Celebrating Spring - High Mountain Style

Hi everybody, and welcome to a (delayed) blog post, one that normally would've been published soon after arriving back after a ski season. I hope you are all very well, and enjoying the summer, and any holidays you may've had/will be having. For those of you who have known me for a few years, you know how I love to celebrate the end of each ski season in Méribel. Pretty much as soon as my ski instructing has finished for the winter, I love to grab some of my camera kit (along with a flask of strong coffee), and head into the Vanoise National Park. It's a very special place, and a fantastic way for me to end my time in France before heading back to the UK for the summer. All of these photos were taken at the end of April.

Whilst continuing to show the majestic beauty of the high mountains, let me explain why I'm rather late with publishing this post. One of the many brilliant things about being a ski instructor is sharing the love of the mountains with people, and getting know clients and vice versa. With that in mind, many of you know about my wife, or have even met, Harriet. We probably would've spoken about family and parents. So some of you may've known that my Dad had been ill recently.

Just before Easter, my Dad moved into a care home, next door to my Mum's dementia-specific care home. He had been diagnosed with a form of lung cancer a year and a half ago, and his condition had deteriorated such that he needed full time care. Without going into the grisly details, he passed away in the second half of June, at the fine age of 86 years. His funeral took place a couple of weeks ago, on one of the hottest days on record.

As you can imagine, the last few months have been incredibly difficult indeed. Why am I posting about this subject? It's not for wanting sympathy I promise. But more of a way of celebrating his life, and recognising his influence on me, namely the love of the outdoors and also mountains.

On the lead up to Dad's funeral, the celebrant asked me a whole number of questions about his life, in order for him to put together a eulogy. Amongst this big list of questions included where we went on holiday as a family. Let me give you a (shortened down) list; Devon, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Snowdonia and The Lake District. It was my parents that introduced me first hand to the magnificent mountains. How amazing is that? And I'll always be very grateful to them for that.

One of the main purposes of Dad's funeral was to celebrate his life, and pay our last respects. Yes of course there were moments of sadness. But the celebrant and I tried our best during the service to achieve this, during the celebrant's eulogy, and my ten minute 'tribute'. In theory, the funeral should be the end of a chapter, with it being time to move on from the last awful few months. Sadly, I haven't yet been anywhere near able to do that, and I suspect it will take a quite a long time. However, I know one thing that might just help......

Later this month, I'll be heading back to Méribel for a few weeks. I'll be taking my usual toys with me, a road bike, a mountain bike, hiking boots, and of course my camera kit. It's definitely time to whack that big button called 'Life Reset' and a moment to celebrate life again. And it's time to start appreciating life moving on, it's the very least that my Dad would expect of me. It'll be a bumpy road in several ways, but I'm looking forward to getting back to the high mountains and starting this precious process............ Live. With. Passion. Martin.