The Lark Ascending and Yuna - Yuna Kim (2)

The lark ascending was 'art' rather than 'sport'

Her first season as a senior skater was in 2006 right after the gold medal from world junior championship. In short, I would say her performance was incomplete version due to her injury, but the short programme 'El Tango de Roxanne' and the long programme 'The Lark Ascending' were great enough to become the legends. A number of her loyal fans including the author particularly love these two programmes since she was just a girl rather than the queen.

'El Tango de Roxanne' showed that a music with strong and fast beat so well fit together with her skating style and techniques. She broke world record by scoring 71.95, and this definitely showed the world what they were about to see from Yuna for the next several years. Her performance in short programme in world championship is famous for high score and her debut performance in world championship, and yet many South Koreans' favourite might be 'The Lark Ascending'.

People agree that Yuna's 'The Lark Ascending' has something special. For me, I think it's special because her jumps, spins, step sequences and spirals do not look like the compulsory elements in the programme but a part of her choreography. Watching other figure skaters' skating, you get to count how many jumps they have done during performance. But in 'The Lark Ascending', all the technical elements are so beautifully integrated with the whole choreography, so the whole programme runs extremely smoothly. Of course, 'The Lark Ascending' is the masterpiece of Yuna's choreographer David Wilson. With that said, no skater other than Yuna can execute the choreography in such a beautiful way. When Yuna reached the level of perfection with 'Danse Macabre' or 'James Bond Medley', I used to think that Yuna's 'The Lark Ascending' was possible because she was a young girl back then. But when Yuna came back with 'Homage to Korea' in 2011 World Championship, her choreography in Arirang seemed to be another version of 'The Lark Ascending'. Yuna's got long arms and legs, which would be a great advantage for expressing a music with slow tempo. On top of that, Yuna is simply a good dancer. She knows how to dance with a music with slow tempo as well as fast and slow beat.

I hope Yuna include 'The Lark Ascending' in her ice show someday. She's got so-called legendary programmes such as 'Danse Macabre' and 'Concerto in F', which will resound for a long time as a classic skating programme. Yuna hasn't done clean programme and broken world record with 'The Lark Ascending', but it will remain forever as one of the best programmes in figure skating history to her fan and to me.

World Junior Champion - Yuna Kim (1)



Yuna won 2005-2006 World Junior Championships

January 2012 is a quite brutal season so far. It's the second term of the first year, and now I serious feel the rapidly growing pressure that the specific goal of my PhD must be decided and the first outcome must be created in a couple of months of time. So, recently there has been no fun since I came back from skiing trip, and there will be no exceiting thing for a while. My life has been occasionally boring like this and probably will be like this from time to time during my PhD study. Yet this blog should be stayed alive. So, I decided to talk about the number one celebrity in South Korea for the last five years, Yuna Kim.

In this world, there are two types of prodigies. Some prodigies shine bright in their early ages, but the great expectation is not continued, and the name is soon forgotten among the public. The other type grows up with  their great talents. The representative super star of the latter case is Yuna Kim. The history of figure skating in South Korea is distinguished by before and after the appearance of Yuna Kim. She is such a super hero!

The weather in South Korea is cold enough in winter to present good background for winter sports such as skiing and skating. For a last decade, South Korea has been quite good in winter olympics due to one specific event, short track. In 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, South Korea was able to sweep gold medals from speed skating and figure skating as well as short track probably thanks to the ambitious project for 2018 winter olympic campaign which was confirmed to be Pyeongchang in South Korea by IOC committee. In fact, ice sports are relatively not restricted by weather condition, so those countries under an equatorial climate still have an opportunity if massive investment could be followed. But when it comes to snow sports, climate and topographic conditions are extremely important, so european countries have significant advantages. In South Korea, the amount of rainfall in winter is extremely small, so skiing resorts have to rely on artificial snow. After having skiing trip to Chamonix, the author felt that european countries are almost unbeatable in snow sports.

For South Koreans, 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic was the most dramatic because two miraculous events happend. One was Mo Taebum's the first gold medal in speed skating followed by Lee Sanghwa's another gold medal. Both won gold medals from the shortest track event 500m, which means the fastest man and woman on the ice were all South Korean. The second miracle was Yuna Kim's perfect gold medal. She broke the world record in both short and long programme, accordingly the total as well. This story will be followed later in detail.

A frontier always deserves compliment. South Korea had never received attention in the field of figure skating, and now there are hundreds and thousands times of young figure skaters in South Korea who want to follow Yuna Kim's beanten track. But, Yuna's life story tells us how difficult it is to blaze a new trail.

