Or “Montagne Propre”. If only I
had had a camera! I pay for my skiing by using a discount card which is valid
for 8 “stations” in the Pyrenees. At the beginning of the summer, volunteers
are invited to each of the stations to comb the slopes looking for litter and
bringing it down in sacks. Last year 900 volunteers collected over 5 tons of
rubbish.
I have done nearly all my skiing
at Cauterets but when the call for volunteers went out I decided to clean up at
Luz Ardiden, a station not much further away where, I had been told that the
runs would be just fine to improve my level of ability. And having now walked them, I’ll give them a
try next season.
Yesterday was Montagne Propre day
and the weather was perfect; cloudless and hot but with a gentle steady breeze
to prevent it being uncomfortable. Because of the late and unusual rain we had
been having, the mountains were green all the way up. The “transhumance” – when
the cattle and sheep are brought up from the valleys to their summer pastures –
was only a couple of weeks ago so there was still plenty of new growth in the
grass. And lots of flowers; white, yellow and blue.
We rode up to just over 7 000
feet on the chairlift and wandered back down 1 200 ft to the station. In the
breaks from the chatter of French around me (I only heard one English voice all
day – a man talking to his dog) the silence was near total except for the
clanking of cow- and sheep-bells. A woman near me saw a marmot looking out of
its burrow. Think “groundhog”. I may have heard two of them whistling to each
other too. Yes, they whistle.
Between the 150-200 of us at Luz
Ardiden we collected a small mountain of rubbish with quite a surprising amount
of metal. How somebody managed to leave a 10ft.-long iron girder behind is
somewhat perplexing.
Back at the station, a goodish
lunch was laid on, with wine. It’s rumoured that our next season’s discount
cards will be paid, as well. That would be a bonus.
