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Happy New Year 2011

Posted on
January 2, 2011

Happy New Year everybody from a very sunny paradise here in Méribel. It's been gorgeous weather all week, with great snow conditions thanks to the heavy snowfall we had over Christmas. I've been very busy teaching families this week, spending time with the Sockwells, the Evans family, the Shepherds and a Darlington. It's a lovely experience to join families on their precious skiing holidays. But what I've noticed over the years is that there is often a difference in standard within the family unit.

Sometimes the parents are better skiers, but other times the children are the better skiers. In the case of the Evans family, Phil and Di the parents realised that Nicola and Liam were rapidly overtaking them in the skiing hierachy. At least Nicola and Liam didn't rub it in too much with looking smug all the time.

But what was great about our time together in the afternoons was that we all worked together. We were able to break down and simplify ski technique and psychology on the piste in a manner that each person could benefit in their own way, whatever their standard.

Plus, because the weather had been fantastic all week, we were able to ski further afield away from Méribel. One afternoon I showed them a secret track that's unmarked on the piste map. It leads into the depths of the Courchevel forest, down to the village of 1550, after starting at the very top of Saulire. It's a pretty route that takes you past a couple of shepherd huts, and one where we found this abandoned piste basher. Of course, Liam couldn't resist diving in, boys and their toys!

I also skied with the Shepherd family, pictured above, minus Nicki. This time it was really important for the family unit to split. At the start of each session I skied with Nicki on the lovely Altiport green piste to build her confidence. Then we celebrated her success together by skiing down the blue piste, Lapin, to Méribel Village. After that I met up with Martin, Francesca and Matthew and continued working with their technique. We all had loads of fun, especially counting how many times their Dad crashed into the kids every time he came into stop. It wasn't his fault each time of course, however I did lose track of all the different excuses he came out with though !?! Next up Stan ......

Just before Stan and I skied away from the meeting point, his parents said to me "Ski him fast, in the bumps, off-piste, you know all the stuff we can't do with him now, we want him coming home feeling tired." Stan is a strapping fourteen year old rufty-tufty type. We blasted all over the place, popped off the side of pistes into gnarly steep pitches, and climaxed by skiing down the Méribel Couloir. This couloir is the impressive-looking beast at the top of Saulire, which can be seen when climbing up in the Burgin Saulire bubble, but accessed by a tricky ridge from the Courchevel cable car.

It's very steep narrow at the top, and gradually fans out towards the bottom. Photographs often make gradients look flat, and it's the same here. However, the metalwork at the top of the picture is the final pylon of the Courchevel Cable Car, this may give you more of an idea of the gradient. The snow was lovely, with great visibility and Stan tackled it with gusto. Did I achieve the goals set out by his parents at the start of the session? I hope so! (I didn't tell Stan at the time, but I was utterly knackered after that one).

So what's on the cards for this week? Quieter slopes, cooler temperatures, sunshine early week and many Russian visitors in time for their Orthodox Christmas. Plus a mid-week visit to Tignes to be part of a 50th birthday celebration.MartinP.S. Hang on, who is this? "Liam, Nicola, it's time to stop looking smug about how good you are. Mustn't over do it now, don't forget who pays for your skiing holidays?"

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