Spectacular

Hi everyone and welcome to the latest summer post from your favourite blogging Méribel ski instructor, direct from the French Alps. The theme will be very similar to the previous post, with different photos of course. Are you ready?

Only a small percentage of the mountain restaurants are open in the summer. The main reason being just a tiny fraction of visitors come to the Alps this time of year, compared to the tens of thousands each week during the ski season. For me, this is one of the nice things about being here in July or August. You still have the beautiful scenery, although looking very different without snow, and your thrills can be gotten through other sports and activities.

Don't forget of course, before skiing became popular from the middle of the last century, the Alps was an important environment for the farming community. Which is still the case.

Hey, for those of you old enough reading this post, do you remember the "Love Is..." cartoons published in popular newspapers in the 1970s and beyond? Well, here's my version this summer!?!

On a more serious note, last winter we had very good snow conditions indeed, with regular snowfalls throughout the season after the Festive Period. February was particularly snowy, which resulted in parts of the mountain being closed due to high avalanche risk. I was out on my mountain bike the other day near the Roc de Fer sector in the Méribel Valley, and came across some hefty avalanche damage from last winter. This would have been part of the avalanche controls performed by the Pisteurs all over the ski area. This avalanche started from the ridge and fell all the way down to the edge of the 'Village' and 'Raffort' pistes. Like all avalanches, they are powerful and easily rip out trees and other vegetation in their tracks.............

Right, enough of that for now, time for some more nice photos that I've taken the last week or so! Marmottes are very common out here, they really are rather gorgeous little things. Pistes, ski lifts, chalets, hotels and restaurants are often named after them, and rightly so.

I'm also loving the flowers here at the moment. They are far more numerous in July than in August when I'm often here. There are swathes of purple flowers called Epilobes here in France, also known as Fireweed or Rosebay Willowherb.

Oh, and finally another chairlift sunset photo, I do love photography around sunset time you know! Notice some Epilobes in the sunshine....

Right, that'll do for now. I've got a couple more blog posts brewing in the background from this summer trip. Especially because I'm spotting a few upgrades to the ski area and ski lift improvements going ahead this summer. On the ground reporting and all that. Now then, where's my credo, ah yes here it is - Live With Passion. Martin.