A March Surprise

Hi everyone and welcome to another article from your favourite blogging Méribel ski instructor. It's been a while since I last posted, the weeks seem to be flying by now, so apologies for being quiet online. However, that's far from the truth when it comes to my work schedule. Yes, I had a short trip back to Leamington Spa at the beginning of the month after the very busy French school holiday period. But since then, blimey, it's been hectic.

On many occasions people will ask me what standard of skier I enjoy teaching the most? This is a valid question. My honest answer is that I really enjoy the variety of skiing levels. Is this an answer that sounds like sitting on the fence? Perhaps to some, but it's true. Isn't variety the spice of life? When teaching beginners, I see a huge rate of improvement, and the joy of introducing someone to this wonderful sport and incredible mountain environment is immense. And then if there is a skier on the dreaded 'Intermediate plateau', being able to convince them that progress can still be made is a delight. See some of my Testimonials that reference this, click here for the link. And then how about those who can ski comfortably around the mountain, but like to tap into my knowledge of this massive ski area of the 3 Valleys, also known as the biggest ski area in the world. I'm happy to be someone's 'Sat Nav' if you like.

In my previous blog post I spoke about the huge amount of snow that fell during the main British half-term period. In summary, the biggest snowfalls of the season (for years in fact) arrived and had a big affect on the mountain. Those responsible for the safety on the mountain did an incredible job given the circumstances, making sure dangerous areas remained closed despite the pressure of the busy school holiday period. If you've ever been in resort during a heavy snow storm, you may've heard very large explosions early in the morning. This is controlled avalanche blasting, making sure that the pistes are safe to open. And back in Febuaury, during one of these periods, controlled explosions unfortunately resulted in the burial of a chailift above Méribel-Mottaret.

For a couple of weeks after this period, I wasn't in the position where I could have a look at this chairlift, skiing with beginners on nursery slopes and green pistes was dominating at the time. However, as soon as I had a spare hour or so away from work, I couldn't resist having a look at the bottom of the Chatelet chairlift. It was an impressive sight, and quite a lot of work will be required for the chairlift to become operational again. I love how a banner has been hung over the roof of the chairlift with this message; "In the mountains, we must respect the power of the elements. Chairlift station damaged following preventative avalanche trigger, while ski area was closed."

So how have the snow conditions been this month?

Absolutely amazing is the answer. Other than a handful of days, the temperatures have been way below average which is impressive given the strength of the March sun. Plus, and this is the beautiful thing, we've had several regular snowfalls pass through every few days or so.

So what with the very thick snowpack depths at altitude thanks to those huge storms in February, and the lower temperatures and recent regular snowfalls this month, conditions are way above average for this time of the year. The forecast suggests this will continue as we head towards Easter as well. Fantastic.

A couple of months ago, I wrote an article about how lucky I am with this job. If I have all day bookings, this normally means eating a meal at lunchtime in a mountain restaurant somewhere. This article listed a few restaurants, mostly in Courchevel, where I was fortunate enough to eat earlier this winter. And of course, there's a very large choice of where to go for lunch all over the 3 Valleys ski area.

One such place is the famous La Folie Douce underneath the Saulire Express gondola, above Méribel. In particular their sit down restaurant called La Fruitière. Now then, La Folie Douce is a marmite type of place. There are many people who absolutely love it, and there are many others that keep their distance. It's not for everyone. The entertainment provided from lunch time onwards is legendary. With a couple of cabaret shows on the main stage, before the DJ set takes over from 3pm onwards.

Just over a week ago, I found myself eating at La Folie Douce three times in six days!?! The first time was with a lovely group from New York, where we were sat at a table close to the main stage. The other two occasions were during a corporate booking from the ski school, shared with a couple of other ski instructor colleagues. The group, a recruitment company, knew how to have fun. I didn't realise until arriving with my clients, we were in fact booked into the elevated VIP area!?! I had never been in this VIP area before these two afternoons, and let's just say it was an eye-popping experience. A strange job sometimes this ski instructing thing.

There's a funny story about the (Folie Douce) baseball cap I'm wearing in this photo. I won't share it with you on this blog page, but if we get to meet in person in the future, I'll happily tell you the story! You will see me slap my forehead several times when telling the tale.

Right, enough of this fun and frivolity. That'll do for now. With Easter weekend upon us shortly, we've another busy week on the mountain this week. If you are able to take some well deserved time off, have a fab break. As ever, I'll end with my usual credo - Live With Passion. Martin