18 year old in need of help this winter!

A snowHead

@VOLKLSTRIKE4, Howdy. I don't know if this is of any help, but I saw a Facebok status update from La Cascade in Flaine this morning saying they were recruiting for the coming season.

Here's a link to the relevant page on their website:

http://www.lacascade-flaine.fr/jobs2016_en.html

And to their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/la.cascade.flaine

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Why don't you get a job with a British TO in one of their hotels? There are loads, Total/Esprit, Inghams, Mark Warner - AFAIK they all 'ship out' their staff. Not just cooks but housekeepers, cooks, hotel managers, childcare, chalet assistants, handymen / drivers etc.

You generally get food, accommodation, season lift pass, equipment hire plus a small pay packet. You wouldn't need to touch your £3.5k.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@VOLKLSTRIKE4, you could do a lot worse than admin's suggestion, getting in a good variety of some of Europe' best resorts and having an aweome time whilst you're there, although you would need a detailed knowledge of Olaf Henning's back catalogue if you wanted the post of Van-DJ.... wink

However, if you wanted to get pretty much a whole season in without spending all your ski-time in work, I'm sure that's possible too. Pick a resort and stay till the money or the snow runs out. Places like Morzine and Chamonix could be a winner and it should be easy to pick up some bar or other work when you're there. Personally, I'd consider Bourg Saint Maurice: accommodation should be cheap and it's a real town with a little bit going on (unlike Brides-les-Bains or other valley "resorts") but connected to Les Arcs by Gondola and in easy reach of 3V/Tignes/Val Despair/St Foy/La Ros (for La Thuile) etc. etc..... I only know it from the summer, but has a bit of an ex-pat community and I would think there's a reasonable chance of finding a little work.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Isn't this the time of the year when Nixmap arrives with offers of a season of free skiing in Switzerland, luxury chalets and guarantees of absolutely not becoming aggregate in his olympic sized patio?

After all it is free

I think this thread has illustrated its all down to the individual and their needs.

My knees are occasionally problematic and I have learned that sometimes discretion is the best part of valour. I normally find around day 4 of my first holiday of the year, the combination of being rusty and my technique not being fully back, not stretching properly because who has time for that with a 4 year old and having to pick up said 4 year old and help her ski has left my knees feeling a tad unhappy, so I often have a day of rest then, let them recover a bit and ensure the remainder of my holiday is (hopefully) injury free.

I will say though you can put me firmly in the if it bucketing down with snow I will be out in it camp. I like a sunny bluebird after a massive dump as much as the next person. But equally I love the quietness and the isolation of skiing when its snowing hard (or raining hard even) I grant you and I quote my wife here I am a weirdo. But if your in warm and waterproof kit I find its the time when I feel like you get the real mountains and for me its a very cathartic experience

Also you generally have the slopes to yourself Smile

@VOLKLSTRIKE4, Have you checked the latania.co.uk jobs board:

http://www.latania.co.uk/forum/topic/jobs/

For your language skills get Duolingo on your phone and practice daily

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

He is only going for 4 weeks!!! No one with any sense would employ someone just for 4 weeks when there's queues of people lining up for the whole season

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

@VOLKLSTRIKE4, Do this!! Its an opportunity of a lifetime. Besides which, Admin must be retiring soon! Toofy Grin

I too like to think it's a great opportunity but it clearly wouldn't suit everyone.
It's fair to say this is not "Doing a season" in the traditional sense. For example, it's unlikely you will get as pissed as often, however you would almost certainly spend more time skiing than most seasonaires do snowHead

When I was about 22-23, I did a season in Garmisch - I skied more than most of the people I knew there. At the end of the season I counted up my passes - most were half days - I'd skied on 31 different days, a total of 18 full days' skiing Shocked

I spent 10 weeks in the mountains last Winter and skied in 4 different countries. At an estimate, allowing for travel days

Occasionally, moving between resorts gets in the way of skiing Evil or Very Mad

, office days

(It's amazing how much work U can do on chairlifts these days)

and the occasional sick-day

It wasn't self-inflicted, it was man-flu, OK?

, I reckon I skied at least 8 1/2 full weeks out of those snowHead

You know it makes sense.

@Bigtipper, do not agree with most of what you have said either. Last season and most seasons for the past 10 years I average over 100 days off piste and although I have had a few mishaps mostly due to my lack of skill. I still love it and the bad weather days when the snow is falling and there are not so many people about are just as great as a blue sky day.

At 19 and based on the fact that he says he has all his own gear he would be best off getting a season pass. In most resorts that is equal to about three weeks skiing to break even.

@VOLKLSTRIKE4, if you can raise another grand, you should be able to manage a whole season as long as you do not go out drinking heavy most nights.

I guess your main reason for 3V is you have mates there. It is a good area just like many others mentioned. If you fancy an alternative, but still near enough to visit your friends. Come to Bourg connected to les Arcs. I might know someone that is looking to share an apartment which could give you three months without needing to work if you hurry and buy the discounted season ski pass. Equal to three weeks normal ski pass. Hope that helps. Have a good season whatever you do.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@snowcrazy, I am sure that at 19 you are able to use your own mind to judge whether advice is good or bad. Sometimes good advice is bad advice, and sometimes bad advice is good advice. It really depends on averages, and variation on weather. If you take a job you will be working when the skiing is taking place. If you do not work, you can ski whenever the weather is good. At the cheap accommodation periods, the weather is notoriously variable. It can be very good, but also very bad. I would rather pay more if it was very good, than a lot for poo-poo weather. However, I am not your average skier.

A snowHead

@Bigtipper, clearly not, and going by your handle, I suspect you "pay more" more and more often than you should wink

A snowHead

Help!!

18 year old in need of help this winter!

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