I got to know her for the first time when she won silver medal in world junior championship in 2004-2005. Back then I though she was one of those prodigies who might be easily forgotten but I also felt she was having something speciall in her personality and appearance (she's got just adorable style). So I immediately knew she was going to be a star (of course didn't expect a super star like now). Figure skating has been known as the flower of winter olympics. The author still remember the rivary relationship between Michelle Kwan and Tara Linpinski because it has been introduced by several TV programmes in South Korea, even though there had been no Korean figure skater in world class level. So, when Yuna Kim won silver medal in 2005-2006 and eventually gold medal from world junior championship in 2006-2007, she was a present to South Koreans but also there was a question mark whether she would be able to overcome the gap between junior level and senior level.

Chamonix Mont Blanc (2nd and 3rd)

I woke up every three hour, and everytime I looked out the window. I couldn't see mountains clearly until half past seven in the morning. The mountains viewed through the window was literally magnificent and could be compared with one of the highest mountains in South korea.



The mountain view from the hotel room

After having one of the worst breakfast at 14 euro in the hotel, we rent a ski and a snowboard. It's been two years since I went to a ski resort. Ski boots were quite heavier than I remembered. On the second day, we were planning to go to Balme because of skier-friendly(?) slopes. There are diverse slopes including beginner and intermediate levels in Balme according to the guide map. Skiing is obviously a dangerous sports (some people may not agree with this), so we wanted to try easy one on the first day. Additionally, we watched a video clip on youtube someone took while skiing in Balme, and the scenery of the slopes was pretty amazing. Yet we didn't know how far Balme was located from the hotel. Actually the ski resort Balme was located far away from the town, so we had to take the coach for about 50 minutes. When we arrived at Balme, it was already 12 o'clock, so we rushed to the lift after purchasing lift passes. The lift pass covers most of the best ski resorts in Chamonix and tour programmes for three days at 104 euro. The slopes viewed from the lift on the way to the peak were quite steep more than we thought. When we reached the top of the mountain, two of us were extremely pleased due to the panorama and the fact that we are in Alps. Believing that I'm experienced traveller, I strongly suggested that we should take pictures right now since the weather was not terrible yet. According to weather forecasts, there was going to rain soon. But Mr Chun looked extremely motivated to snowboard, so we took just a few pictures at the peak of Balme. These photos are only memorable photos from the first day because of what happened in ten minutes.

On the way to the ticket office



Chamonix covered with clouds. It was raining in the town and snowing in the mountain. This often happens in Chamonix, so the official Chamonix website provides the anticipated altitude at which rain transform into snow for skiiers



Lost!! Let me see my map~



Balme. It was relatively good except the location and the weather.

Originally, we were planning to take the longest and most gentle slope at the beginning. When we watched youtube, the slope had a potential issue for Mr Chun due to the narrow. Particularly, I realized that a narrow and gentle slope could be the hardest course for the snowboarders in intermediate level. When he got in the slope, both of us immediately realized that it could be serious. So, I let him go to the other slope and he let me go alone. That was around 12:30 pm, and we couldn't see each other until 5:00 pm.
For over four hours, I had to ski alone. I don't usually mind skiing alone, but on the day, the weather was extrmely foggy and my ski skill was on the way coming back. Particularly turning didn't work well, so I had to slide down the slope not via ski blades but my whole body. The first day ski was quite painful. It was a big mistake to go to the peak straightaway. Whenever trying to turn particularly into right, I failed to shift my weight from the left to the right. It takes time to recover the sense and skill, and the first skiing experience after two years gap was not very enjoyable.

The third day in Chamonix and the second day of skiing was the highlight of the holiday. The weather forecast had been assuring that the weather was going to be fantastic (sunny), so we just crossed our fingers. Since yesterday was quite foggy and skiing was pretty much struggling, I desperately wished the weather would be nice.
We were planning to go to Brevent-Flegere. This resort covers quite large area in mountains, being located right in front of the Chamonix village. So, it took only 5 minutes from the hotel to the resort. Since we rushed to the resort from 7am, we were able to get ready to go by 9am. In contrast to the weather forecast, it was quite foggy again in the morning. But, the cloud was lightly touching the mountains, and the state of clouds felt different from that of yesterday. Hoping the cloud and fog disappear in a few hours, we decided to spend the entire morning at the slope for beginners.
Meanwhile, I was slowly recovering the skill in the morning. I realized that yesterday my entire weight was not properly shifted from the right to the left when I tried to turn right. This was sorted out by moving my body weight downward, which in turn effectively delivers my weight to my foot. Between 11.30 and 12.00, we saw a miracle. All the clouds suddenly disappeared, and we were able to see blue sky at 12.00.
Skiing at Brevent was one of the best things I've ever done in my life. The only one factor of the resort, the location, is good enough to be one of the best ski resorts in the world. People were enjoying skiing appreciating the panorama Alps mountains including Mont Blanc are presenting. The level of the slopes Planpraz was for us just enough to ski, and the quality of snow was extremely helpful to control the direction and speed. Originally we were planning to cross two different mountains and resorts via lifts: Planpraz and Flegere. But it seemed that the lift connecting two different area was off so we had to just hang around in Planpraz. Besides, there was not enough time to go through all the slopes for a couple of hours in the afternoon. If you ski in Brevent-Flegere, you cannot just keep moving forward because the slope is extremely beautiful, which makes you want to come back to the area. Here are some pictures from Brevent ski resort.

