The Holidays Are On The Way

Hi everyone, and welcome to another post from your favourite blogging Méribel ski instructor. In my previous post I listed several of my favourite ski pistes here in Méribel, click here for the link if you missed it, and had every intention of continuing the theme this time. However, it's been such a fun week that I wanted to quickly share some of it with you. We've been very lucky this winter so far with the weather, with a huge amount of blue sky and sunshine.......

But then at the beginning of the week, there was a change in the weather and a front came through that gave us a top up of about 25cms of fresh snow. It was brilliant, absolutely great fun. Not quite the skier's dream of snowing through the night, and waking up to the sun rising. On the plus side having a sea of cloud to ski above and through, plus experiencing a spooky climatic thingy was a real pleasure.

As ever any new snowfall freshens up the mountain both aesthetically, and also on the pistes. I had a couple of days skiing with Alice from London, and we really enjoyed finding some quiet pistes. It is the first of the four weeks of the French holidays this week. France is split into three zones, and these zones are spread over the four weeks. I chose some of the north facing slopes in the Courchevel valley, including the 'Eclipse' new black piste. We both loved it, mainly because we had some soft snow on top. However the ice was certainly lurking underneath the fresh snow, and was ready to catch us out in between the piles of the soft stuff.

This week also saw the 30th anniversary of the opening ceremony of the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, of which Méribel hosted some of the events. To honour this, Méribel put on a show at the end of the day up on the Stade, and ESF instructors were selected to take part in a torchlight descent. Guess whose name was on the list?

We had to report for duty at the Legends chairlift at 17.30, and then go all the way to the top of the Olympic Express chairlift. I guess in recognition of the Women's Downhill course that the resort hosted all those years ago.

Thankfully it had been yet another beautiful day in the mountains with gorgeous sunshine, finishing with a stunning sunset. I can't begin to tell you how special it is seeing this first hand on top of the mountain. We were also treated to some vin chaud, and a few nibbles at the top. A great experience, and in a relaxed bonding manner with colleagues.

It didn't take long for the sky to go dark before one of the directors started trying to get us ready. These days we don't have the flaming cube of wax any more as torches where you would get black soot all over your gloves and uniform. We now have modern LED torches that glow in different colours depending on what setting is chosen. The route down was quite straight forward, or it would've been if it was daylight. We started by skiing down the 'Face' black piste, and then cut across off-piste to literally slice through the race piste safety netting, and onto the Stade to drop down all the way to the bottom.

It was another fun descente flambeaux, my second of the season. And I believe there will be another one in a couple of weeks time, perhaps linked with the closing ceremony this time? This coming weekend sees the start of the main British half-term school holidays, one that I always look forward to because it means that I'll be with John & Gilly and some of their friends. The weather forecast is hinting that there will be some more snow arriving as well. Should be awesome. Have a great week everyone, and don't forget to Live With Passion. Martin.

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