Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody from Méribel. There's been a festive feel around the mountain in the last few days. This has been helped by wonderful weather with sunshine for several days, as illustrated in the photo of Harriet taken yesterday on Christmas Eve.

There have been the usual sightings of Father Christmas costumes and hats on the pistes and in town, especially last night outside the Tourist Office. Every Christmas Eve here in Méribel we have carols sung by those willing to let rip, expertly accompanied by professional musicians. The atmosphere was friendly and warming despite the chilly temperatures. In the photo from left to right are Cat, Jeffers, Emily and Harriet.

The piste conditions are holding up well despite the increased numbers of visitors. Skiing and sitting on chairlifts has been a pleasure this week helped along by the sunshine and views. I've spent a couple of sessions with Ella, from Australia (via Hampshire). It's her first time in the French Alps, and on skis, so we've had the usual wobbles along the way. It's great to see how quickly novices pick up the skills needed to be able to balance and turn on green slopes. Ella even managed to enjoy the process. Here's a photo of her this morning, I hope her family can pull themselves away from their barbeques in the southern hemisphere summer sun to take a look?

Next week promises plenty. I will catch up with Arthur and family from Monday. Plus there is the Méribel ESF torchlight descent and fireworks on New Years Eve. Will we all stay upright? How many times will my damned torch blow out? Will there be enough whisky in all of our hip flasks to last the descent?

Have a great festive period.

Martin and Harriet

New Skis

It's very difficult to select a pair of skis that provide good all-round performance. Let's face it, whenever we read articles in the press about equipment, or walk into shops, we are bombarded with so much choice that it's tough to even define what type of skier we are. On Tuesday I walked into a local shop called Freeride.fr to pick up a new pair of skis for the winter. How will they perform? How will they feel? Will they match my uniform?!?

Much to my wife's despair, I love new skiing equipment. New clothes, new sunglasses, new hats, new telemark, touring and slalom skis etc. But what is it that makes new equipment feel so fantastic. Is it because technology evolves every year? Maybe. Is it because anything new feels like the next best thing? Maybe. I can't decide on this. I try to relate it to other things in life, for instance new running shoes, a new bread knife, a new laptop, or even a new car. They all feel fantastic.

Anyway, back to my new skis. Since last Tuesday I've had a mixture of teaching and free skiing in different conditions. Which has helped me form an opinion of them.... They absolutely rock, they're awesome, the edge grip is fantastic but at the same time they give me versatility when I need it. How does this happen? I don't know, I can't pretend to understand all the technical wizardry, they just feel great.

But hang on a minute, isn't that what this sport is all about, feeling great on skis in the mountains? Feeling great by using the effective tool of snow plough turns on the green slopes. Feeling great by achieving parallel turns on an icy blue slope. Feeling great by making it over to another valley away from the usual area. Or feeling great by carving down slopes that you didn't think were possible to carve.

For the techno types out there, the skis that have helped me feel great the last few days are Head Super Shape Speeds 170. I'm sorry Harriet for getting carried away again with new kit, I know it was your turn this winter for new skis, but I've just seen another pair that I wouldn't mind trying. Tools of the trade.

Martin

PS, thanks to Freeride.fr

PPS, thanks to Rick for taking the photos of me late on Thursday afternoon in the fading light.

Carving and Bumps

Hello Team. This week feels as though it's flown by since the last post. Helen and Olivia have had every morning skiing around the mountain since Sunday. Helen is gradually gaining her confidence after last winter's incident. I can see every day, just from her body language, that she's happier on her skis. As for Olivia, it's very interesting to see her skiing develop. We have skied together for nearly four winters now, but in the last twelve months she has spent some extra time skiing with the Kandahar Ski Club. This race training has clearly developed her skiing, not only gaining extra speed but enhancing control. Have a look at her carving technique above, and the clean tracks left behind in the snow.

In the last few days the FIS World Cup Bump skiers have been training and entertaining Méribel. Today was the grande finale, with an awesome display of skill. Over the lunch period it was encouraging to see an excited cosmopolitan crowd gather which included both visitors to resort, plus locals, and of course television crews.

