A White Christmas!

It had to happen. We have had a full week since Monday of crystal clear blue skies but apparently Santa likes a good ski, as we awoke to cloudy skies with bright white snow falling softly to the ground. The weather gods even then went as far as getting rid of the clouds around lunchtime to allow all those lazy so-and-so tourists to go up the mountain after their lie-ins!

Christmas festivities meant that only three of my six children turned up for their lesson at 9am. All the better I say! However one of those had only had about three hours sleep... and it showed fairly early on when she started nodding off on my shoulder in the gondola on the way up at about 9.15am! And the tears started in earnest just after we had set off on the last run down the mountain... Luckily I was able to abort to a shorter run and take the three of them down in the gondolas. A bit of a cop out, but definitely the best solution for all concerned! I have had a good week so far with the little tykes and some of their comments have had me in stitches. These have included:
"Oh look - pants!" (it was actually a device on the cable car to tension cables - but I prefer her answer!)
"SALUT LES VACHES!" (shouted at the top of her lungs at a group of skiers from a chairlift. There were no cows around anywhere...)
"Guess how old I am" (five seconds after telling me she was five...)
"I need to go the loo.... NOW!" (my first experience of taking a small girl to the loo. Fun. I don't remember signing up for that)
"I want a Coke to drink and a pack of Cola bottles to eat" (I'm not their parent. Of course they can have sweets and fizzy drinks on my watch. It means they like me!)
And my personal favourite so far - "One of my friends said his brother went with a girl and she licked his peepee!" (I suggested we didn't tell that one to his parents....)

Vicki cooked fantastic smoked salmon scrambled eggs this morning, in true Christmas traidition. Apparently. I obviously didn't get to taste any (and neither did she incidentally!) but her family of 5 apparently loved it. She was given a present by her guests though, which was very sweet. Tonight has seen her prepare the full blown turkey dinner with all the trimmings before dishing it up, clearing up and then coming home to my humble efforts in the kitchen. Not quite up to her standard I will admit, but what can you expect on two hobs!!! She also gets to build up Father Christmas turning up, as one the Ski Verbier drivers dons the full red and white garb to deliver presents to each and every chalet this evening. Poor guy, that's what I say!

We did manage to spend a little time together today though, as Vicki finished nice and early around 12.00, which is when I drop off the little cherubs back to their parents at the bottom of the lifts. So Vicki laid on a full Christmas brunch, with leftover smoked salmon, leftover fruit platter, leftover bread and leftover croissants and pains au chocolat. A feast fit for kings - which does quite nicely for us paupers thank you very much.

Apart from the few presents which the Swiss postal system dained to let us have (thanks to all by the way for presents both virtual and handlable!), it has felt very little like Christmas Day. The pubs are all open, I still taught skiing to a group of vaguely enthusiastic children and I still didn't get to spend much time with Vicki. So a normal day in the life of a saisonnaire really. Although I have noticed Vicki and I seem to get less hangovers than a lot of our (possibly younger) colleagues. I think this may possibly be due to the fact that we have been there, done that and pretty much got the vomit down the t-shirt over the years. And it is amazing how few saisonnaires are married, regardless of age. Although being 30 is quite a novelty in itself - and it seems we look much younger than we actually are. Which at our age is quite refreshing!!

We also managed to get half a day's skiing together on Tuesday as it was Vicki's day off and I am only teaching in the mornings. The weather was glorious, and the beer in the cafe half way down tasted all the better for being sat there in ski gear and warmed by the sunshine. Vicki then sampled the full apres-ski experience in Farinet (look it up if you haven't heard of it, it is world renowned) but I unfortunately had to see my boss at 5, so abstained from the festivities. I can safely say though that Vicki sampled it well enough it for both of us... Anyone coming to visit will have to try it at least once during their visit! A 5 pint pitcher for 14CHF (approx £9ish depending on the depth of the global economic gloom) is good value in anyone's books!

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas, and you never know Vicki may actually get some time in 2008 to post an entry on this blog!! Best wishes to all.

