MegèveSki

Note to self: Always carry the camera

We didn't ski today, decided to have a quiet Sunday. We went for a walk around lunch time to get a paper (we haven't heard any news since we've been here) and to explore the town a bit more. We knew that this weekend was the Polo on Snow weekend but we didn't know where it was. We found it, we should have had a camera...

We walked into town and got our paper, they're a day behind with UK papers, so we got Saturday's Times. Once that was done we explored some more areas of the town and found a new pizza place (always a good thing) and then ventured off into some of the more residential areas so that we could understand what the estate agents' windows meant. Whilst wandering along a random road we heard a commentator on a tanoy and we guided ourselves in towards the Polo on Snow by following his voice. When we got there, right by the sports centre, the teams were having a bit of a kick about, warming up. I'd expected it to be a pay to view kinda thing but we just wandered up and sat down on a fence that was about 3 feet away from the edge of the pitch - there were a few other people sitting on the fence and lots of press people. The edge of the pitch was marked by a row of small bales of hay and after that it was neatly bashed courderoy snow with 8 horses and riders thundering around smacking small red footballs with long hammers. Just after we sat down the game started and I immediately thought "this reminds me of ice hockey"; I think it was the way that the players were playing in any direction and moving in any direction and the play and the move needn't be the same. Anyway, the two teams of four thundered back and forth as a pack whilst beating this small ball this way and that. The first period ended with several goals having been scored by one of the teams (we didn't know who was playing, I think the purple guys were up at the end of period 1).

After period 1 some players changed horses, which explained what the guys not in Polo gear were doing riding horses up and down at the end of the pitch; each time they changed horses new ones were brought out and warmed up. I assume that there was some form of rotation going on, but I didn't pay enough attention to the individual animals to work out if there were a set number of beasts per team or if there were new animals each period.

The game went on and the views from our vantage point were amazing; I really should have had a camera. The mountains in the background and the snow churning up as the horses galloped in a pack, the jostling of the riders and this small red ball flying through the air would have made for some epic shots. When the ball was suddenly punted straight towards us we began to doubt the sense of having the spectators a mere metre from the pitch. The ball hits the bales in front of you and stops, at which point you have 8 horses with riders swinging long handled hammers galloping towards you at full tilt; you cant move because you're sitting on a fence and behind you the ground drops away... Interesting. Suddenly the horses are stopping and the hammers are swinging and, well, eventually they go away ;)

It was an amazing game, I'm sure there are lots of complex rules but, well, it looked like "hoon after the ball and smack it towards our end, repeat". There was at least one penalty and a "free kick" after various incidentds of obstructive play and right near the end of the final period two of the riders nearly came to blows when one galloped in and played the man rather than the ball... Definately almost went completely ice hockey at that point, though they didn't have gloves to throw off...

So, this piece should have some amazing pictures of horses galloping on snow, ridden by men swinging hammers (often at head height), it doesn't :( I'll try and carry my camera from now on.

Of course this wasn't the first time that I've missed an interesting picture on this trip; last weekend we pulled out of the car park and I noticed a balloon (one of the huge, hot-air, types with a basket underneath) in the valley just next to the road (like 30 feet away and level with the car). The balloon was part of last week's baloon festival and was just floating up the valley and it happened to be rather low... That would have made a nice picture too, but at least I had the excuse of being driving at the time...