THE TOP OF THE ROCK

p until then everything was fine. We managed to wake up on time. We did the five hour train ride and two separate vans up to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. We thought the worst was behind us until Marie, the manager of Refuge de Solaise called us in panic: “!” Panic on board. Questions come faster than answers: where are we going to sleep? And what about the fashion shoot scheduled? Do you think we can buy cigarettes up there? The people around me look devastated as they were upon hearing about Karl Lagerfeld’s demise last week. When we arrive at the roundabout near the ski slopes, some good news awaits: Marie has convinced the ski lift staff exceptionally to let us get on. But we have to be quick. The skiers have already deserted the slopes. The snowy tree-tops are bending in the gusts of wind. Two hotel”, doing it as he speaks. Then the doors close and the machine throws itself into the void. Last sign of terrestrial life: two shadows wearing skis slipping past as they brave the weather and disappear. The cable car sinks into a huge, white and fluffy space. At that moment, the opening scene of the film pops into my head: an aerial view of a car climbing upward through the mountains to the sound of an eerie tune, before it arrives at the hotel lost in the middle of nowhere…