Christmas in Spring time

Someone mentioned today that Christmas is coming. I must admit, I am not sure I would have known if they hadn’t said anything. I think Vicki has a few more reminders – the socking great big Christmas tree she had to find space for, unwrap, erect and decorate; the fact shops have holiday opening hours displayed out front hence requiring even more planning and forethought than usual; the slightly strange thought of having one of her (slightly more portly) colleagues dress up as Santa to do the rounds on Christmas day; oh and the fact she gets to cook Christmas dinner for 5 – and then not sit down to eat it! At least the leftovers should be good.

The expected crowds have started to materialise in town, but not to the extent we maybe thought. There is definitely more of a buzz than last week but it is by no means the hordes and hordes of tourists we had been promised. Apparently the ski school is struggling to give work to all the instructors this coming week, although New Year sounds like it could be quite stressful. And as for the February half-term that doesn’t even bear thinking about. But I do have a group of 3 or 4 children to take care of (teaching doesn't really come into it very much when they are quite young) every morning this week, so that should at least keep me out of trouble for part of the day. Plus it means I can go skiing in the afternoon if I want to! Or go to the pub...

And the weather has taken a turn for the better after two weeks of pretty solid snow. The sun is well and truly out and the temperature is a totally tropical Lilting +7 degrees. Sitting on the balcony having lunch with our sunglasses on, Vicki and I decided that this was indeed the life. Who needs rain and wind and tubes...? The return to real life could be quite harsh come May. But until then, we are fully kitted out in our respective Vebier accoutrements - nice picture below for you all taken on our balcony. Please note the glare from the really hot sun and the clear blue skies above the mountains in the background. Just in case you missed them...

And this is me in my full “Bananaman” outfit (I have actually been called that on the slopes by a small English child)– at least you can’t miss us on the slopes! And the bottom one is my best C&A pose to show off our classy black soft shell fleeces, complete with yellow trim. Nice.

From both Vicki and me, we would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and we hope you all enjoy the holidays. Spare a thought for us poor souls having to work all through this time of year (I won’t mention the fact we also get to ski quite a lot, as that apparently doesn’t do much for the sympathy side of things...).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Vicki's revenge!

Vicki has had a good week in her chalet with a relatively accommodating family of 6. Two parents and four kids aged between 8 and 13, who all seem to eat normal things, want a nice early dinner and don’t hang around having coffee and digestifs until the early hours of the morning. All of which means that Vicki has been able to get a routine going to enable her to be in the pub before 10pm. Bargain. She even managed to join the tail end of my Monday night work drinks (which seem to inevitably follow the Monday team meeting at 5pm) and meet quite a few of my fellow instructors. A deal was struck whereby Vicki spoke to them in French and they then replied in English (or a drunken approximation in any case...). I believe I was accompanied home around 11.00, but I have to admit I couldn’t swear to that in a court of law. I blame the Swiss phenomenon of Shakers, which are cheap cocktail shakers doled out in shot glasses and seemed to consist of various alcoholic beverages including Abricotine (the local apricot liqueur). Or it could have been the large number of beers I had alongside the Shakers, I’m not sure which.

Vicki’s guests went even further to endear themselves towards her by choosing to have an additional meal out of the chalet on Tuesday evening. This meant that Vic’s day off could start a little earlier as she did not have to worry about cooking dinner for them that night. We had planned therefore to go out with all her Ski Verbier posse and make a night of it on Tuesday before a small lie-in on Wednesday and some nice gentle skiing on the slopes mid-morning. However, I was informed at 6pm that evening that my first lesson would be starting at 9am on Wednesday morning with two little girls aged 4 and 6. Our plans were therefore slightly disrupted, but Vicki made up for us both by drinking the Pub Mont Fort dry along with her colleagues who benefited from free beer all night (well, from 10 onwards, but no-one goes out before then anyway... the continental lifestyle you know...). So my early departure around 1am was hardly noticed by most of the SV crew, much less so than Vicki’s return at about 3.30am back to our flat. I think that was her form of revenge for the last few weeks, but she swears not.

