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SKI HAME BLOG
All the Ski Hame staff arrived in La Tania and Meribel this week as we prepare for the start of the season. Anne and I turned up late last week to very mild weather, there was snow on the upper slopes but lower down there was no sign of the snow from a few weeks earlier. Before I had a chance to get my bike unpacked it had snowed Sunday night, both Meribel and La Tania were plunged back into winter. Now it looks great with snow lying in the trees, and we had more snow again last night.
Everyone is now busy getting the chalets ready for the first guests arriving next Friday. This is quite a big job as most of them have sat empty for the summer months, but the staff are making quick progress, the opportunity to ski and board when we are finished is a great motivator.
The Ski Lodge has been operating already even though the official opening is not until this weekend with Bring your Sisters playing. The Telemark bar and restaurant will also be opening soon, there had been concerns it may not operate for the winter as the previous company stopped trading at the end of last season. Fortunately the business was recently taken over and the new owners plan to be up and running soon.
Date4/12/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category
Early signs look promising with snowfalls to resort level in Meribel and La Tania last week. Looking at the Tougnette lift webcam ( www.merinet.com/webcam/meribel/34 ) this morning it appeared very wintry with good snow lying. It is probably too early to expect conditions down low to remain but the ground will be cooling which has to be benefcial.
This is a relatively busy time of year for us with preparations for the chalets and chalet staff in full swing. Meribel lifts will be open in a month with La Tania not far behind. Our first guests will be arriving on the 12 December, not long to go now.
Date9/11/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category
Just 2 months before the ski season starts in Meribel and Courchevel with La Tania opening up a week later, and it looks as though there is snow on the way later in the week. We are now busy with preparations for the chalets and the new season. We are having to adapt to a change and increase in our chalet line up for the season, but everything is going well at the moment. Even the Xmas cakes have been finished though I will be honest, it was Annes mum who baked them. Looking forward to getting back out to France, we should be there around the middle of next month
Date6/10/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
We have returned to the UK after a great summer season in the Alps. The weather has been very good this summer with temperatures consistently in the high 20\'s and into low 30\'s which made for some great alpine cycling. We will be looking forward to next summer, and in particular next years Tour de France. Before that of course, we are getting ready for the 2009 2010 ski and snowboard season which will begin in just over 3 months. Bookings are going quite well for the time of the year and we expect this to continue with a massive reduction in ski chalet beds available in the Alps for next winter
Date26/8/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
Tour start, summer starts and the Marmotte Big weekend. Start of the Summer season in the Alps resorts. Last night we were in the Ski Lodge in La Tania for the opening night, quiet but pleasant. Today many of the lifts will be open for general mountain access and mountain bikes. This morning we went through to view the Marmotte, a gruelling distance cycle road race that passes over 4 cols before the climb up Alp d'Huez. Will,our driver guide triathlete staff member from the winter was taking part and looked quite fresh on the Telegraph, just past the half way stage. And of course this afternoon is the start of the 2009 Tour de France in Monaco
Date4/7/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Other
I have great news in that we have Chalet Bouquetins back again for next winter. It has been 4 seasons since we last ran this chalet but we are pleased to have it back for next ski season. Bouquetins was always a popular chalet, and is in a great position, close to the piste, village and Chalet Papillon. We should have details on the chalet up on the website later this week.
We have still not confirmed the Meribel chalets yet, that will now have to wait until the beginning of June before we can make the trip out to France.
Date19/5/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
The end of the season was a bit of a hectic finish closing up 3 chalets and 3 apartments as well seeing the last of the staff off and handing back 2 leased minibus, we wondered whether we were going to get it all done in time. But we did .... just, Anne and I handed the vehicles back just before getting our lift to the airport. We have been back in Scotland for nearly 2 weeks now, finishing off the end of season paperwork and looking forward to next winter. For the moment we have only agreed to 1 of the chalets from last season, that being Chalet Papillon in La Tania. We will be heading back out to France to renegotiate or change chalets for the 2009/2010 ski season, watch this space for updates.
Date8/5/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
It is hard to believe we have reached the end of the ski season already. It always passes by quickly but this year really feels as though it has gone even faster, it has certainly been busy from start to finish. We are now closing the chalets down which is quite a big job. A few have the staff have already departed with Alison and Steve from the Raffort chalet starting their summer jobs with PGL and David from chalet La Combe on his way back to London and the web design agency. The rest of us will leave here at the end of the week. The end of the season has been hectic with chalets full right up to the finish, the last guests left on the weekend. The snow was excellent to the end, spring was late in arriving but there was some amazing spring snow in the last 2 weeks. We hope to get a chance to put the skis on again before we leave with limited lifts still running out of Meribel.
