Being Cultured

Us Brits sometimes describe man made snow as artificial, or fake, snow. Yet the French typically have their own, how do I say it, arty way of labelling frozen icicles blasted out from a tall metal pipe. They called it cultured snow. How can snow be ‘cultured’, i.e. having class or educated in the finer things in life. Maybe cultured in their eyes means these frozen icicles have been nurtured?

Either way, I shouldn’t lose too much sleep about the nuances between our languages and how we look at things. As you may be aware, the French Alps has had one of the driest and mildest Novembers for many years. To be able to see some of these huge piles of ‘cultured’ snow up close is an instant relief. Ski resorts these days have a pretty good back up plan for when mother nature doesn’t play ball for us skiers.

My wife Harriet has been on holiday this week in Méribel, and we went for a walk together up and around the altiport ‘piste’, or should I call it the upper nine holes of the golf course? In fact last week I saw many people playing golf, for free, trying to avoid not only the bunkers but the snow mounds as well.

During the ski season it’s very rare to see how large the mounds can grow, so it’s difficult to describe to people. But a picture can say a thousand words…

Sorry about the bald bloke spoiling the shot, but at least he helps give a sense of scale to the image! So what’s on the cards for the coming week? Harriet heads back to Leamington Spa tomorrow. After dropping her off at Geneva airport I then drive directly to the ski resort of Tignes. I’ll be teaching and staying over there for the next two weeks which I’m really looking forward to. Sadly I’ll miss the opening weekend here in Méribel which has been sensibly moved back to next weekend. Good news on the weather front, it looks as though this stunning weather that we’ve had to ‘suffer’ is on the verge of deserting us and making way for much chillier temperatures and a few showers of precipitation. Can’t deny that I’ve enjoyed my time here in the sunshine, but I think it’s time to welcome more of the natural snow flakes for a change. Have a great week everyone.

Martin