My first lesson was nonetheless a success, despite really heavy snow (have I mentioned it just keeps snowing here by the way?). The two girls seemed to enjoy themselves and even booked a further two days’ lessons for the rest of the week. So I must be doing something right! And it means I get an extra 50p for every additional hour they have booked. Result! It is quite a strange feeling to get excited about an extra £3 (gross mind you) in your weekly pay packet. Money takes on a whole different meaning out here as well, as you simply have to earn enough to pay rent and drink beer. The rest is incidental. I’m not sure any seasonnaire has ever heard of a savings account, let alone an ISA or investment fund. Which, in the current climate, is probably no bad thing.

Christmas week is creeping up on us and we are awaiting the arrival of hoards of people – mainly English drunk people – to take up slope space and bar space. Thankfully just two weeks later the majority of tourists will head home to their boring jobs and leave the slopes and bars to those of us who deserve them.

Oh and for those avid readers of this blog, I had mentioned the possibility of a plum deal coming my way. Well this actually fell through. I was going to be hired for the season, effectively as a guide more than as an instructor, by a very rich couple (along with a more experienced instructor). We would basically have been at their disposal for three weeks out of 4. The perks would have been to be wined and dined during the days and evenings, meeting some of their apparently famous friends and not having to worry about scrounging lessons off the secretary. The downsides would have been having to be extra nice every day, carrying her skis, helping her with her boots and generally sucking up to this woman. And I wouldn't have actually done much instructing. But it is all a moot point now anyway, as she decided to stay with the guy she had last year who has left Adrenaline for one of the other schools. Not overly worried about it but it would have made for some good anecdotes if nothing else! Hey ho, bring on the nursery slopes... ;o)

Chalets and Bananas

Vicki's Cook-off was a success, although the head chef of course suggested some improvements that she could make. But that was always going to be the way! Breakfast was probably the trickier affair, as she had to coordinate the three different types of eggs, the porridge and the rest of the fry-ups to land on the table around the same time, whilst making sure the ladies got served first... A good practice run, but things will only improve as a routine gets established.

Fresh off the back of these cook-offs, the chalets were announced on Wednesday. Vicki has been given..... (drum roll please)..... Astoria! It caters for up to 6 people and is right by the main ski lift. So Vic is going to try and get a deal going whereby she can keep her skis and ski stuff up there rather than traipsing down the 15 minutes to our flat and heading all the way back up the hill to get up the mountain! For those with a curious streak, check out the Ski Verbier website page on her chalet at http://www.skiverbier.com/index/315/1. As you will see, most weeks are already sold out, so she won't be getting too much time off! And for those with a spare 5 or 7 grand, feel free to book - whilst availability lasts!

To cap things off, her first guests arrived today, Friday. They actually arrived in Verbier yesterday but stayed in a local hotel until the chalet was ready for them. This meant that Vicki had to clean the place from top to bottom, get everything set up (Wii, TV, iPod docking stations, DVD player, hi-fis, etc), plan the menus, do the shopping AND get a meal ready for them to eat tonight. Especially as the chalet which had supposedly been thoroughly cleaned by the SV team required quite a deep clean throughout. So a tough week has been made even tougher due to lack of time at the start of it. But she is off and running and will be looking forward with glee to her first day off on Wednesday!

I have almost finished my training weeks, and we even picked up our uniforms today - bright yellow with some blue piping. Very fetching. I will get some photos to put up on here at some point. For those who have been trying to see my cheeky grin on the Adrenaline website, the photos won't be updated for some time yet. I will keep you posted! So far I don't have any lessons booked in for next week, but the snow conditions have been so good that the general consensus is that quite a few people will start their holidays early! So you never know.

In general though we have pretty much settled in to our flat. I am slowly mastering cooking on two electric hobs (did I mention I HATE electric hobs?!?!?!) and catering for myself, all the while keeping the flat spotless. We pretty much agreed at the start that cooking and cleaning would be my domain... which is fair enough I think.
Internet connection is still sporadic but it does provide me with an excuse to come down to the bar and buy a beer so that I can connect to their free WiFi!

