Less Effort - More Reward

Hi everyone and welcome to another blog post from your favourite blogging Méribel (maybe Courchevel as well) ski instructor. As mentioned during the previous post, the last week or so I've skied with various people from different countries. I had been looking forward to this particular part of the season for many weeks, and I wasn't disappointed. First up, here's Chris D from Manchester..... As ever, all photos on this blog page have been taken by me.

Chris has featured on this blog page several times over the years. We first met about twelve winters ago, and have skied together on many occasions. One time was when he invited friends and family to stay together in a chalet to help celebrate his 60th birthday, this was ten years ago. He booked me all week, so that everyone could spend some time with me. We figured out that the last time we skied in Méribel was just before Covid in 2019. So when I received his email to make the booking back in November, I was delighted.

However, what I didn't realise until the first chairlift ride on our first day, was that this trip was a 'Make Or Break' situation. Chris explained that last winter he was skiing with friends in Austria, who he has skied with for well over thirty years. Unfortunately a complete stranger crashed into him, which knocked him out briefly and badly damaged his hips that took months to recover. These are the kind of stories you don't want to hear, but they do exist all the same. He said that he had thought long and hard about whether to come skiing this winter because of this accident, but thought if he didn't he probably wouldn't ever again! I was shocked to hear this of course, and then very flattered that he came to me to help out.

The priority was to find very quiet pistes to help Chris relax and develop confidence on his first day. With four days together we also went exploring around the massive 3 Valleys ski area that Méribel is part of, together with Courchevel, St.Martin de Belleville and Val Thorens. Speaking of which, one day there was a very gentle breeze in Méribel. We went across to Val Thorens to find a howling wind to contend with. Several lifts were closed because of this, however we had a fun day anyway.

I reminded Chris of the 'Four Performance Threads' that I've been teaching over the years: Tactical, Physical, Technical and Psychological. As I was summarising these performance threads, Chris began to remember this chat from previous sessions. He said that he had forgotten all about them, so it was nice for me remind him and help his performance over the course of his long weekend.

I also focused on how we can become much more energy efficient on skis, and this is where the title of this blog post comes from: Less Effort - More Reward. I'm not going to take credit for this phrase however. I was working with Greg, a ski instructor colleague, a few weeks ago. He came out with it, and I thought that this is definitely something I could also use to help other skiers in the future. Anyway, back to using skiing energy efficiently. This is something I'm really focusing on with my own skiing, and Chris is now is also doing that. In fact he suggested that I do a future blog post on this subject. Exactly what I had been thinking about doing. With Chris's encouragement I shall ponder much more now and definitely start brewing content for future publication. Thanks Chris.

By the way, if you are interested in these 'Four Performance Threads', I wrote two posts about them just before this winter. Click here for part one.

A few weeks ago I received an email from a lady called Belinda in Australia. She explained to me that she, her husband and two grown up snowboarding daughters were looking for someone to guide them around the 3 Valleys. They had never skied in the French Alps before, and wondered if I had availability? Thankfully I did, and we had a great two days together. I asked her on the first day how someone from Sydney in Australia had found me? She said that she searched for Méribel ski blogs for information gathering to help plan their two week trip, and up I popped. So it was my blogs that motivated her to contact me. Who knew people in Australia are reading these blog posts? Thanks Team Cooney, it was great fun meeting you all and showing you this fabulous ski area.

About three weeks ago I received a message from Vadim in the United States. He and a group of friends were coming across from America and wanted ski guiding for a day, since they hadn't skied in the 3 Valleys before. Again, thankfully I had a spare day, and we hooked up on Thursday. Sadly the weather was challenging at times. There had been some fresh snow just before the ski lifts opened, but the visibility was really tough all over the mountain right up until mid-afternoon.

I also asked Vadim how he came across me, thinking I had been referred by other Americans I've skied with over recent winters. In fact it was the same as Belinda, he searched for ski guides/instructors online and came across me. How nice is that?

One of his group came from Florida, the rest were living and working in New York. But what was interesting was that their English (although excellent) was certainly not their first language. I asked about this, and they explained that they had all come from former Soviet Union countries, and now lived and work in the USA. They would occasionally talk to each other in an Eastern European language, then slip back to English! They loved having group photos at various points on the mountain with their phones, and I took the opportunity to grab a couple on my camera at the same time. It was a fun day, despite the weather, and great to meet them all.

Right, that'll do for now, I need to rest up this weekend and gather some energy. It's been a fun first part of the winter with everyone I've met. And before you know it, we will be in February. As ever, I'll end with my usual credo..... Live With Passion. Martin.