our room and asleep by 11pm.
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Sunday February 2nd - Skiing Day
2
Sunday skiing went much the same. We managed to stay together
for most of the morning, and had lunch together on one of the slope-side
restaurants. After lunch 
some
of the group headed back early to the hotel, while the rest of us split
into smaller groups. I got a good workout on the red slopes on the
main peak, and met up with everyone for the final traverse back to the
station entrance The skies had clouded over, but the snow was still
good, and the temperatures cold enough to maintain the powdery conditions.
The bus was scheduled to leave back for Paris at 10pm that night, to arrive at Schlumberger by 6am on Monday morning, just in time for work. Mike, Marie Pierre, Cecilia, and I had decided earlier to opt out of the bus ride, and instead stay for another day of skiing on Monday. We had found 22 euro EasyJet flights from Geneva back to Paris for Monday night, which made the prospect of staying too good to turn down. We had unsuccessfully tried to book an extra night at the same hotel, but were told that all of the rooms were taken. So, we reserved a room for the four of us at a hotel near the center of town (Neige et Roc), which turned out to be a great choice. We moved our bags there after skiing, checked in, showered, and were back to meet the rest of the group for hot wine at the original hotel's bar.
We enjoyed another dinner of meat and cheese provided for the Schlumberger
group in the hotel restaurant. After dinner everyone packed up and
boarded the bus, ready for the ride back to Paris. The remaining
four of us walked back to our new hotel, and had a few beers while playing
cards at the hotel bar. Mike taught us his version of the game "Asshole"
- which required much more skill and talent than the version that I had
played at many previous parties. It was almost analogous to a game
of spades. We also discovered that the majority of rooms at the hotel
were occupied by a Dutch dentist conference, as we witnessed the heated
dental discussion at the hotel bar. This also explained all of the
Flemish that we had heard around the lobby. It did not take long
to tire of cards, and we were upstairs and again asleep early in the night.
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Monday February 3rd - Skiing Day
3, and Return to Paris
Monday morning we met for breakfast at 8am, and were at the ski shuttle
bus stop by 8:30am. We had arranged to leave our bags at the hotel
until the afternoon, when we would be picked up by a private shuttle for
the 90 minute trip between Samoens and the Geneva Airport. The weather
had turned to the worse, and heavy snow was falling as we boarded the shuttle
bus for the slopes. We rented gear, and hit the slopes in an almost
blinding whiteout. We found that the upper runs were closed, due
to high winds. Within two runs Marie Pierre had decided that she
had enough of the strong winds and stinging snow blindness, and headed
back to the restaurant near the rental shop. Mike, Cecilia, and I
stuck to the lower slopes that had much less wind, and still managed to
have a great morning in the fresh powder - I could not even see my tracks
from previous runs! We met up with Marie Pierre for a pizza lunch,
and then managed another flurry of runs before calling it a day.
We returned our gear, then headed back to the hotel to change and pick
up our bags. The shuttle picked us up at 5pm, and we were at the
airport in time to grab a quick dinner before the flight back. EasyJet
delivered us on time to Orly, and Cecilia and I were home by 9pm.
Another great weekend trip!
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