Bonjour 2012

We fed the evil masses in double quick time to make sure we were done and dusted and out with a beer in hand by 10pm.  Think the family from hell were quite suprised that we were leaving them to it.  They had a magnum of champagne in the fridge and 4 cans of silly string!!  All the seasonnaires had tickets for VSpot, a bar in town.  We all met at the hotel for a few glasses of bubbly and then hit the dancefloor.  We enjoyed a few beverages and a boogie before heading home around 3am, giving us just 4 precious hours in bed before the breakfast shift.

Happy New Year Everyone!  New year resolutions?  More skiing!

I wonder what will 2012 bring for us?
 

Chalet Gucci

Change over day came around again and day we have some how managed to squeeze 14 into our cosy chalet, 8 of which are children!  Thats children under the age of 12. Children that come with some of the oddest names you're ever likely to hear South side of Camden.  Some of the best: Jagger, Cash, Mini and Lotus.  Dad loves cars (organises the Gumball Rally each year) so gives you an idea of league we're dealing with.  We're talking Gucci, Louis Vuitton luggage sets. Lots of them. Fur coats, botox, private jets, 8 million pound houses, properties in St Kitts and of course the odd boat.

They have bought the nanny to assist with what we've named 'the mob', clearly they have little practice in doing absolutely anything for themselves. This could be a very long week!

Has he been?

He certainly did! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!

Our family of guests had a great day, presents in the morning followed by a beautiful blue-sky day for skiing.  We enjoyed the day on the slopes skiing with fellow seasonnaires Graham and Sam.  The evening was good as was our christmas cook up, the bird was a beaut.

All was well until, right on service, a poor chap in the next door chalet decided to have a heart attack.  Our 2nd year medical students jumped into action and decamped next door.  Some French improving dialogue later, ambulance was called, arrived, and collected the patient and then left for Geneva, service continued.  As did the fodder, vino and games well up until midnight. What a christmas day.

Too much snow, maybe...

On-piste was like off-piste and the off-piste...well thought we had died and gone to heaven. There is just sooooooo much snow.  This morning woke to up to fairly heavy cloud cover. The type of clouds that look rather threatening.


The type that if you were at a lower altitude it would definitely be a brolly day!  Visibility was pretty poor but as the morning went on it did clear, slightly. Once up top the sheer amount of powder across the mountains was unbelievable, but in places there are still many pistes where the odd rock and grass patch does poke through.  When the wind blows its just whipping away the massive amount of powder-like snow as its just not had the time to build a pack-like base given how quick this sheer amount of snow has actually fallen.

After a light lunch visibility again dropped back to how it was first thing.  Plus the wind had joined the parade resulting in many lifts to be closed.  Cheers went up when a suggestion of 'chocolat chaud' .   Not a bad way to end a Tuesday and well, there is always tomorrow....

.....the great bar debate has began.  The subject?   'Have we entered a period of possibly too much snow?'   The British eh, never happy!!

Merry Christmas

The riggers were leaving us at 6 am - some having only just got in a few hours earlier from the night before!  Fe practically had to peel one chap out of bed.  Once gone we got busy with 'change over' duties.  Bed changing, cleaning and cooking.  We did find time to put up the real christmas tree we had bought.

Our new guests arrived around 3 pm, all the way from Weston Super Mare!  Two families in the medical profession.  4 parents with 5 children (in their 20s) and one boyfriend.   This gave the chalet a very different feel to what we had experienced the week prior.  No late night boozing with hungover breakfasts.  Instead it was party games and family evenings in the lounge.

No one said it would be easy

We never thought it would be easy entering into a totally new industry, as that would have been terribly naive.  But this first month, of what you could say is a more lifestyle choice than career choice, has been a total crazy one.   After having many, many months off walking into a ski season has been a shock, but probably just what we needed.

The training program was intense. A training program which spanned from advanced driving, to avalanche survival to customer service. The low down on how to successfully complete a hospital corner to the fanning of a cornishon to dealing with the must outraged of unhappy customer. Lets just say most days are certainly full as there is always something to do.   The guests though, so far, have been real fun characters. The local work team we find ourselves in is magic. Within the team there is a great mix of ages, characters and outlooks with some from countries stretching out as far as New Zealand.  We have all gelled together and have become real close through many mind bending days.