Further to the previous photo of the view from our window, below is the same shot but with slightly more snow around! It has been snowing on and off for a good week now and the snow base is so good up top that we are taking routes only usually tracked at the end of January! Powder skiing is definitely underrated - I must admit I wasn't that big a fan (I would rather have taken my board up) but I am 100% a convert now! It helps that one of our trainers appears to have something against taking the pistes... Not that any of us are complaining!

From snowy Verbier, until next time, Ciao!

Hard graft

It appears that this is not a holiday. A few things have pointed me towards that conclusion:

1. I have been skiing for over four weeks solid with only two days off (one because the mountain was shut due to 115km/hour winds, and the other to travel between Zermatt and Verbier)

2. Although Vicki has been in Switzerland for a week now, we have managed only a total of one meal and two beers together

3. I have been handing out leaflets to local businesses to advertise the ski school - something I have not done since I was a kid!

4. The snow is too good (well I never said they were all bad!)

5. I am conscious of how much things cost when I go shopping, to the bar or eat on the mountain

6. Well that's about it really, but it is still a strange feeling not to have to go back to the UK at the end of every week, to start real life again and get on with the daily grind of tube, work, tube, eat, sleep...

My side of things are going well and we have an alternative day tomorrow, where we can either try out telemark skiing or take our snowboards out (I am opting for the latter) before taking care of the same bunch of kids as last week on Thursday and Friday. Yes they do actually trust us to do it twice in two weeks! Our last two days of training on Saturday and Sunday then conclude the whole shabang and the real work starts from Monday onwards. Although I may have landed a plum deal, but I will pass on details of this once it is all confirmed... Watch this space.

Vicki is still training hard. Tonight was the first phase of her cook-off, where hopefully everything went according to plan. Things didn't get off to the best start, as the online ordering has gone up the spout already, so a trip round the Coop this afternoon meant having to make quite major adjustments to the menu on the fly! But I think things were well in hand regardless of that slight hiccup. Tomorrow morning she has to complete the exercise by providing breakfast to the same crowd as tonight. This can involve anything people desire from eggs anywhichway to porridge to kippers or even kedgeree! Freshly squeezed orange juice is a must of course, as is the rest of the kit and kaboodle which accompanies any high class breakfast. Once this is over there isn't much chance to relax as it is likely her first guests will be arriving on Saturday to be pampered and catered for in the manner to which they are (no doubt) accustomed. So the hard work starts here.

So life has begun in earnest here in Verbier with plenty of beer and fun and games to be had when we eventually get some time to enjoy any of it together!

Powder dreams are made of this...

One week on since arriving and I think I will be able to get used to this ski instructor lark. We have had a couple of days of teaching 4 and 5 year-olds to allow the ski school to see how we handle actual children (rather than other instructors playing at being kids - remarkable realistic at times!). Luckily they all seem to enjoy being guided around by a motley crew of Swedish, English, Tcheq, French and Swiss people, none of whom have that much experience at this sort of thing! But to be honest, as long as you keep them entertained by waving your arms like an airplane, whooping like a red indian or vrooming like a Ferrari, they will follow you down anything. Although I think taking these Verbier-born and bred kids in charge is a completely different proposition to coaxing little Johnny and Emily from leafy Surrey down a steepish slope on a windy and cold white-out day... All that to come - can't wait! I am just grateful that the groups are limited to 6 people. Only one week of trainig left and then we get our funky yellow uniforms. Then I can really start posing on the pistes of Verbier.

Vicki has been working ridiculously hard since she was dropped off here a few days ago. Her first challenge is to cook for 8 colleagues (oh, and the Head Chef of the company) in the "cook-off". This could effectively decide which chalet they each get allocated, so no pressure... Today involved Host training - hospital corners on the sheets, which is the Oxford pillow case, which spoon goes on the outside, etc, etc, etc. All tedious stuff, but the standards have to be set I guess. However, Vicki did not seem keen on demonstrating her newly-acquired skills in our studio. In fact I would go so far as to say that my suggestion was met with what can only be described as a disdainful stare. Some people are just not keen to practise...

