 Poster: A snowHead
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Ran a chalet of 16/18 in La Plagne for Ski Beat last season.
First 4 weeks were horrid (two weeks training and ffirst two weeks of guests). After that easy as pie!
In for breakfast at 7.30 - Out by LATEST 11.00
Back To start evening meal 18.00 - Out of chalet 10.00 (later if nice guests!)
We got £60 a week plus an extra £20 performance related pay which was received as a lump sum at the completion of the season. Mrs FastCarver got all her bonus i had one week i.e. £20 deducted for not clearing my allocated steps of snow after a large snowfall. We also got our accomodation, food (ate with guests + we could make sandwiches for ourselves for lunch), Season Paradiski ski pass - around 650euros for season workers, Ski and boot hire for the season.
We certainly didn't get exploited, and while at times it was hard work, efficiency was the key to maximum slope time which could easily be 5 hours a day.
I would say that many employers in the Uk give their employee's more stress and work hours per week than most chalet companies.
I would suggest that chris178 should speak to other seasonaires in resort and work for another company OR SHUT UP AN GET ON WITH IT!
BTY a little bird told me that ski beat are still looking for staff for the remainder of the season!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Well I thought id give my 2cents. I shall be leaving uni this summer with an honours degree in marekting and am hoping to spend a season in the alps. As I have relatively limited work experience I am going to go on one of the Anything Technical courses on being a ski technician. I figure this may help me get my foot in the door with some of the tour operators. At 22 i dont really fancy going down the career path yet but want to party some more. As long as I have enough money for a good boozing session once a week Im happy. I do understand these courses wont make me a great ski technician but hopefully they give me a basic understanding and I can pick things up along the way.
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| Edmundh009 wrote: |
| I do understand these courses wont make me a great ski technician but hopefully they give me a basic understanding and I can pick things up along the way. |
Should be enough to work in the average alpine hire shop then.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Edmundh009 wrote: |
| At 22 i dont really fancy going down the career path yet but want to party some more. |
If the rules of the game are that doing what you want is something you spend a year or two doing before the rest of your life and career then I reject those rules personally 
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I am firmly in the camp of "these guys are work shy fops" ( at least in the 'lower' echelons of resort workers )... FastCarver's comments relate exactly to an experience I had as a guest in a Chalet of a very nice couple on sabbatical a few years ago... They were with Airtours, and got out of the door everyday at 11am, returning at 5 / 6pm to get the dinner on. Tea and cakes were always left out for us at 4.30pm. They had the routine down to a T. Rooms cleaned and dinner preparation complete before leaving the chalet - an example of efficiency. They were happy to hang around for company and 'share' in the free wine available with the meal, before going out socialising themselves. They had a guest book, and only recently dropped out a friendly email to all their previous guests - I distinctly got the impression they were having a great time breaking from the usual 9 to 5 of their careers.
This was in marked contrast to the chalet next door run by 21 year olds. Always late up so breakfast was a rush, dinner always late and rooms still being cleaned whilst guests were returing from the slopes. Late night partying and hangovers taking there toll I think.
One friend was a resort manager and that did take up the hours... lots of dealing with guests problems and trying to keep the workers on task... She managed very little skiing that year, but some of this was I think due to her taking on the problems rather than delegating...
If I had any advice to the workers it would be to understand your objectives, ensure they are achievable and then work out how to be as efficient as possible to get them completed quickly. If you've completed your tasks there is no excuse for not getting out for some free time.... just don't hang around waiting for the rep to give you another job!
Lets not forget that that certainly Chalet staff ( as opposed to hotel staff ) often benefit from good tips ( if they do the job well and are socialable ). With 12 of us staying in the chalet the tips were easily £100 on top of their wages ! ( that does sound a bit tight now thou ! ) 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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As an indicator of the current recruitment situation in the Alps the UK's largest circulation trade magazine, The 'Caterer and Hotelkeeper' this week has 2 quarter page ads for Chalet staff. One for Ski Olympic and one for Mark Warner. Neither mention hours of work or salary/pay rates.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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First week of Jan does seem a bit panicky to be advertising for staff, but maybe it reflects sudden expansion.
Is business booming?
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I only wish I'd discovered skiing during my compulsory gap year 7 years ago before starting Uni...not quite sure how I would've got on with only £500 to my name though...hang on, I managed for 4 years like that...bummer
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Edmundh009 wrote:
At 22 i dont really fancy going down the career path yet but want to party some more.
If the rules of the game are that doing what you want is something you spend a year or two doing before the rest of your life and career then I reject those rules personally
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Still, I couldn't agree more now...
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You know it makes sense.
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I kind of think why not do it now when I dont have any ties really. If all goes well I may even think about moving out to the alps. I figure I may as well as Britain is great if you have kids or in need of medical care but I am young and fancy free I suppose.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
The UK's got a lot going for it, more than some of the inhabitants seem to realise sometimes
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Well said.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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easiski, you're absolutely right and I bet we could name the major culprits, in my experience they also tend to be the most expensive operators as well.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I wasn't doing any british bashing, its just I fancy a change of environment. I dont like the idea of living in britain till Im 70 and my time is up. I fancy seeing what other cultures are like and I dont think I should be flamed for voicing my opinion.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I wasn't doing any british bashing, its just I fancy a change of environment. I dont like the idea of living in britain till Im 70 and my time is up. I fancy seeing what other cultures are like and I dont think I should be flamed for voicing my opinion. I do understand alot of people see it as being easier to bash Britain as has become the trend in recent years but I do like the idea of having something to compare my experiences too and not live my life in a tiny bubble as so many people do (Snowheads of course not included in said bubble) 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Just got back from a week in la plagne. Did alot of investigating about the pay because of the tipping debate.
Here is the information I was given.
£70 per week cash
All food provided
Accomodation provided.
paradiski lift pass for all week.
Ski Hire provided.
Medical Insurance provided.
End of season (20 week) bonus - £500 for 90% good or excellent reports
£300 if under food budget. (this could be the other way round)
Hours worked.
Normal Day 07:30 - 11:00 then out skiing. Back at 17:30hrs to start tea, finished by 21:00hrs.
Thursday Shopping day - Seems to work from 07:30 - 11:00 in chalet then off to supermarket.
Transfer Day 04:30 start but finished by 09:00. 17:30hrs for tea but had to be their to greet guests.
Host managed 5 days skiing per week.
1 person looking after 12 people to give an idea about the number of beds , meals etc. The host had no complaints and it was third season. It was not done to make money but to be able to ski 5 days a week.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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cmyers_uk, not bad, that's very similar to our model, but our staff still appreciate some recognition for good service, doesn't always happen unfortunately.
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We paid for him and girlfriend to go skidooing 75 euros and provided the beer and DVD's each night for him and his mates. Which I think was fair enough + 18 euros for carrying my bags to the coach. As far as the Company were concerned we will book through them for next year and recommend them to friends so the host did everything that they could have wanted. If its the Company you work for congratulations and thanks for an excellent holiday.
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cmyers_uk, So what company was it?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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cmyers_uk, I would say at a guess it was Silver Ski ?
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boredsurfin, Why? How about Ski Beat or Skiworld?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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boredsurfin, actually it wouldn't be Ski Beat cause Super U delivers their shopping. More time on the mountains for Ski Beat staff. YAY 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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FastCarver, Have Ski Beat gone down the corporate menu route, with a book to tell you how to cook it?
and an inspector from Corporate HQ to make sure the staff follow the instrutions in the book, no doubt! 
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boredsurfin, They have a Ski Beat recipie which is not so stict as an actual menu plan. It was implemented last year and is to help first timers by giving them tried and tested recipies and also to help keep the chalets on budget. The other major reason for it was the shopping delivery.
Super U in Bourg Pick and Deliver all the ski beat shopping to each chalet once a week. Each Chalet was given a food order form which was faxed to Super U by the Bki Beat management. In order for Super U to be able to provide this service they said that Ski Beat couldn't simply be able to order everthing from the shop floor (as the picking was done in a seperate cash and carry type place out the back in the warehouse). So Ski Beat worked to put a comprehensive shopping order form together which would include most things a chalet host would need and then based their menus around it.
Certainly from my experience last season probably 50% of people actually did their own recipies and the shopping didn't seem to restrict them in any way. As for Quality Control, didn't really happen but every week the resort mangers eat in a different chalet each night to socialise with the guests. Weather you want to see this as QC is up to you 
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FAQ
The UK's got a lot going for it, more than some of the inhabitants seem to realise sometimes, but other countries do have health and education sytems.