So to the sound of piste control crews setting off dynamite charges, the lifts are today shut again today for the second consecutive day, guys and girls who are desperately trying to groom and make safe the absolute masses of snow that's been constantly falling over the last 36 hours. Well over 3 metres of snow has dumped in 40 mph wind drift conditions, a storm that has torn right through the valley and out the other side. Mountain village conditions that temporally closed the entire village, no movement in or out, resulting in some hotel guests being evacuated to avalanche shelters. A situation that has only occurred 4 times in the past decade. All because already this year, on week two of the official season opening, there has been more snow than the whole of last season!

This morning between sunrise and breakfast I managed to slip out to try and catch some of the conditions through the camera lens. One wrong footing and I would have been up to my waist in fresh powder snow.  Hopefully you can see the gods are doing there best to set up for a great season of mountain living.

As for the rest of the day, well all I can say is that all eyes are peeled on the constantly updated Val website giving live forecasts, mountain webcams and lift operation status.  At last, at 2pm 20% of the lifts were open.  Once the riggers had polished off Fe's orange cake they were out like a shot.  It might be pretty hectic out there but will be mucho smiley....

Zero visability

The storm was still raging, lifts still closed and avalanche cannons going off left, right and centre but shopping day was upon us again. The weeks seem to shoot by. The days of the week are now known to us by which type of meal we are cooking!  No more Mondays, its Cod day!!

After the breakfast shift we headed for the van and made our way out of the village.  We had only got to the end of the road when the pompiers pulled us in to say no driving or walking through or around the village was permitted for the next few hours due to the high risk of avalanche.  It had reached 5 out of 5 on the avalanche risk factor.  So with some light banter we turned on our heels and headed back home.  Following a few hours waiting on updates from the local mayor and his team we eventually edged our way out of a very snowy village.  Just as well as there were 4 chefs wanting produce for 4 fully booked chalets!

We knew the journey down to Borg St Maurice wasn't going to be pretty and it wasn't.  Zero visibility, rutted ice tracks and lots of overhanging snow.  I wont mention the hair pin bends with sheer drops.  I was designated driver and again the usual 40 min drive took 1 1/2 hours.  Add on a 2 hour supermarket sweep with a quiche thrown in and we were then ready for another 1 1/2 hour drive back.  There were plenty of stops, one for our snow chain application and then multiple others for our fellow road users to fit theirs.  The team were one warren of tired bunnies and once home felt like we had diced with death!

We made it back for 6pm and supper was at 7pm.  Luckily Andrew, a fellow chef, had stayed behind and offered to step in with our prep due to our late return to the chalet.  As it happened the rigger lads had braved it into town for a pint or two so we had a small breathing space before supper to unpack the shopping and make a start.  In hindsight a full days shopping follow by returning home to prep and serve a dinner party for 7 is a no no.  NB on shopping days we must produce a dish that can prepared way in advance. 

All of us are hoping that the stormy weather improves as our guests are getting twitchy not being able to do what they really came for.  No not drink themselves stupid, ski of course.

A stormy day off

A mega storm hit Val today and so 99% of the lifts were closed.  Typical as its our day off!  Ah well no skiing for us, instead, after a monster lie in, we headed to the brand new sports centre and enjoyed a swim to relax our tense muscles.  The weather really was awful with zero visibility.  From the warmth of the pool we looked out of the oversized windows at the snow storm outside.  Even our hardy rigger lads opted for a day on the sofas watching DVDs. 



On our days off guests fend for themselves. Which normally means them dining out for the night.  Our lot left with a table booked at the tarte de flet HQ,  leaving chalet Claire to ourselves.  It was great to just knock up some easy feel good food that didn't involve any prep!  A comfort pizza knocked up from using anything and everything we could find in our fridge. Then film night in the main lounge with fellow seasonaires.

A brief intro to Val d'Isère

So while its blowing a hoolie out here's a brief intro to our home for the next 5 odd months.

The self-titled "Most Beautiful Ski Area in the World".

A commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department (Rhône-Alpes region) in south-eastern France. Sitting just 3 and a bit miles from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise National Park created in 1963. The Face de Bellevarde was the scene of the men's downhill race as part of the 1992 Winter Olympics now a black runs that stands guard over the bustle high street below. Other alpine skiing events held during those games included men's giant slalom and alpine combined. The most recent being the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009.

The western and central areas of Val d'Isère are most recognisable by their "chalet" architecture, while in the eastern part of the town high-rise architecture dominates the landscape. Along with nearby Tignes the area forms part of the "Espace Killy".