The snow is just unbelievable. It is apparently the best start to a season in Verbier for about 50 years. It snowed all night last night, and has been steadily dumping down today without showing signs of stopping yet! The expression "it might not settle" is not something anyone here has ever heard of. When it comes down, it just keeps coming. The powder in the trees off-piste is out of this world - waist-deep in a lot of place, as I found out when I overbalanced earlier today! Getting out of that was a whole lot of fun!! However, I regretted taking my new skis (bought for 200CHF (about £100ish) second hand for use teaching on the slopes) rather than my fatter twin tips. No floating whatsoever in a pair of slalom skis!! Ah well, makes it all the more challenging.

Verbier itself is a nice little town. Shops and bars are slowly starting to open now, which makes things a little livelier. It also means the WiFi connections are slowly getting up and running - hence the general lack of communication over the last week.
We get a discount card as instructors for one of the main bars to get a pint for about £3, and that is a good deal in these parts. Vicki on the other hand gets a discount card for a different bar, slightly more well known, to get a pint for a mere £1.50!! Outrageous. I'll just have to make sure I get Vic to buy the beers when we go out!

Plenty more fun to come, and hopefully Vicki might even allowed 5 minutes break over the coming few months to actually post something! I do feel I got the better end of this deal somehow... True love eh?!

Verbier and the big reunion

After three weeks apart, it was nice to finally have Vicki arrive in Verbier so that we can actually do this seasonnaire thing together. I arrived on Saturday, having passed my BASI level 2 instructor qualification last Friday and found blazing sunshine and +7 degrees in town. Compared to Zermatt, this was positively tropical! I started my training with Adrenaline ski school on the Sunday, which basically involves skiing around the pistes a bit from 9 til 1, leaving the afternoons free to deal with Swiss bureaucracy - the police, the work permit, the season ski pass, the shops which only open from 2.30 til 5, etc, etc. There are some things about London which we will definitely miss! But not that many...

Vicki arrived on Tuesday night around 7 to be whisked off straight away to go and have dinner with her work mates, followed by a couple of drinks in the bar below our studio. An early start meant that we have spent less than a couple of hours together since she arrived! But we knew that was going to be part and parcel of the experience. So a short but sweet reunion heralded the start "proper" of our ski season 2008/09 in Verbier. Hurrah!

I think Vicki is quite enjoying being sheparded around by Ski Verbier for the moment, after three weeks of lists and getting things done (many things I was supposed to do before I left London three weeks ago... yes, I will be in penance for quite some time yet...). I don't think she is under any illusions that this will be hard work from start to finish, but the challenge is definitely one she is relishing - especially rubbing shoulders with some extensively trained professional chefs!

From my side, things are going well. I have been lumped in with the French-speaking group, rather than with the rest of the English guys, which is exactly what I wanted! However, it does mean I haven't yet met most of the Brits in the same company as me! But I'm sure tonight will solve that, with free drinks in the one of the local bars for an hour later on... Tomorrow could be a challenge, especially as 20 kids from the local school are being shipped in for us to "practise" on. The 3-4 year-olds will be spread thinly as there are about 30 of us new instructors - half of whom don't speak French! So that could be interesting... The one bit of advice our trainer gave us at the end of today was to bring lots of tissues!! Tricks of the trade eh?

The studio we are in is small but perfectly formed. The bathroom is twice the size it needs to be for some unknown reason, but the main room is fine. Not quite our London flat but needs must - and we are paying for the privilege of being only 15 minutes walk (in ski boots mind) from the main lift. So perks all round. Although living above a bar (even if it is 4 floors) has its pros and cons as we found out last night (their opening night) when the live band was pumping tunes out until well into the night. And I do believe this building is made of mainly paper... But it does mean we don't have far to fall home when we decide to really get into this seasonnaire lifestyle!!

The view from the balcony is not bad though...


Let the games begin!!

Mountains and snow are cold - and other interesting facts...

After a couple of weeks of some really nice weather, winter has finally landed. The first week of the course was duly seen out with some drinking shenanigans in Zermatt, with nothing than a quick bottling in the club to report. Luckily, being one of the old gits in the group, I had already left when all this went on. However, Saturday was definitely a hangover day - and the guilt was even offset by the weather being so bad that the whole lift system was shut for the day! Bargain.

