#Megeve powder

Brilliant skiing today.  New #powder, groomed pistes and sunshine.    We skied the field down to the intermediate lift at the Princess, then the Mon Rosset field twice.  After that we did the Communailles field which was almost perfect. We decided to ski all the way home, the first time this season.  We go through the woods from the top of the Etudiant lift and eventually ski off piste down to the road which leads  to Cote 2000.  We cross that and ski home under the Chamois lift.  We can almost ski to the door of our apartment. We only had to take our skis off to walk up hill for about 80 steps.   Normally we have to take them off to walk along and across the road so that was a bonus.   Because it is high season the pistes are busy and the restaurants full.   For those of you who know #Megeve this is unusual.   We expect to walk straight on to a lift without queueing, so to have to wait 10 minutes to get on a lift is anathema.   Thank goodness Megeve is only busy for a few weeks of the year;  New Year and the Paris fortnight in February.   Outside of these times we have the pistes to ourselves, virtually.  Come and see for yourselves!          

Team Stanford Skiing in #Megeve

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This is most of  us on Saturday at the top of Mont D'Arbois.  Tim, Grace and Hannah from the Sylvana and Sam and Emma from the Clochettes are missing.   From the left is Chris, Sarah B, Megan, Jonny, John, me, Dave, Santa (no jokes) Tim, Emma and Sarah P.  Tracey is lying on the ground ( she has had a tiring week.)  You will notice we have 2 Emmas, 2 Tims, and 2 Sarahs (both in the RP).  No confusion there then.  We had a really good ski around and then lunch in the Espace Mont Joux.   In the afternoon the staff skied but I started updating my mountain restaurant guide.  It is surprising how long it takes to go round everywhere and check the prices and what has changed.  It should be ready by middle of January.   I have finished the town restaurant guide for #Megeve.   Snow is forecast for Christmas Day.  Then the whole family is out for New Year.
Happy Christmas to you all!

#Megeve welcomes the #snow

Our first guests arrived today in Megeve and so did the snow. 

There is more forecast for tonight and tomorrow and then should be fine at the weekend.  Today John and I had a lesson with Will from BASS together with another couple.  He gave us some useful  tips.   He has a very nifty app on his IPad which allows him to download his film and then point out to you what you should be improving.

Jonny and Tracey have nearly finished the training with the new teams and everything looks great.  There is talk of  running  a competition for the best Christmas tree at the Chalets Sylvana, Rond Point and Clochettes so come and add your views.  Emma and David (the managers at the Sylvana and Rond Point) are looking forward to meeting you and introducing their teams to you.  Sam and Emma at the Clochettes already have guests so they are in the swing of things.  We are full over Christmas and New Year but there are some rooms available in January for short ski  breaks so come and see us!

#Megeve Inauguration of the new equipment

John, Elizabeth and I were invited to the inauguration of the new snow machines on the Mandarins piste on Mont d'Arbois, followed by the  opening  of the new Rocharbois lift.   Great news as the extra snow they can make will keep the link back to Megeve open right to the end of the season. There were only 3 speeches so not too bad, and we each got a very pretty bobble hat.   The new Rocharbois lift is very smart, the same size as the old one but a gleaming red livery.  After that we all moved over to Rochebrune.  It was the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Rochebrune cable car.   This was the first cable car in France just for skiers.   There are some amusing photos of the first cable car:  an open tray rather like the lifts they have to take equipment etc up to the top.  There were drinks and nibbles and a brass band wearing Savoyard clothing.   A few more speeches (the poor mayor had 3 speeches at different locations)  and then down to the Dahu and a very good buffet lunch.   Later, there were a lot of parapenters,  a display of skiers jumping and landing on a large airbag, a torch light descent and then fireworks.  It was a hugely entertaining day and Megeve celebrated in style.

Ski Cross World Cup in Megeve

The weekend of 9th to 11th January, Megeve is host to the World Cup Ski Cross races.  

If you have never seen it, it is a must.   Four racers start abreast, and they have a number of jumps to conquer whilst going flat out, trying to get the best line and avoid falling.  It is very exciting and very fast.  The best thing to do is stand by the fence as close to the starting gates as possible.  Then you can move slowly down the slope beside the jumps and ultimately see the race at the finishing line. The first day is a training day, the second training and qualification and the quarter final, semi-final and final races are all on the last day.  There are teams from all over the world, both men and women. The course is as at Cote 2000 and usually starts just below the top of the first chair.   This is a pic taken in Les Contamines in 2010.

If you fancy a go yourself, there is a tamer course at Rochebrune with jumps and rails to contend with.  That's plenty for me although rather disappointing when you see the six year olds careering over it with no fear and in far better style than myself.  Oh well, I'll keep practicing!

We still have a little bit of space left for a short ski break in our catered chalet/hotels Sylvana and Rond Point from Wednesday 8th or Thursday 9th Jan to Sunday 11th Jan.  Prices start from just £340pp excluding flights and transfers.  So, if you want to see some fast and furious action book now!

First arrivals off to Megeve

We waved goodbye to a laden van and Jonny, Tracey, Megan, Hannah and Chris yesterday, our first staff off to Megeve this season.

They drove through the night, picked up the new minibuses from Bourg en Bresse and arrived in Megeve this morning.  Here is the team photo - taken before they left!   Jonny is the new resort manager, Tracey admin and deputy resort manager, Megan is resort rep, Hannah chalet host at the Sylvana with Chris, driver, handyman, barman snow clearer etc.   everyone else, plus the most important people, us, arrive next week.   We failed to get everything in the minibus but the two hotel managers are driving out next week and we will force the remaining items, somehow, into the car.   Whether there will be room for a driver is questionable!   We will report.   Not possible to get the minibus up the drive to the Sylvana when they arrived, so the first job for Chris is to get petrol for the snow blower so he can clear the drive and get the minibuses parked.  What an introduction to the season!  

We've just had a cancellation for a triple room for Christmas.  So if anyone fancies escaping from grey UK for snow covered Megeve give us a call, 01603 477471, or an e-mail asap.