On strike

For most of this week the spring weather has been on strike. It felt like the start of winter with several cold, windy and snowy days. Tough to be skiing in, but that meant even more of the fresh stuff. We've also seen some stonking skies this week as well, please note that this photo has not been touched in photoshop.

I've had some sessions with Sarah and Georgie this week, pictured below. We concentrated on building confidence at the start of the week by looking at increasing speed control on various pistes.

We looked at making the turning ski grippier in the snow, not by using muscular strength, but by using our body weight. My philosophy is to direct our body weight down to the sweet spot of the ski, underneath our feet, which as a result increases friction between the sharp metal edges and the snow. We found that there are many times when we can in fact have too much friction, so we also looked at how that could be managed. A great choice to have, enough friction, or too much friction. Tony, Maggie and friends were also introduced to this choice, as well as multi-tasking further with steering control.

The weather today improved greatly, which allowed me to make the most of the quiet pistes, and to again appreciate the scenery. I caught up with Rick who kindly took some photos of me enjoying the fresh conditions.

It's a busy week next week. The Altitude Festival is returning to Méribel for a second year. A long list of celebrated stand up comedians, international DJ's and musicians including KT Tunstall are all performing. Have a look at their website for more details, http://www.altitudefestival.com/ .

Last year's Festival was a great success, including the world's highest comedy show at the top of Saulire. This photo was taken last year up at Saulire with Marcus Brigstocke and Andre Vincent after the performance.

Britain's best ski racers are competing here in Méribel at the British National Ski Racing Championships all week. Plus, and most importantly for me, I will be skiing again with Arthur. I need to get re-charged in time for Arthur's visit because he always skis hard and fast, and takes jumps at any opportunity. I'll let you know how it all goes next week.

Martin