 Poster: A snowHead
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Having been embarrassed by my inadequacies when confronted by skiing off piste with my mates on a previous occasion I was on the lookout for a course which would allow me to improve my skills. By chance I received a Newsletter from the Marmalade Ski School based in the 3V’s, with whom my family had enjoyed one to one tuition in the past, advertising a residential “Introduction to Off Piste” course. Just the ticket I thought, so I signed up.
Accommodation
Transfers were included with guests coming in from Grenoble and Geneva, though I drove. The accommodation was in a Ski Hame catered chalet in Les Allues, run by Andy and Lynn; Les Allues is the antithesis of Meribel, and the chalet has the benefit of being 25 metres from the Tsaretta, a very congenial bar and eatery. Since I was travelling on my own I was offered a single occupancy upgrade for a reasonable fee. Food was of a good quality, wine was free, with cakes waiting after skiing in front of a log fire. Andy and Lynn are more mature than your typical chalet hosts, and bent over backwards to accommodate all of our requests. Ski Hame provided a bus to and from the Chaudanne at the beginning and at the end of the day, although we found more flexibility with the regular Meribus after apres ski in Meribel.
The Group
I approached this with some trepidation … sharing a week with a group of nine individuals who I had never met before was slightly daunting to a 58 year old however my fears were misplaced, and whilst the group was eclectic, with the average age probably around 50, everyone had common goals and all were up for making the most of the week, both on and off the slopes.
The Course
We were introduced our “teachers” Nick Fletcher and Filippo Casaccia on the first night, and made arrangements to pick up our Avy gear at the Chaudanne on the way up to the Saulire on Sunday morning. Nick and Fillipo were able to get a grasp of the diverse skills of the group, as we foundered in the POW on the first day, before being split into groups of four and five. In my case I skied in Fillipo’s group. From then on the pattern was to get a full morning skiing before meeting the whole group for lunch, followed by more skiing and generally winding up after 16.30 ready for analysis of the day’s events over some beers. Throughout the week we explored different terrains, and completed drills both on and off the piste to improve our skills; as the week progressed the amount of time and the distance from the piste increased as we gained confidence. It was pointed out that when in search of powder you will encounter varied terains. I could not fault Nick and Filippo’s commitment to trying to deliver the best experience possible, exemplified by the fact that, the course was advertised as a 5 day course with a day off, yet Nick guided us around on the rest day in pretty abysmal conditions.
Conclusions
This was the first time Marmalade had offered this course, and there probably were lessons to be learned, most of which were resolved by setting up a Whatsapp group at the end of the first day which improved communications. If you are looking for something that is very structured that has you skiing like Glen Plake by the end of the week this course is not for you, but if you are looking for a week with high quality and low ratio teaching aimed at providing you with a range of skills to equip you away from the piste, in a holiday environment in one of the most extensive ski areas in Europe then I can thoroughly recommend this course. I should add that if Marmalade Ski School were to suggest a more advanced course in a similar format, I will jump at the chance.
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