It's amazing to see the best in the world at the pinnacle of their sport. Very motivating, not that my knees could realistically cope with such demands, even if I felt I could train again to the extent of these athletes.

Snow conditions have changed constantly over the last six days. On Sunday and Monday we experienced some ferocious winds here, with gusts of up to 200 Kilometres an hour on the peaks. This meant that some aspects had been stripped of loose snow. However, I've been moving around the mountain freely since the weekend, and haven't noticed any serious loss of snow on the well- prepared pistes. Oh yes, it snowed again yesterday, so everywhere has been freshened up nicely again since these storms.

So, the next few days offers plenty. From Saturday onwards all of the lifts and pistes should open.....Let's not forget that Méribel is smack bang in the middle of the biggest ski area in the world. Plus, some sunshine is expected, I'm looking forward to that because we haven't seen much recently. Most importantly for me though, Harriet is flying out on Friday evening for a few weeks. Happy days.

Martin

Piste Conditions

Hello everybody from a very cold Méribel, which is currently suffocating underneath yet another fresh thick blanket of snow. I can't believe how well the winter season has started. Every piste that I've skied on this week has felt creamy, fluffy, velvety, forgiving, dreamy and any other words that spring to mind........If you've been lucky enough on previous holidays to have had these sensations, then you know what I mean, it's very hard to put into words. Anyway, this is how it is right now, every turn, every piste, each day, even on the way home at the end of the afternoon. Now before you strike me off your list of friends and walk past ignoring me in the (snowy) street, I just want to mention one more thing, there's nobody here, it's deserted. I just love early season skiing.

Early season skiing is exactly what Rick and Paul came out for this week. Their goal for the first few days with me was to kickstart their skiing. For example fine tuning balance, double-checking the quality of steering and making sure that no new bad habits creep in. It really doesn't matter what standard of skier you are, it's all very important stuff. Rick and Paul are at a very high level, so it didn't take long for me to really dive further into their performance: using my video camera helped with this.



Sometimes it's easy to become obsessed with technique, but we found it useful to learn and understand what else can affect performance. We spoke about the relationship between technique, tactics and pyschology. In conjunction with using the video, we broke down what would happen if we changed one of these three inputs. We also found it useful to talk about these inputs in sports that they participate in back home, golf and tennis. This helped the understanding further by comparing these sports to skiing. What I found interesting was that as soon as we went back out onto the mountain, they were both ripping around in control and with playfulness. I was really pleased with how those sessions went.


So what is there to look forward to in the coming week? Lisa had her first lesson of the winter this afternoon, see us together below, with more to follow this week. Helen and Olivia are also arriving at the weekend. Last December Helen unfortunately got hit by some rotter on the slope, and has spent most of the last 12 months recovering with a couple of operations on her shoulder and heaps of rehab. She emailed me last night and told me that she could not wait to get back on skis again. So with more lifts opening at the weekend, my job is to find some quiet slopes (that won't be difficult) and build her confidence back up again. Also the World Cup circus is coming to Méribel next week, with the first round of the bumps season long competition. I personally can't wait to see these rubber-legged individuals in action.


In the meantime, have a good week everyone, and don't forget to keep fit over the festive holiday period. You are all staying fit, right?

Martin

Smiles Everywhere

Sunday morning and I open my eyes searching for the radio alarm clock. Through half open eyes I can see the numbers 07.20, and hear the radio come to life. Hmm, toasty warm bed............ I open my eyes again and see different numbers, 07.35. Yikes, time to get up, blimey it's cold. I bumble downstairs, yes it's colder this morning, where's that coffee pot? Time to rub my eyes again and walk to the window, WOW.

It's one of those 'heart stopping moments'. The view was fantastic, it's sunny, something we haven't seen for ages. Yesterday was the first day of the season here in Méribel, and it was a 'little' overcast, however the conditions were amazing. I managed a couple of ski runs before starting work at 10.30, a huge smile grew on my face, but then hang on a minute, everyone else had smiles as well. So it was then time to meet Jan, Karin, Jill and Cecilia.