Espace Killy we hear you cry. The Espace Killy region is named after the skier Jean-Claude Killy. Jean-Claude was an alpine ski racer, who dominated the sport in the late 1960s. He was a triple Olympic champion, winning the three alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete at the games. The Espace Killy area covers the resorts of Val d'Isère and Tignes where there are 300 km of pistes. Made up of 154 runs (83 easy, 46 intermediate and 25 difficult). The longest run being 10 km (La Sache).

http://www.espacekilly.com

Within these valleys The Pissaillas Glacier takes the crown of the grand vista, offering summer skiing, as well as the usual winter fare. As always snow cannon are placed on certain slopes to accommodate heaviest of euro type skiing. The ski slopes themselves are equipped with a high-volume gondola, able to transport standing skiers. The fun if a little unnerving first time up, funicular Funival railway from La Daille via a tunnel straight to the top of Bellevarde, is a fantastic way to achieve a stunning view of the surrounding Tarentaise Valley area.

Val d'Isère is proud of its first class back country (off-piste) skiing, great for powder addicts, and we are told there are many good guides available. There are both groomed slopes and. The slopes' difficulty level is particularly high. However, as in Tignes there are grand, easy motorway pistes as well to let rip on.

Tignes, the neighbouring resort possesses more of the same, with a funicular shuttling skiers up through one of the mountains to the Grande Motte glacier. A free shuttle bus runs between the villages in the valley, providing free transport throughout the towns of Val d'Isère and La Daille.

Human habitation of the valley dates back to before Roman times. The town received parish rights in 1637 and the parish church which is a beauty, still is a landmark in the town centre today was built in 1664. Skiing in Val d'Isère has its roots in the 1930s when a drag lift was built on the slopes of the Solaise. This was followed by an aerial tramway (cable car). Today, within the summer months the population can drop to as low as 500. In the peak winter months in can swell to over 30,000.

And although when you look at such a population trend you could think of Val d'Isère being a winter sport destination only but these grand backdrops do attract other sporting codes. Back in 2007 the Tour de France chose the resort to host the start of Stage 9 to Briançon, and through recent years mountain biking, hiking, rafting, kayaking, parapenting and climbing are all on the up. No pun intended.

So it’s easy to agree that within the Tarentaise Valley you can find the biggest concentration of world-class ski and mountain sport based resorts in the world. Most well known neighbour systems are Paradiski (Les Arcs, La Plagne) and Les Trois Vallées (Courchevel, Méribel, Val Thorens and more). A weekly lift ticket in Val d'Isère/Espace Killy gives you a choice to ski one day in each of the other two systems mentioned. There were once plans to interlink all systems and resorts to create what would have been by far the largest ski area in the world. However that vision was ended with the creation of the Vanoise National Park.

Val d'Isere's resort emblem is that of an eagle. Back in 1934 when one of the resort’s founders, Charles Diebold, chose the eagle as the emblem for the resort, little did he know that one day it would become an endangered species.
Today Val d’Isère is an active member of the "Save Your Logo" programme as it works towards the protection and preservation of the eagle and subsequently the biodiversity of our planet.

It's all in the planning

The key seems to be to work at least one day in advance.  Two if its a total white out day.  Today was one of those days.  Within a flash Fe had knocked up a banana cake, shortbread biscuits and a chocolate torte.  Then I got into stuffed chicken breasts, a stack of rosti's sided with the prep of mixed veg.  Sounds a lot but we were still on the slopes for noon.

At chalet Claire there is always someone ringing the doorbell, normally other chalet hosts looking to borrow a sprig of this or a packet of that. At times it all feels very neighbourly. Very Sefton Parky!
 
Tonight was a staff gathering in the chalet below us. Being empty of guests staff were allowed to enjoy the comforts normally reserved for guests only.  A dip in the hot tub, sauna and the odd game of pool went down a treat, as did numerous bottles of vin rouge and vin blanc. Was nice to catch up with the hotel staff who we don't get to see that often now that our marathon training days are behind us.

All day the snow had been falling good and proper. It was amazing to see quite how much.  Cars were now completely hidden, even our bedroom window has been almost completely covered by snow.

Hip replacement

After the breakfast shift and cake making we headed up the mountain.  Alas Fe had a nasty fall (no air lift required this time though) just a hard landing onto ice, hip first.  She was a little winded and didn't move too quickly afterwards which caused a lot  of others skiers to to stop and ask 'ca va?'.  Good excuse for a long soak in the bath and we will await the mega bruise to appear.

Today we had our first casualty of the season.   Claire, our resort manager, quit.  To be honest she has done well to last this long.  Mr Ski Power is pretty unique and does make most people's lives a misery.  Luckily we can avoid him well.

