Descente aux flambeaux

All the kids enrolled in the ESF ski classes were invited to participate in a kids' descente aux flambeaux (torchlight descent) Thursday night. They told us to have the kids there at 6:15 pm for a start time of 6:30, but unfortunately, we thought we should head up a little earlier since it was sure to be chaos. Chaos it was, and it didn't begin until 6:50 pm, by which time I was thoroughly frozen. I watched a few of the kids come down, made some pathetic attempts at taking pictures of it, and then Gala and I headed back to the apartment to see if we could warm up before March, and Frédéric stayed to gather the boys afterwards.

Before the descent, they warmed up a bit on the ski school slopes. Look at Noah, a pro already!

Sunset over the Alps...

and people gathering for the descent. There were many, many more people than this by the time the descent began, and I couldn't find a decent spot for pictures. Not that it mattered, since by the time they came down, I was shivering so much that the pictures and video I attemped turned out blurry anyway.

 

It wasn't much of a success for Benjamin, either, who expected the "torches" to be flashlights. I expected them to at least resemble "torches," but they were some sort of colored electric lights. But now we've done it. Maybe next year I'll attempt to watch the grown-up version, but I'll have to be sure to (a) stake out a good spot, (b) use a tripod and remote shutter release, and (c) have warmer gloves!