Every year, I secretly pray to the founding father of the French Republican school system, Jules Ferry, France's first undersecretary for Sports in the 1930’s, Léo Lagrange, and all the teachers at my children's elementary school for them to take part in a school skiing trip. Perhaps because I never had that chance with my own classmates, it always seemed to me to be the ultimate fun event in a school year. Best of all, it would take a stone out of my Moon Boot when it comes to fairness in my blended family. Because my eldest goes skiing every winter with her father and grandfather, which is a lucky break! But my youngest is not about to earn his first star [ French skiing schools award stars to mark a skier's progress]: neither his father nor I are much of a skier, the trip is very expensive, and I wonder, without daring to say it and be a spoilsport, about the significance of this expense and of this experience, against a backdrop of the disappearance of snow itself.
As a result of human-induced warming, the Alps have lost a month's snow cover in 50 years, and the trend is set to continue. As a teenager in the 20th century, I have been on a winter sports trip and I know the euphoria that comes from the beauty of white peaks. As a parent in the 21st century, here I am, stuck when it comes to planting sticks.
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