After a sneaky bit of apre ski we headed across to the French Ski School Firework display and flaming decent.  The flaming decent was especially good, with loads of skiers snaking down the mountain with their flames in hand.  Warming vin chau was supplied to keep the cold at bay whilst we watched the fireworks over the mountains.  A lovely evening indeed.

Change over day

Getting a 4 day session, hungover crew up and out of the chalet was easier said than done.  Most looked and smelt like they needed body transplants.  Fe was practically peeling them out of bed.  We had from noon till 7pm to work wonders on the chalet before our next guests arrived. Some asked 'which was the way out of the building' as some, after 4 days of mayhem, couldn't ever remember how they even came to be here!! We kid you not, it was hilarious.  Can't imagine how the stock exchange was going to manage with these 10 lads on the floor for the remainder of the week.

Good on 'em though.  They party ever night, hard. And then skied all day everyday. Though there was always someone at some point napping in the lounge. The actual 'off' each day was pretty staggered but oh so much fun to witness. On the last day of skiing one guy had 3 pairs of skis lined up out back, none of which bindings seemed to be set up to fit his boots.  He then realised he had someone else's boots on!  At this point we just had to leave them to work it out for themselves as sometimes in the ski world this is the only way. Ohh how we all were laughing soooo much. It was a great way to end our first week of guest interaction.

All bedrooms needed quite a bit of work after the stags!  But eventually it looked good, beef bourguignon was on the hob doing a grand job of cancelling out any lingering odours very nicely indeed.

Our next guests for the chalet Claire experience were a group of lads from Aberdeen.  All North Sea oil rigger engineers!  Not quite as lively as the stags but with little onshore leave you could see they were going to make the most of it.

Bring out the gimp

They've arrived!  Our first guests.....and they're lovely. 

Their flight was delayed so they arrived at 2.40am.  They had a quick midnight ploughman's type feast and then fell into bed.  A 10 strong stag do, most being city traders from the East looking to play hard both on and off the slopes for the next 4 days. They were nice enough lads but it was clear from the off that they certainly enjoying the odd drink!  It's the poor stag we felt sorry for.  His 'friends' had kindly arranged a gimp ski suit for his first full day on the slopes.  Most mornings Fe was lucky if any of them had bothered to dress!   

And so the four days of haze begins..

What a cracker

We awoke to our first real blue sky beauty.  After a few days of thick cloud and heavy snow fall we were left with around a 1 metre fresh pack. With all company vehicles stranded our last day of training (Food & Hygiene) in Courchevel was cancelled.  So with nothing else on the cards bar peeling the odd spud, and with skies this blue they can wait, we headed up to check out one of the reasons why we came here. Why wouldn't ya.

Extreme........shopping, part II (with a metre of fresh snow thrown in the mix).

Today's shop, being our second kind of set up shop to bulk up on goods for the season, was a little easier once we got to the store.  It was just the journey down through the Tarentaise valley to Bourg St. Maurice based at the valley floor that was a complete nightmare. The clouds were thick, threatening and very, very low making a normally scenic run pretty hard going.  Cars and vans littered the main route in and out of Val.  A route that looked more like a country lane than a main mountain pass.  The fallen tree didn't help matters!  Synchro T5 VWs, Merc Vito 4x4's and even HGVs.  It seemed this region's first real dump had caught the local authorities still napping after a long summer layoff.  A route that normally takes just under an hour took 2 1/2 hours!  The supermarket tills were ringing, not with the regular Jagermeister but with snow chains and snow shovels.  

After another overflowing trolley dash we were out of there keen to get back up the mountain before dusk as the drive was bad enough in the light. Nobody fancied completing the journey in the dark.

Halfway up we made a brief stop off to re-fit the snow chains.  A local guy pulled in to give us a hand! And it's said the French are in general, miserable types. No way, don't believe it this guy was great fun and through broken French / English we just about got the fact that he loved that we'd chosen his home valley to spend our winter months.  With conditions like these it was nice that all mankind were looking out for each other, real nice.


As we appeared through the final tunnel we were faced with the village lights of Val. Phew!  You could feel the relief throughout the van. Until next week!

Cheapskate chavs...

So, its snowing and week one of the 2011 season is well underway. Thankfully for the best part of this heavily discounted week we have no guests what so ever though, although our surrounding fellow chalet hosts are currently doing battle with types that actually want it all, but don't actually want to pay for any of it. Cheapskate chavs the lot of em!!

