An adventure in new boots
With only half a day of lessons I had the morning free to see a bootfitter for new ski boots. I walked into a small shop full of skiboots, pictures and notes with common problems and equipment. The man looked at my feet and immediately saw ‘the problems areas’. He…
Finally hitting the slopes again!
My first days in Val Thorens After a successful off piste course two years ago, I decided to book another off piste course with UCPA for my first ski trip since COVID started. On the first morning we got our backpack with avalanche equipment and checked everything was working. Taking…
Pre-departure madness
Months ago I booked a ski trip because this year nothing would stop me. Normally I arrange my trip and transfers through the same company, but this year I found out they didn’t offer transfers. That was the first red flag. Since the trip had already been paid for, I…
One week before crazy
I am sooooo lucky! In the first week of March I made it over to Les Arcs in France for a second ski week this winter. Corona was coming up, but at this time we had no idea what it would turn into. I was outside doing one of my…
Keeping up
The last 2 – 3 months have been a rush. I’ve been flying all over Europe, rushing from one place to the next, barely sleeping in my own bed. At the end of October I was in Romania for Halloween, straight through to Greece for work. Then after one night…
A winter break in France
Five winters I’ve worked for ski schools in different parts of the world, but I’d never been on a proper ski holiday. Spending a winter in the snow is amazing, but in reality there is not as much time for skiing as you might expect. You’ll often work 6 days…
A day trip to Rouen
Travel is work and work is travel. As a tour leader I get to see a lot of places. But I also get to see the same places a lot. So when I had two days off in Paris, I went to Rouen. I literally looked on the map to see…
Simple, yet effective
When you are on a holiday, you don’t have all the comforts of home. Often you are forced to improvise and simplify. Especially when you are hiking or camping, you’ll learn some handy tricks to deal with some unpleasant side issues. Your sweatshirt soon becomes your pillow, pegs are used…
Testing stamina at Nôtre Dame de Paris
Ever since seeing the hunchback of Nôtre Dame, visiting this famous church became something I wanted to do. I didn’t expect to see the hunchback, but I was curious to see what he must have seen, like in the movie. The first sight of it convinced me even more. I had…