Bonjour chers amis!   SnowSkool in France’s famous Three Valleys has been underway for a week and the students are all settling well into their new way of life.  This first week has been very intense with  the students working with Instructors on improving their own technique with learning how to teach others incorporated into the process. It's been demanding with early mornings, long days, deep pow, sketchy ice and thoroughly getting to know each other in the evenings!  The chalets couldn't be better matched and new friendships are coming easily.

The locals assure us that snow conditions are all time in the Alps at the moment, with a perfect mix of bluebird skies and new powder. A decent foot of fresh powder fell on Friday making for an epic end to the first week and a fantastic platform from which to dive head first into the weekend!  Temperatures have hovered around freezing making it warm enough for just a hoodie in the afternoons.
 
We haven’t yet had a big group outing but we’ve still managed some fun activities this week.  Oscar was kind enough to show a few of the guys and staff to ski the couloir du mort (death row!) which involves a hair-raising climb up a ladder to the peak of Saulire, followed by a decent run down a very tight chute. All survived ….. short one ski pole. The local pub has provided some live music and the troops spent Thursday night maturely rolling a huge snowball up and down the streets of Les Allues to deposit it outside one of the other chalet doors but sadly, the snowman was tragically murdered in the morning.
 
In addition, there have been some stand-out performances by individuals …
  • Cameron's spent 3 days with his bindings mounted the wrong way before being put right!
  • Abel learned the hard way that his DIN settings were way too loose when he lost both skis a little too regularly for anyone's liking.  Lesson well learned – part of the SnowSkool experience!
  • Joe and Maddie are the worse for wear after pulling cork 720's off the black kicker in the DC park.  Well, that’s what we’re telling everyone after they had separate off-piste incidents..
  • Harry has been making regular visits to the physio – we think mostly because the therapist happens to be very attractive!
  • The Dopolganger award went to Tim for his excellent Jimmy Hendrix renditions in Guy's chalet.
  • Stars from the classes this week are Adam, Jenny and Oscar who were voted best in class by their peers - way to go, guys! 
 
Click here for some photos of us at training as well as out and about.  
 
And so our first week here is done.  The Level 1 exams start this coming week – very short and sharp start to proceedings!  The nerves will soon start to rise but once the test is underway, it all seems to settle.  Once the L1s are behind us, work starts in earnest towards the L2s.
 
Cheers dears,
 
Tim Botfield
Rresort Manager - SnowSkool France 2013
 
Busting to know more?  Try these links: