Cross-country skiing

The Ecole de Ski Français here in Megève (French Ski School) has been putting on a demonstration of cross-country skiing every Monday night for the last couple of weeks. The other Monday I was working but Adrian had the night off so he gave it a go and thought it was so much fun that I should have a try the following week. It was a bit iffy in terms of how much snow was left (it was in the middle of town and we haven’t had snow in aaaaages), but luckily they were foolhardy enough to put it on so we headed on down. We conned Ed, our new Ski Royale recruit and fellow driver/chambermaid, to come with us and try his hand as well – he’s a fellow snowboarder so I didn’t feel too bad about embarrassing myself in front of someone else who can’t ski to save themselves!

Swapped over the shoes for some random soft bootie-like things with hard clips on the edge and headed over to get fitted for some skis. They’re about as tall as you are, but only about 5cm across which makes it pretty hard to get your balance! I had a French instructor helping me out and we palmed Ed off on the poor English speaking instructor who had had to deal with Adrian the previous week as well… (I hope she gets paid well!)

When you’re on the flat it’s kind of like walking (because you’re in the grooves that have already been made by other skiers), but uphill you have to use your poles a lot more and then downhill was a bit interesting! I got to grips with snow ploughing in the end though!


Couldn’t really handle the whole ‘skating’ across on the flat (when you ski without the pre-made grooves) but on the whole it was heaps of fun and a big shout out to those ever patient instructors!



As well as the skiing they had a place where you could try shooting (so, trying the entire winter biathlon competition where they cross-country ski and then shoot at targets at different points along the course). I hadn’t shot an air rifle before and was totally up for it! It was pretty easy lying down when you could steady yourself (I got 5/5 of my targets!) but standing up it was a different story completely…(I think only 2/5 there).

I could definitely consider doing the rifle range again, but I think I’ll stick with the snowboard thanks! Check out all the photos here.

New skis

After a hard season tree planting, my skis had seen better days. The edges are rounded, blown and depressed. If you could see the state of my bases you would be depressed also. The shock absorbers were leaking their fluids and my bindings are starting to strip their screws.

My skis had had a good life, but it was time for them to retire. I had been enquiring around the shops about prices for the type of skis I wanted and in general putting off the outlay of a large wad of money (those who know me will know I don’t like that much either). Then I stumbled across the perfect buy. They are ex-rental touring skis which come with skins. Being touring skis they weren’t rented out much so are in good nic. All for only 300 euro, super! (Would be 1000 euro new) Now if only I could get out of the hotel onto them…

Day out in Sallanches

In an effort to make a break for it, Lauren and I took a day trip on the 9th of Feb to Sallanches which is a larger town down the mountain from Megève. We had planned on going to St Gervais and catching a series of télécabines and chair lifts across, but the main Mt d’Arbois lift up the mountain wasn’t working so it was back to the bus station and plan B for us. A 20 minute bus ride took us down to Sallanches where the driver dropped us off in the middle of town with ne’er an explanation of where the station to be picked up from was. Oh well, guess we’d find that out later by way of a bit of an explore otherwise we’d be stuck there forever (no more work! Oh no…)

We did a quick reccy of the main square where the Saturday markets were just closing up before heading towards a little chapel on the hill that looked interesting. On the way we popped into the Eglise de St Jacques. As seems to be the case with most of the churches in this region, it was pretty plain and unprepossessing from the outside, but very ornately decorated on the inside. The wooden carvings on the altar, the wooden pulpit, the organ and the ceiling were my favourites – check out more pictures here if you want.

After looking around that we continued in our search for the little chapel up on the hill. We wandered up through a wooded area for about 5 minutes and popped up right where it was – good spotting Batman! It was called La Chapelle de l’Imacculee and was built to look over and protect the town of Sallanches – and it had a pretty good view of the Alps while it did it (see here)! The doors were locked but through the mesh I got a picture of some of the interior.

Then, following a bit of shopping (a pair of trousers for 8 euro!) we sat and had a beer in the sun. Once the bar owner found out we were from NZ and Australia it was all on about the rugby! Talking to another bar fly we found out that the bar owner used to be the world 5 time welterweight boxing champion – and there were photos all over the bar to prove it. The things people end up doing non?! Our new best friend the bar fly was keen for us to stay for several more drinks – or at least come back the next day – but it was back to the bus station (found during the reccy) and Megève for us. All in all a great sanity saving excursion was had by all.

Staff ski days

Our day off is on a Tuesday and our company has arranged to meet up with the skiers from another company (Stanford) for a joint ski every week. We meet at the Rosay café on the Mt d’Arbois side of the mountain and after a bit of a drink/bite to eat, we all head up together. At the moment I (Amelia) can’t keep up with the good skiers (Adrian etc.) so either I hang out with Lauren who’s learning like me or head off on my own. I wasn’t quite up to the ‘off-piste’ action a couple of weeks back that all the skiers managed (snowboards don’t lend themselves to sections of flat powder!) so did some blue runs by myself.

That powder day was pretty sweet!! One of the best ever! I (Adrian) rose early on my day off (those who know me will know how much I love to sleep), and got to the front of the lift line for first lift (Yeeha!!!), only to hear some British lady behind me say “What the lifts aren’t going yet? We’ll get a later bus tomorrow.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Needless to say I had fresh tracks all morning till I meet up with the rest of the crew. I was pretty shattered but skied on for the rest of the day. We got some footage of the afternoon, which I will have to try and nab it somehow. We stopped at the pub at the bottom of the mountain for a couple of beers and to talk about the beauty of skiing for seven hours. After the two pints we attempted to ski back into town with a little success and a lot of laughter. We then moved into town for a great night on the booze and the dance floor. If you can’t dance well, dance enthusiastically!!

Team Ski Royale (L-R): Amelia, Charlie, Simon, Lauren, Michelle, Adrian, Matt, Adam

Adrian and Lauren on the 'Les Mandarines' run.

Paraskiing action! Oh yeah that helmet's a good look!

Ski Royale

So in between our glamourous life of skiing and snowboarding, hot chocolates and vin chaud (mulled wine), unfortunately we have to do a bit of work. We work for a company called Ski Royale which manages three chalets in Megève. The largest (and one we work for) is a 2 star hotel called ‘Les Cimes’ which has nine rooms and sleeps about 25 max. We work with an English chef called Matt and another guy called Edward. Lauren and Simon (Brisbane) work at the Ryokan which is a 4 star private chalet that sleeps about 8. Charlie (English) works at the other chalet called La Frutiere) which is smaller again. It’s Michelle’s (English) business and she runs it with the help of an old school friend Adam (English). Here are some pics of Les Cimes:



I (Amelia) am what is deceptively called a ‘chalet host’. It’s really a misnomer for an underpaid and overworked maid/waitress/kitchen hand! I do about 65-70 hours a week and get paid just over 100 euro…that’s one euro per hour people… It’s pretty hard work, starting with breakfast, then cleaning rooms, then afternoon tea a few days a week, followed by dinner. The job is pretty bad, but I’m learning to snowboard out of it so that’s the magic point that must be remembered! (Whilst obviously being completely jealous of Adrian’s job and all his tips).

I (Adrian) pretty much have a sweet job. The hardest part being that I must constantly explain to my co-workers that it is work, and that I am a highly trained professional. My week starts on a Sunday when I pick guests up from airport (about an hour’s drive). I might have to do this up to three times in a day, plus wait times. The next day I take guests up the mountain and make sure they know their way around, avoid the lift lines, and get the best runs. I do this four times a week. I then sit down with the guests at dinner and make polite conversation, fill up the wine, water and bread. I then also help with breakfast, afternoon tea and cleaning occasionally. (Cleaning?! When did I ever see you clean a toilet last Adrian??)

We get Tuesdays off and if we’re lucky another night a week so we can head out for dinner. We also occasionally get some tips, but to be honest, it’s not exactly as if we’re rolling in it… Click here for some more photos of Les Cimes or here for the Ski Royale website.

Le Calvaire de Megève

Le Calvaire is a pilgrim route in Megève from the 14th Century that has the 14 Stations of the Cross represented in little chapels. The doors are locked, but you can peek through and look at the different styles and types of paintings and statues. It’s set in a 10 hectare park just down from the Mt d’Arbois ski lift. The ‘Calvaire’ translates to ‘martyrdom’ or ‘calvary’ which apparently means ‘living death’.




So on a sunny afternoon (nearly every day is sunny here, it’s a hard life I tell you) we headed off for a walk to see the sights. I (Amelia) had done a long walk the week previously and chanced across them, so thought it would be cool to show them to Adrian.

Most of the buildings are pretty small with just one picture or statue in them, but there are a few that are on a much grander scale and have a whole series of events. The stations are represented in quite different styles which made it interesting to compare between them.

There are heaps more photos here of us and all the different little chapels and the interiors.

We ended the walk with a visit to the local church in Megève. It’s called Eglise (Church) St Jean Baptiste in the parish of Sainte Anne d’Arly Montjoie and our apartment is just behind it. The church fronts onto the main town square which also holds the Mairie (Mayor’s offices), a Hermes store and a few cafés etc. While looking pretty plain from the outside, it’s a completely different story inside. Again, the 14 Stations of the Cross are represented inside, as well as having an amazing painted ceiling and some altars.

 

Learning to snowboard

So, despite what I told Adrian when we first met, I am not actually the world’s most amazing snowboarder… Jeff L and Bas witnessed my efforts last year which saw my knees swell up to football size as a result of coming into far too much contact with the sheet ice at Turoa! So I got me a snowboard here in Megève and took it out after about a week here to see how much work I needed to do before I could learn how to turn etc. Actually putting on the bloody thing was the first mission because it had completely different bindings (what holds the board to your feet) than what I was used to back in NZ! But once that small milestone had been achieved I was raring to go. And go I did…right towards the ground! I won’t go into the (embarrassing and painful) detail, but after several days of “I hate this, I’m never going to like it!” and other minor tantrums directed at the ever patient Adrian, I finally managed to learn how to turn. It was a big day! In the interim I was forced to wear a helmet because I was coming close to concussion with the amount of times I was falling over…


But once that had passed and I was (more or less) whizzing down the green runs (I was allowed to say that I was a snowboarder once I completed a run without falling), I became a bit more adventurous. Bring on the blue runs! (In France they go from green, to blue, to red, to black). We had a big day out on the mountain (Adrian, Lauren and I) and I was heading down Les Mandarines run which is a big green run (green number 30 on this map where it says Mt d'Arbois) and I had nearly got to the end when I took a big tumble and banged up my knee. The gory results are below…

Needless to say that now I wear kneepads as well! But after about a week’s rest I was back up there full of enthusiasm (and only succumbing to very seldom tantrums – like when Adrian takes me down the world’s steepest red run…but that’s another story!)