So over the next two days I spent time talking, laughing, skiing and eating (tartiflettes!) with the girls. I had really forgotten how much fun this job was, especially to see the amount of progress people can make in such a short space of time. Today was fantastic, cold, blue skies, empty pistes, lifts working and of course those views. But then before you know it, people go back home to the UK, thankfully normally there are plenty that take their places. So, tomorrow I will catch up with Rick and Paul, and then towards the end of the week Lisa.


This week promises lots of fun in the sun, empty pistes and a bit of free skiing for me, and you never know, I may even evetually get connected to the interent again. Thanks Jan for letting me use your connection this evening. Have a great week everybody.


Martin

It's a great start

Hello everybody from a very chilly but white Meribel. It's soooo good being back in the mountains again, especially seeing all the fresh snow. The temperatures are very low, so there are also huge piles of artificial snow now being created, squashed and groomed by the piste bashers.

The conditions are better than normal, which means that the opening date of the resort has been brought forward a week to this weekend, fantastic! However, because I am so impatient to get on my skis, I went to Val d'Isere yesterday for my first few wobbley turns. My feet objected to being introduced to their 'home' for the next five months though, ie ski boots. Snow conditions were great, but the weather was challenging with poor visibility. But quite honestly I didn't care, I was skiing again, it's that simple.

My plan before starting work here on Saturday is to have another day or two in Val.......I'm still patiently waiting for France Telecom to restart my internet at home (I'm writing this post from a friend's machine, thanks Suzy!) Harriet is able to check my inbox regularly back in England, so I am being kept up to date with emails. Hopefully I'll be fully operational soon, in time to report back about the big opening this weekend.

That's it folks for another year in England. A sailing across the Channel is booked for tomorrow morning, with an overnight stop at a Logis in Burgundy also reserved. Then for the final push on Tuesday, arriving in Méribel that evening. It's weird seeing the snow falling outside now as I type this post, a kind of taster for the rest of the winter. Fingers crossed I'll be able to find internet connection in a few days time, hoping to post some photos to give you an idea of what pre season looks like in resort.

Martin

Packing up and goodbyes

In the last few days the process of packing up for the winter and saying goodbyes has been building up momentum. Last weekend included visits to various parts of London, with this week a trip up to Cheshire to say goodbye to my parents for another six months. On one of the motorway coffee stops this weekend, I was able to flick through the sports pages of the Sunday newspapers. In the many pages of sport news, footie, rugby and cricket featured strongly, but hidden in a corner I spotted a couple of Skiing World Cup Slalom results from Finland. Fantastic, does that mean the winter has officially started?

I can't deny that I've already been surfing the net for the first signs of the snow. I remember feeling like this all those years ago when I was a holiday maker, trying to get my first fix of excitement before heading to the airport for that precious skiing holiday. In those days, I remember patiently waiting for the teletext pages to slowly scroll through to give the information of snow depths, or waiting for the Sunday newspapers to publish the 'Ski Club of Great Britain' reports. These days it's even easier and I love checking the weather myself on webcams. Try http://www.merinet.com/ for a selection of webcams dotted around the Méribel valley, my favourite being the Panoramic view from the top of Tougnete. But also with the weather forecast, try a free forecast from http://www.snow-forecast.com/.

So, the views and snowy mountains look great at the moment on the webcams, plus the weather forecast looks fantastic with very cold and snowy weather expected at the end of this week and weekend. Although I will hand back 'Noddy', the BSM driving school car, on Thursday, it's nice knowing that the hard work now with packing up, running around and the emotional goodbyes will be well worth it. In a week's time I shall set off from England for the long drive down back to the Alps, in anticipation of the good times ahead. I'll sign off with a photo taken last April, of Gary enjoying the powder off of La Masse in Les Menuires, accompanied by myself and Rick.


Martin

The Build Up

We've got some great weekends away organised for the next few weeks in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and The Lake District. Last weekend we stayed in a lakeside hostel in Snowdonia, see my sunrise photo. There are some big mountains over there in Wales, commanding respect and a test of fitness. Which nicely links me to my main focus in the next few weeks before heading out to France, increasing strength and stamina. I find that every winter I really benefit from a decent base level of fitness, not only for teaching but for my own fun time on the skis. Granted, it's sometimes very hard to go for a run at daft o'clock in the morning before work, or squeeze in a few hill sprints on the bike after work. But without this effort now, fun time would be limited.

