Air turning blue

I first met Dave, pictured above, as he was staggering towards me with his family down at Chaudanne on Sunday morning. He bellowed out in his strong Yorkshire accent "You must be Martin, f'*%* I'm chuffing bu&%*##d, that's the problem with being a fat b#%#*%$". Silence followed as his family closely watched to see my reaction to these expletives. Sweat was pouring off his face, as I burst out into laughter. His family looked relieved.


I've had one of the funniest weeks with the Johnson family. On skis, they were a mixture of complete beginners and blue to red run skiers.


Back home in Leeds they are a real mixture of professions: an accountant, two entertainers, a freight company director, a sparky, an ex pro boxer now tiler, a health advisor and others. Each morning I never really knew what physical state they would turn up in.


Thankfully, nothing matched some of the hangovers observed during their first morning!?!


One thing was guaranteed however, the daily Yorkshire expletives flowed freely, only from Dave's lips though I'm pleased to say. Even so I loved being with them, helping them on the pistes and sharing chairlifts and stories with them. I bet you can't guess which football team they worship?


I've also been skiing with Alex this week, a retail banking consultant in London. Alex is a strong skier on piste, especially high speed carving. But he realises that his technique suffers on other terrain, for example skiing on bumps, off piste and down steep couloirs.


We worked out that balance could be fine-tuned, and steering of the skis could become more accurate. Both of these points were tested when one afternoon I thought we should try some proper off piste the other side of Val Thorens. We explored down the 'Combe sans Nom', where even though the temperatures were still low, there was no powder to be found anywhere.


Alex and I were joined by his friend, Nash, who is a snowboarder. Although the snow conditions off piste were far from perfect, they really enjoyed the experience of being miles away from anywhere. Plus they loved the high altitude exercise when getting back to civilisation, even though Nash struggled on his board traversing sometimes!?!


The weather feels like Groundhog Day at the moment, sunny blue skies rule day after day, why bother checking the weather forecast at the moment? I can think of worst places to be right now.

Martin

P.S. I haven't done the fifteen word summary recently, so here goes;

Expleting Yorkshire beginners entertain Méribel, Nash turned green snowboarding off piste with Alex, chuffing Banker !?!

Team Work

Last week I had a brilliant time in Courchevel working for 'Inspired To Ski', a top UK Ski Instructing team. Every morning my main focus was to look after a small group of 'Novice and Nervous' ladies. Sue, Rosie and Mary had all skied before, but had yet to be convinced about the joy of skiing and being in the mountains. They had each experienced different things that somehow hadn't quite gone to plan, be it snow conditions, feeling relaxed away from outside pressure, or quite frankly, always knowing what one should do on those planks called skis.


Every morning we spoke about each others' goals, listened to each others' requests, and felt relieved that we were all after similar emotions. So we took it one step at a time. We looked at simple, basic, easy to understand effective ski technique. Plus, being aware of the all-important effect and powers of the mind.


Each day we chipped away at every new experience, each slightly steeper piste, the occasional icy piste, the sneaky demons that reared their ugly heads, and celebrated by watching each other on video whilst having a scrummy hot chocolate. After a few days we all wanted to ditch the tag of being a 'Novice and Nervous' skier, so it was decided to call ourselves 'Cautious Improvers' instead. You could argue that we were playing with words, but it was important to move on from the previous description of ability. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Sue, Rosie and Mary, and I really hope we can all meet up again on skis another time.


Each afternoon I took the chance to ski with other groups and instructors, namely Dave Peek (pictured above in some chopped-up snow underneath the Chanrossa chairlift) and his group. I also had the chance to ski with Bryan Hogg (pictured below) and his group, playing around on Mont Vallon.


Although we have struggled to find fresh powder-skiing recently, the 'Inspired To Ski' team did their best to search out skiable off-piste snow. We've had brilliant sunshine day after day for ages now, and very cold temperatures the last few days.


Today I started with a family and their close friends from Leeds, and I have to say I think there's going to be plenty of laughs this week. In the meantime, here's my Level 4 group (that's reds and blacks) messing about at the top of Saulire from just over a week ago with 'Inspired To Ski'.



