Sainte Foy Tarentaise : 23 June 2020
Here in Sainte Foy we love the long hazy days of summer. We love our adventurous hiking days, our afternoon glass of rosé and our evening barbecues with friends.
Long summer evenings were officially announced this week with the summer solstice. This is when the sun has reached the furthest point of its movement in relation to the earth, before reversing direction. It has the effect of standing still and gives us our longest day of the year.
There’s no Stonehenge in the Tarentaise Valley, so to mark the event, we climbed up the Glacier du Grand Pisaillas to watch the first rays of sun hit the mountain tops. Well that was the plan!
Getting up at 04.00, we drove up to the top of the Col d’Iseran above Val d’Isère, and parked in the car park at 2728m. There is still plenty of snow at this altitude, and later in the morning the French ski team would be training on the glacier.
The Glacier du Grand Pisaillas starts at 3150m, so we donned our ski touring gear and set off enthusiastically in the dim early morning light. It was below freezing with a light wind and we had to wrap up warm.
Unfortunately, the light cloud denied us our much hoped for spectacular sunrise, but it was a fun outing with great friends, and my first ever ski on the longest day of summer!
A couple of days later, Bec Black, our yoga teacher, had us performing 108 sun salutations. This marks the transition from spring to the firey season of summer; from the springtime Ying to the passion and fullness of Yang. It’s a time to live from the heart, with joy and a playful love of life. 108 sun salutations is also hard work!
Bec says, “It’s easier to weave love and compassion and kindness into your life when you’re aligned to summer vibes”. If you like to feel at one with nature, and tune into the seasons, then I thoroughly recommend a yoga class with Bec.
This open-air yoga class took place in La Rosuel, on the other side of Mont Pourri from Sainte Foy. The sun salutations definitely worked, we went on to have our hottest day of the year so far!
Other pop-up open-air yoga classes are available with Bec in other locations with similarly spectacular views.
Rebecca Black is the founder of, and enthusiasm behind, BalanceBec
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