Sunday was therefore earmarked for skiing, to practise and have a bit of a blast on the slopes. And then Winter arrived. The temperature up top was about -30 degrees C, with a windchill on top of that. So the day was punctuated by cups of hot chocolate and breaks in the restaurant - call me a wimp, but when the feeling goes from your teeth, it is definitely time for a break... The picture below was taken on Sunday, and the smile on my face is frozen on. What you can't see is my hand with icicles taking the photo! Oh and check out the start of a classic goggle mark!

The last two days haven't been much warmer, so the layers have been piled on and the toes have been rubbed at every opportunity. But the course is now coming towards crunch time with only three days left to convince our trainer that I am worthy of getting my BASI level 2 qualification. So far feedback has been ok and we had our written exam today. Having had a list of "potential" topics from our trainer the previous day, we were fairly well prepared! So fingers crossed (and anything you can cross) and here's hoping I can actually go to Verbier as a qualified instructor. Otherwise, I will be serving beers to any of you who come to visit us in my shiny bar job... ;o)

Only one week until this blog's title will actually be true - Vicki arrives on Tuesday 2nd December, and I am travelling over the valley on Saturday to set up our home for the next 5 months. Roll on the ski season!

Let it snow. let it snow, let it snow...

As nice as all those blue skies were, the snow was starting to get a little worn. So we have just had a beautiful dump today - which did mean giving our lessons in white-out conditions - which is set to continue tomorrow. However, Sunday is due for bright skies again. Darn the luck...

There is definitely something rather magical about sitting watching falling snow. Ideally it should be done with a hot chocolate, in front of a roaring fire and in the arms of a loved one. If Vicki was here, it would be the perfect scene. But enough of the "woe is me" narrative, I have now completed my first week of the course. It has gone fairly well, and my scores at the mid-point are encouraging, if not quite there yet. But with another week of training after the weekend to go, I am quietly confident of doing ok. And let's face it, if I were to fail, the backlash from Vicki is enough to ficus anyone's mind!!

Not alot to say when all I do everyday is ski, but it's nice to hear the jealousy emanating from all corners of the world! Visitors will of course be most welcome in Verbier, as long as they buy us some food and drinks when they are there. In return, we will attempt to set them up with chalet girls / boys as appropriate or simply show them the best slopes / bars / saunas (delete as appropriate).

So until next time, think of me with a big grin on my face up to my knees in snow!

Cheers all!

The Matterhorn at sundown...

This is the view I have had for the last week and a bit. Tough gig I know...

We were due for some fresh snow to make up for the sunny days over the weekend, and the Zermatt gods duly obliged. So another powder day today... Ah well, if you're going to do this skiing lark, you might as well enjoy it.

Training is well underway now having spent most of the day doing the early phases of beginner skiing - snowploughs etc. And doing runs on one ski was interesting, especially going up on a t-bar! Not all that exciting but the few free runs we had definitely made up for it.

More to follow in the coming weeks. Enjoy the rain! ;o)

Alone in Zermatt...

Well, it's been a week already since I left rainy London to come to Zermatt in Switzerland for three weeks. The aim being that I will then have the required qualification to take up the job waiting for me in Verbier. So far, things have been nigh on perfect. Blue skies, powder, great snow, no crowds... just heavenly really.

The hard work starts tomorrow though with two weeks of BASI training. The trainers are notorious for not letting small things slip through, so my skiing will need to be spot on! But my first week of performance training has already helped iron out some flaws I never knew I had!

The weather forecast is good, with some snow due sometime this week to replenish the fresh tracks we put down last Wednesday. So far it still feels very much like a holiday, albeit a strange one without Vicki. A tough two weeks before we can meet up in Verbier but it's all worth it for a whole season of ski and snow. Oh and some work too!

There will be some photos to come once I a) take some and b) figure out how to upload them!

Hope everyone in the UK and elsewhere is good and we really look forward to showing you the sights and sounds of Verbier once we get our head around it.

Take care, I'm off to look at the weather and get ready for more skiing!