Martin

Powder Skiing in Méribel

Last week we had an amazing mixture of weather. A couple of snow storms brought lovely fluffy powder to play in, sandwiched inbetween bright sunshine which gave incredible views all week. I continued skiing with Vladimir and Sasha, see previous post.


As mentioned before about Sasha, he loves skiing off piste. So when the snow conditions, safety and weather allowed, we dived feet first into the fluffy stuff, or in Sasha's case head first sometimes !?!


Sasha's younger brother and mother were also on holiday, being looked after by one of my colleagues and now friend, Francois Bonnod. Working under the banner of the ESF Ski School is always full of wonderful surprises. This is now my seventh winter working for the 'Pull Rouges', and most days I would see Francois down at the school. Our lockers are close to each other, and we would often say hello with a nod and a grunt and that was it.


However, it was really important to work closely together to help our Russian family have a great holiday. Each morning we would talk to each other about the weather forecast, where we thought the best snow conditions would be, and of course there was much discussion about where the best mountain restaurant was for a hearty lunch.


Over lunch we chatted to each other, and I soon realised that actually we are both foreigners in the school, ie not originally from the Méribel valley. He comes from Lyon, but is now based with his family up in Brittany. We have loads in common: a love of skiing, a passion for the mountains - and also a passion for all skiing-related equipment. Even though the Russians flew back to Moscow on Friday, I'm sure Francois and I will be speaking more to each other now, ie more than just the early morning grunt.


So what's on the menu for this week? Francois is making the most of a quiet period in resort to take a week's break from instructing and return to Brittany to be with his family for the next seven days. As for me, I have some very exciting news.

I will be going over to Courchevel every day, to join one of the UK's best and most respected Ski Instructing and Coaching Teams. 'Inspired to Ski' offer some of the best British Ski Instructing services available on the market and are visiting Courchevel. The company has been around for a while now, travelling around the French Alps. I've often watched the team from a distance with much admiration; they include some very impressive Ski Instructors known throughout the industry - many of whom I looked up to when I was myself studying to become an instructor.

So to be invited to join the team next week is an honour, but also a little intimidating. But just like working with Francois last week, I can't wait to have the chance to work together with other professionals. It's an industry where information sharing is vitally important in order to be able to provide a great service.

Have a great week everybody.

Martin

P.S. Meanwhile, Sasha is still trying to put his skis back on again after a tumble in the soft powder.

Let's get going Sasha, your Dad (Vladimir) is waiting for us and giving us 'that look thing' again !?!

'The Look'

For most of this week I have been teaching Vladimir and his eldest son from Moscow. His voice is very deep, and coupled with a strong Russian accent it sometimes felt as though I were involved in a James Bond or Jason Bourne film. One thing constantly caught my eye, his deep stare - it even haunted me at night-time. My imagination ran wild, like a child reading Cold War stories; I often wondered if he had travelled the globe and knew the underworld in Moscow that you and I don't want to know about. "Pull yourself together Martin, nothing sinister is happening here in Méribel." I declared to myself.


He is such a loving father and husband. Sasha, his eldest son, only wanted to ski hard: off-piste, in the bumps, on black pistes - and only reds as a last resort, a typical pumped-up boy teenager in other words. Vladimir always stayed close by, but usually avoided the more extreme requests from Sasha. On the chairlifts they were often talking to each other, and regularly spoke to me with passion about their country.


Sasha was determined to have a go at the 'big airbag' jump at the top of the Altiport piste. Fortunately Vladimir didn't want to take part; that let me off the hook as well, phew. Even during these moments of parental bonding, I couldn't help noticing things about Vladimir, for example he was always alert.


Whenever we stopped for lunch or the occasional waffle, he seemed to be constantly checking his surroundings. Or was I getting carried away with the Russian paranoia thing?


Today we went to the 'Ferme de la Choumette' in St Martin for lunch. The farm animals are a great attraction at this restaurant, with the milk and other produce obviously being fresh. The whole family loved the experience, including Vladimir. But occasionally, occasionally, that 'look' thing was still going on !?!