We are joining the rumpus though.  On Friday around 1.30am we have our first guests.  An all male party of 11, one of which is a stag!!  Yes our first guests are a stag-do. Its all about to go up a gear. Thankfully I have some play lists ready and unlimited wine to-boot.  What can go wrong?  Wish us luck.
Hey you never know they could be pillars of the community. Tee-total keen skiers who love to ski more than anything else.  Mmmm me thinks not!

Maybe the world is a changing....

BBC Quote: Swiss ski resorts hit by drought!  Yes, that's drought. Would you ever...

The traditional start of Switzerland's ski season has been marred by a shortage of snow across the Alps.  The autumn has been the driest on record in the country.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16018453

Love the bit where it states that a hotel in Katschberg has hired 15 chimney sweepers, which are associated with good luck in the country.

Forget Switzerland,  whats the word on the French Alps?  More BBC more!!

And then it snowed

At last, as forecasted, we awoke to grey, thick, heavy heavy clouds which opened up for an early morning dump session eventually giving all what they had come for.  Once it started it didn't stop and the build up of snow pack was phenomenal just as Mallinson said it would. The much required white stuff was here. The main ingredient for a successful happy go lucky season and this years initial happiness pill in the form of snow had finally pitched.  Oh yes, finally the white stuff had arrived! Yipeeeeee the cries could be heard from all ends of the resort.  Our morning started at 8.30 am with a trip to the hire shop to collect our kit for the season, great timing. We both bought our boots with us so just had to collect skis and poles. One step closer to getting out there!

The afternoon brought linen, lots of linen, so hospital corner duty it was. Making one bed took roughly 10 minutes.  12 beds to do so that's 120 minutes!  Change over day alone 2 hours will be spent purely making beds! We were pretty sure though that figure could be worked on...

Back on the training front. Among mucho lectures, tonight's pre-dinner talk was 'avalanches'.   A subject that we find pretty interesting if a little crazy.  New Generation ski guides headed up the talk, was sure the main speaker was a familiar Bristol based face? Will defo try to hook up with him at some point over the next few weeks. The alps has more than most ski resorts and each year receives around 7.5 million skiers per season. Per season there are around 250,000 avalanches ranking France as experiencing the most number of incidents. 90% of avalanches are caused by human intervention.  Once on the move avalanches can reach a speed of 200 mph. Unless temperatures reach a numbing minus 40c mountain based snow is always on the move.  Numbers of this size are bound to contain some not so nice stats. Last year alone there were 20 plus fatalities on the mountains. That's doesn't seem many given the ratio to how many skiers there actually are. But still the figure silenced the room.

Shopping. Masses of it.

Complete insania. Today the chefs, a group of blokes that don't really enjoy shopping on the best of days, were to complete the first of many initial start-up supermarket sweeps. 6 united nation chefs, 2 recently induced drivers and a total of 15 trolleys!

The check-out staff of this large French operated store were obviously not amused as from quite a few check outs our trolleys stretched way back into the shopping isles. There were more break requests from check out staff than I have ever seen before in my life. Tills were being closed down at the rate of English pubs as we approached with broad if not delirious smiles.

2 very loaded vans limped back up the mountain passes. 8 hours and 15 mins later we were back in Val and this was in snow-free perfect conditions.....shopping in this way could become interesting as the season builds....

Come on, it is nearly Christmas.....

The human mind is great. A fantastic thing that adapts you to any situation you find yourself in. Our chalet is now smelling and feeling like home, time to pop out some seasonal bumph. Pride of place being our summer purchase, a father Christmas countdown deccie. It has been given pride of place on top of the telly.

Tonight was a dry run in Chalet Claire. 9 non-awkward guests round (SP staff mainly) that were duly treated to a grandee of menu's containing way, way too many courses but all in the name of training.  Apart from a wee bit of menu tweaking all went well and come the end of the night some, only some, had to be ushered to the door, sheep-dog style. Clearly unlimited house vino-del-collapse'o and altitude had got the better of a few staff members. Party-people, your identities and shamelessness will remain nameless. Lets just say its all part of the Chalet Claire experience!

Red for the sink. Blue for the loo....

Today was deep clean day. As the chalet has been closed up for most of the summer months it needed a good going over. Windows, carpets, woodwork and bathrooms. No corner was left unpolished. Work that doesn't suit all, all of the time, but on this occasion it was a case of 'bring it on'.

Being at altitude makes the basic of chores slightly harder. Up and down stairs you feel more out of breath. Add a few buckets and bed making in the mix and its like you have your own multi gym. Though mountain cakes and coffees got us through.

No snow as yet but rumours are that its on the way.