Date21/4/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
The Meribel Altitude festival is taking place this week. On Sunday night Anne and I went to see Ardal O\'Hanlon, probably better known as Father Dougal Macguire from the popular TV series Father Ted. Craig Campbell and Andre Vincent also performed, a great night, very funny. On Tuesday night we went with the Ski Hame staff to see KT Tunstall performing live in the Meribel ice rink, thankfully there was no ice. She was supported by Albenaza and Mamas Gun who put on a great show as did Meribel regulars Mikey Gray, Honey Fungus and Bring Your Sisters. Despite a late finish it was a great night and well worth the entry plus as an added bonus all the money goes to the WWF. The staff went to see The Comedy Store Players last night, we are still waiting for a report back. The skiing conditions are still great at the moment, even though April has started the temperatures have remained relatively cold which has been fantastic for the snow. Hard to believe we will be ending our season in a little over 2 weeks.
Date2/4/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Meribel
The cold weather returned last week with winds from the Northeast causing the temperature to drop again. Conditions had started to become quite spring like then in the second half of the week the temperature dropped again and the pistes were staying hard in some places for the whole day. Danielle from the Scottish junior Ski team was staying in the Raffort chalet and assured us the conditions were perfect, it was not hard snow, it was real snow. 2 of the Meribel staff were/are on the injured list. Steve has dislocated his shoulder - again. It seems to go in and out like rubber and his recovery appears to be rapid. And Laura, again on the list, this time with a sprained wrist. Thankfully we have managed to get through it and expect them both to be back to normal duties soon. On friday Anne and I were standing in the lift line of the Biollay chair when a young, tall Englishman pushed his way through knocking past the front of my skis. He did apologise, however I was tempted to offer some sarcastic advice, thankfully I held my tongue, when he turned around we realised it was Prince William. An altercation with the future king of England is probably best avoided.
Date23/3/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
This really is turning out to be an excellent season for snowfall, after a couple of days of snow last week we woke up to another snowy day this morning. I managed to make the first lift this morning for the first time this season and enjoyed some fantastic runs in the fresh powder. The cloud was low which made visibility difficult on open slopes however the La Tania trees were incredible. Our busy winter continues with all our chalets in both Meribel and La Tania full again this week, this will be our best season so far in terms of the numbers of guests and chalet holidays sold. The next couple of weeks look as though they may be a bit quieter but then it gets busy again for the end of the month and the Easter weeks. The recent snow should ensure good conditions right up to the end of the season.
Date9/3/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Snow, weather
Winter returned yesterday after the recent spring weather, with cold northerly winds bringing snow to the valley floor. We had about 15cm of new snow in Meribel and La Tania with a bit more expected today. It is nice to see everything white again with the snow sitting in the trees once more. This will set us up nicely for the remainder of the spring.
Date6/3/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Snow, weather
Last week David from chalet La Combe in Meribel Morel had an unusual little tale for us. Just before coming out here to start the ski season - sorry, snowboard season - in Meribel, he discovered a colleague of his in London was coming to La Tania on a ski (or was it snowboard?) holiday. So last week they met up as arranged in the \'Ski Lodge\' in La Tania for lunch. After some discussion David worked out that his ex-colleague was in fact staying with Ashleigh and Jerome in Chalet Papillon. As a small 3 chalet operator we all thought the coincidence was interesting, slightly strange but pretty cool.
Date3/3/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
Yesterday Anne and I managed to ski across to the 4th Valley for the first time this season. It is ridiculous that it has taken this long to get there but we really have had a busy season so far. The staff managed to get a day skiing in La Plagne yesterday. They were able to access the area from Champagny which is about a half hour from La Tania/Meribel. They had a good day but felt it was very busy in the French school holidays. The snow is still in good condition here but the lower slopes are starting to pack down again with the clear days. We have really noticed a change in the seasons recently after an extended cold spell through the winter. With the good snow base over the whole mountain we are now looking forward to an excellent spring, hoping it may be similar to last year when we were able to ski back to Raffort on the last day of the season.