Brevent-Flegere

The most dramatic moment of the journey. The disappearance of clouds and the appearance of blue sky.

A panorama from the peak of Brevent

A panorama from the peak of Brevent

Skiing at Brevent

Skiing at Brevent

Probably have seen this picture from one of postcards with a title 'Alps'?

Taking a lift was a bit nerve-racking.



BTW, anybody could tell me who Sandrine Quétier is?
OMG she's got a nice style!

Chamonix Mont Blanc (1st day)

I've been to Chamonix Mont Blanc from 21st to 24th December. Skiing in Chamonix has been one of my dreams since I went to Chamonix in December 2007. Back then, I've tried skiing for the first time in my life, and it was fantastic experience! Since then, I've tried to learn skiing whenever there was a chance, and now I can say my skiing skill is intermediate level. Unfortunately I couldn't make it in last winter due to tons of coursework to do during the Christmas vacation. In this year, my resolution was solid. Fortunately, I found another 1st DPhil student in Oxford, Mr Chun. His skiing level seemed to be more or less on a par with mine, and he looked overexcited about skiing in Alps like me. Can't ask for any better travel mate than Mr. Chun.

Normally, if I have a long vacation like Christmas vacation in the UK, I prefer doing something at the beginning of the holiday. This is because most people are excited about no work for the first couple of days. So, I normally prefer doing something at the beginning of the vacation, and then come back to work during the holiday. That's why I'm writing this on the 31st December in the office.
On 21st December, we met in front of my house at 7 o'clock in the morning. Chun slept in his office again, and yet looked energetic as usuall. We had to depart early in the morning since it's actually quite a long journey (Oxford rail station - Paddington rail station in London - Liverpool street rail station - Stansted international airport - Geneva international airport - Chamonix) and we prefer spending a couple of hours in stations rather than missing bus, train, airplane and etc, messing up the whole journey. It was one of normal travel except a couple of things. Firstly, Standsted airport was terrible, and I will never use it again. They offered slightly lower flight fees than other airports, but the security people are extremely strict and rude. This was only terrible thing in this trip.

I had been worrying about the weather in Geneva and Chamonix. Several weather forecasts have said that there will be raining on 22nd. Flying over Alps on the way to Geneva is one of the key points in this trip, but unfortunately we weren't able to see anything other than clouds. When we arrived in Geneva, it was raining. If I had a chance to talk with the locals in Geneva, I wanted to ask if it's raining in December because of global warming or if this has been usual. But my concern was relieved as we approached to Chamonix. Drops of water were gradually changing to snowflakes. And when we got there, it was a small village painted with white pigment.

Probably right in front of the rail station

It would not be just romantic for the locals

Snowing

Me, throwing a snowball

Pretty Christmas pine trees on the street

We rushed to ski rental shops to rent ski jeckets and pants. I've prepared maps with the locations of ten ski rental shops. But when we walked down the street from the rail station for 5 minutes, I immediately realized that I wasted my time. Ski rental shops were everywere, and it's more proper to say that it's even difficult not to see a ski rental shop. We were able to easily rent two black jackets and pants. In the hotel 'Hotel Prieure', we stayed for three days and were supposed to rent a ski and a snowboard. It's 109 euros a night for a twin room excluding breakfast. The room was quite warm and quiet, and had a nice view through the window. Particularly if you arrive in Chamonix after 6 o'clock, and wake up in the morning on the next day, the panorama of magnificent alps displayed through the window is overwhelming. 

 As soon as we put down our stuffs in the room, we went out to have a dinner. I was thinking of two french local foods before coming to Chamonix: Fondue and Escargot, and tried Fondue on the first day. The price was reasonable (about 10 euros each), but there was nothing other than baguette and a pot of boiling cheese. When we saw what we've got on the table, we thought, 'This can't be a dinner'. But after finishing the baguette and a pot of cheese, we got quite full. This is where we say. 'it's worth trying any experience whether it's good or bad one'. No Fondue for the next 10 years probably!

The cozy restaurant in Chamonix

Yummy Fondue, and yet only bread and cheese. (Where is meat?)

It had been snowing for over a week in Chamonix. The town Chamonix Mont Blanc was presenting what I was expecting to see, and we were very pleased to come to Chamonix for skiing. We went to bed at 11 o'clock looking forward to the following days.