Caught myself staring again

How many times have you been caught staring at something, well, how do I say this, that’s gorgeous and beautiful beyond measure? I’d wager that it’s been quite a few times. But is it sad when you suddenly catch yourself doing it, or is it just human nature? No, Méribel hasn’t been invaded by super models, I’m talking about the scenery. I had a spare few mornings recently, after being terminated by some Russians (more on that later), and decided to celebrate where I live and work each winter.

I chose to go for a gentle ski by myself on Sunday, with Canon of course, in the stunning weather that we’ve been having for ages. I stared, ogled, admired, and constantly rubbernecked without limits, I felt very spoilt. Now I know I bang on about the views here constantly, and probably will do more in the future, but hey, what a place to be. Plus I also know that one of the reasons for some of you coming on a skiing holiday is to see the mountain views.Anyway, before I send you all to sleep with my Hippy tree hugging outlook, please meet Vladimir and Sasha who I first met and taught last winter.

It’s not unusual for this Méribel private ski instructor to travel round to Courchevel 1850. In fact it’s a nice change, because guess what, I can rubberneck at the views to my hearts content whilst driving over !?! Sasha is a very strong skier at the age of fourteen, who adores skiing anything steep, with bumps and preferably off piste in search of powder. His father, Vladimir, likes to ski with his son and enjoys the challenge of improving his performance to enable him to stay with Sasha, and in one piece.

We concentrated on the different techniques required for skiing off piste, on piste, skiing in powder, through a bumps field and down steep pitches. The different options available for steering our skis were also discussed. The weather has been spectacular, but we also had a few days of strong foehn and lombard winds which affected us a little. As you can see here, it was a tad blowy which made seeing the piste a challenge sometimes.

Half way through the ten day booking, Vladimir told me that he bumped into one of his friends from Moscow (a billionaire using Vladimir’s own description) in Courchevel who was also a very keen and motivated skier. Igor (no I promise I’m not making up these names) has a passion for heli-skiing, and had organised to make several trips over to Italy with his own guide, and swiftly invited Sasha to go along as well. This meant their booking with me was suddenly terminated, I was no longer needed, sacked if you like, even demoted, or how about fired !?! Without dwelling for too long, this was when my recent bout of ‘staring’ went off the rails again, just like a heavy drinker reaching for the hard stuff.At least staring at the scenery is an acceptable vice in society isn’t it? Well that’s what I keep telling myself.I hope you are all enjoying the amazing spring weather in the UK at the moment, just like we are here. Please don’t worry if you are coming out on a skiing holiday over the Easter break, there’s still plenty of snow about.MartinP.S. I started instructing a beginner group lesson yesterday with some lovely people. It seems I’m not the only one who stares at views after all, phew, you should see them.