Date26/2/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category SkiArea
The half term holidays have had the perfect start with blue skies and amazing snow while the numbers of skiers and snowboarders are far less than we expected. With most UK schools off this week as well as being the Paris area school holidays we had expected \'the perfect storm\', so far it does not appear to have materialized and we have all enjoyed a good skiing this week. We had some very cold evenings over the weekend which has helped snow quality, temperatures getting down to around minus 15 in Le Raffort on Saturday morning. We had been looking forward to the Moon Crew Invitational freestyle ski and board competition this week however it has been cancelled as a nearby resort is holding a similar event around the same dates. A pity as it was supposed to attract some top professional names in French freestyle skiing. I gather they have started planning next years MCI. There will be a less formal slopestyle event being held next week Tue, 24Feb. This will take place in the Meribel Moon Park.
Date17/2/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Snow, weather
High winds this week in Les Trois Vallees have hindered access for skiing in the linked area. Laura has twice tried to take guests over to the 4th valley, Orelle, however this has not been possible due to the vigorous conditions. As a result, most of us have been confined to the Meribel Valley. It is surprising how many runs you discover when you have to stay in the heart of The Three Valleys. There were some fantastic runs in Meribel Mottaret yesterday, which had been untouched all morning. Creating first tracks down an empty piste is a fantastic feeling. La Tania offers skiing amongst the trees, which is perfect for those windy conditions. The blue Folyeres run is an enjoyable piste for everyone, often very quiet and peaceful. As you approach the bottom of this run, Chalet Papillon can be seen, which offers spectacular views across La Tania. Alternatively, Blanche and Moretta also offer shelter in the La Tania trees, although are slightly more challenging red runs. Snow is forecast for the next 6 days though, which is eagerly anticipated after winds stripping the snow on higher ground. Hopefully by the beginning of next week we will be fortunate enough to be skiing in powder. With this snowfall expected, February Half Term week should be a real treat this year with pristine conditions largely expected.
Date6/2/2009 | Author laura | Category Snow, weather
Another busy week ahead for Ski Hame with all the chalets fully booked but once again the slopes are quiet. Today was quite windy but this did not appear to affect the lifts in Meribel, Courchevel and La Tania. This week Jerome and Ashley are hosting the \'Last of the Summer Wine\' brigade in Chalet Papillon, half of the group are either on free or reduced price senior passes. I think a few of them are pleased to return to La Tania, it is closer to the Mutzig in Courchevel 1650.
Date2/2/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
The chalets are back to full capacity this week after a hectic weekend. Saturday saw long delays at Geneva after a snow storm had closed the airport in the morning. The last guests arrived in Chalet La Combe after 3am Sunday morning, that is enough to test anyones patience. Thankfully Sunday was a fantastic day of blue skies and new snow making up for the inconvenience. Despite poor visibility today everyone appears to be enjoying the great skiing/boarding conditions. There is now a decent snow base and the piste is excellent right down to Meribel and La Tania. The off piste has improved significantly over the past week however the avalanche risk remains high. We now have a full complement of staff with Laura both back at work and skiing, I am sure both David and Will are glad to see her return. Alison and Steve had a tough weekend after the Raffort chalet dishwasher packed in. This is an essential piece of kit in any chalet and thankfully the problem was sorted before we faced a staff mutiny.
Date27/1/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Ski chalet news
The guests in Chalet La Combe have been raving about the fantastic skiing and snowboarding this week in Meribel. With the lovely sunshine today Will has taken a group over to the 4th Valley, Orelle. Yesterday Laura experienced the delights of snowshoeing. It was hard work but the apline views of Meribel from the hidden trails were well worth the effort.
Date22/1/2009 | Author laura | Category Snow, weather
We have all been enjoying the cold clear days recently but it is even better to see the snow again. It began to fall yesterday afternoon and has continued this morning. The trees are white again and look fantastic, the skiing should be excellent this morning. It is forecast to carry on through the week.
We are already in our 6th week of guests which is hard to believe. We are busy yet again with just a few empty beds in chalet Papillon.
The staff have all settled in now and we are hoping Laura will be fit enough to return this week, her neck is still sore but continues to improve.
Jerome has had family visit from Australia, they are having a great time, some skiing for the first time. I think Jerome will be looking forward to recovering on his day off.
Date19/1/2009 | Author David Ski Hame | Category Snow, weather
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