One such time was last March, an epic ski touring trip with a colleague and good friend of mine, Ian Saunders. Ian had been scheming for months with a route that went between the Les Avals valley to the side of Courchevel and over into another ski resort called Pralognan. So, after juggling teaching commitments, coordinating our days off, and striking lucky with the weather, we went for it.

The route began with a couple of lifts, then it was on with the skins attached to the bottom of our skis for the slog. We had over three hours of skinning uphill, and close to another hour booting up with skis on shoulders. It was knackering. We stopped close to the top for a picnic of bread, ham and local beaufort cheese followed by some of Ian's hearty strong sweet coffee. All of this with an amazing view, miles away from humans and surrounded by virgin powder.

It was tough to leave this secret spot, but some powder skiing was between us and the safety of Pralognan, all 1,000 metres vertical drop of it. The first 20 minutes were spent playing down a very narrow steep couloir which eventually fanned out to a massive open expanse. Oh, my goodness, powder skiing at its best. We took it in turns leaving our squiggles, firstly for safety reasons, but also to extend the enjoyment by watching each other with massive grins on our faces.

Needless to say, the number of turns on each section got lower and lower due to fatigue. But, boy oh boy, what a buzz, culminating in getting tangled up in trees right at the end before staggering into the village. Fortunately I had pre-arranged for Harriet to drive around from Méribel to pick us up from a bar!?! What an epic day, one that I will never forget. I remember turning up to work the next morning feeling pleasently tired, only to see Ian putting his boots on at the school, looking up with his cheeky smile and a twinkle in his eye. We didn't need to say anything to each other that morning, we just nodded and went out to meet our clients even more motivated than normal.

So that's why for me it's worth putting in the hard fitness work now, even though it's tough sometimes when feeling tired and it's dark outside. Whether the fitness will help those who aspire to go ski touring, bashing the bumps, cruising the blues and reds all over the three valleys, or even if it's for those who aim to complete the green Altiport piste for the first time.

Martin

Summer Visits

This summer I was lucky enough to visit Méribel twice, both in July and again in August. Both times I drove down in my Noddy car, the BSM company Corsa. So although a comfortable drive in Noddy, it still takes a while to get used to umpteen stares from those not used to seeing a bright orange logo'd driving school car in the mountains. However, what a treat, every year I forget how stunning the mountains are. After the 610 miles trip from Calais, I wake up in Méribel to the amazing views, a real contrast to the ring road in Coventry.



Weather on both trips was fantastic, hot, dry and sunny. Great compared to the slightly damp British weather, but my bald patch took a pounding though. The Méribel valley was busy, with the lift company working hard operating the summer schedule, landscaping several pistes, and with the refurb of the Tougnete Telecabine.

The wild flowers were plentiful, marmottes scurrying all over the place, and even the odd heron was spotted. I mostly mountain-biked in each of the three valleys, but also enjoyed the odd walk. It was great to be out with Harriet in August, and also to meet up with friends, The Joneses (thanks for the Blanchot meal), and also Pete, Jane, Mike, Nick, Gary, Rachel and Amelie.


So, without wishing the next few months away, here's looking forward to the winter.

Martin

Starting up.

Hello everybody and welcome to the very first post on my new blog. I'm really excited and nervous about this new project that I've decided to embark upon. My goal is to try to share my passion for skiing, Méribel and the mountains as a whole. Hopefully this will help encourage the reader to come and visit the French Alps, or to remind others of wonderfull memories from previous visits.

I shall try to keep you all up-to-date when the winter starts in December of conditions in resort, my experiences during that week and news of expected events the following week. Another goal is to show some photos when time allows me.

We are off to Méribel in a couple of days time for a short summer holiday with our mountain bikes and walking boots, so I'll update the blog when I return.

So, enjoy the end of the summer. And thank you for reading this very first post.

Martin