We've got some snowfalls due our way in the next couple of days, in fact it's snowing outside as I type, fantastic.

Martin

P.S. It was no good, I couldn't resist it any longer, I just had to ask Vladimir what his job was. "I'm retired, from the military" he replied on the chairlift. "Oh, how exciting" I thought, thinking he may have been some high-flying General. "Were you in the Army?" I bleated out...... He gave me that dark 'look' again and ignored me for a moment. He then leant forward, and spoke to me in his deep voice... "I was in the KGB, and retired in 1995 because I got bored after the end of the Cold War". GULP. He continued softly "I travelled the world for many years, it was a great job" and then listed the huge number of countries he visited. I must have looked shocked because he quickly said, more cheerfully "I'm not carrying a gun here". DOUBLE GULP.

Happy New Year 2011

Happy New Year everybody from a very sunny paradise here in Méribel. It's been gorgeous weather all week, with great snow conditions thanks to the heavy snowfall we had over Christmas. I've been very busy teaching families this week, spending time with the Sockwells, the Evans family, the Shepherds and a Darlington. It's a lovely experience to join families on their precious skiing holidays. But what I've noticed over the years is that there is often a difference in standard within the family unit.


Sometimes the parents are better skiers, but other times the children are the better skiers. In the case of the Evans family, Phil and Di the parents realised that Nicola and Liam were rapidly overtaking them in the skiing hierachy. At least Nicola and Liam didn't rub it in too much with looking smug all the time.


But what was great about our time together in the afternoons was that we all worked together. We were able to break down and simplify ski technique and psychology on the piste in a manner that each person could benefit in their own way, whatever their standard.


Plus, because the weather had been fantastic all week, we were able to ski further afield away from Méribel. One afternoon I showed them a secret track that's unmarked on the piste map. It leads into the depths of the Courchevel forest, down to the village of 1550, after starting at the very top of Saulire. It's a pretty route that takes you past a couple of shepherd huts, and one where we found this abandoned piste basher. Of course, Liam couldn't resist diving in, boys and their toys!



I also skied with the Shepherd family, pictured above, minus Nicki. This time it was really important for the family unit to split. At the start of each session I skied with Nicki on the lovely Altiport green piste to build her confidence. Then we celebrated her success together by skiing down the blue piste, Lapin, to Méribel Village. After that I met up with Martin, Francesca and Matthew and continued working with their technique. We all had loads of fun, especially counting how many times their Dad crashed into the kids every time he came into stop. It wasn't his fault each time of course, however I did lose track of all the different excuses he came out with though !?! Next up Stan ......



Just before Stan and I skied away from the meeting point, his parents said to me "Ski him fast, in the bumps, off-piste, you know all the stuff we can't do with him now, we want him coming home feeling tired." Stan is a strapping fourteen year old rufty-tufty type. We blasted all over the place, popped off the side of pistes into gnarly steep pitches, and climaxed by skiing down the Méribel Couloir. This couloir is the impressive-looking beast at the top of Saulire, which can be seen when climbing up in the Burgin Saulire bubble, but accessed by a tricky ridge from the Courchevel cable car.


It's very steep narrow at the top, and gradually fans out towards the bottom. Photographs often make gradients look flat, and it's the same here. However, the metalwork at the top of the picture is the final pylon of the Courchevel Cable Car, this may give you more of an idea of the gradient. The snow was lovely, with great visibility and Stan tackled it with gusto. Did I achieve the goals set out by his parents at the start of the session? I hope so! (I didn't tell Stan at the time, but I was utterly knackered after that one).



So what's on the cards for this week? Quieter slopes, cooler temperatures, sunshine early week and many Russian visitors in time for their Orthodox Christmas. Plus a mid-week visit to Tignes to be part of a 50th birthday celebration.

Martin

P.S. Hang on, who is this? "Liam, Nicola, it's time to stop looking smug about how good you are. Mustn't over do it now, don't forget who pays for your skiing holidays?"