A Crazy Week

We have been crazy busy this week! We started off with two Australians on honeymoon last Tuesday who were then joined by a lovely group of 5 on Wednesday, followed by a swap of Australians for two ladies on Friday, the departure of the lovely group on Sunday and the arrival of a family later that night as well as two more ladies, the first two ladies departed on Tuesday afternoon and the rest left today! We are now waiting for the arrival of 7 men tonight, one more tomorrow morning and one on Friday night. Confused?! Welcome to my new permanent state!!

We managed to run out of linen today for the first time and I've had to do some in-house washing as well as a bit of begging and borrowing from the hotel! Added in to all of this is Phil's man flu which just generally slows most processes down as not only does it seem to make you deaf, it slows reaction times and ability to process any questions or commands!

As you can see from the above picture it is definitely colder this week as Alex (our chalet owner) pointed out when he came to clear snow off the roof dressed in his ski gear and harness having just casually skiied the Vallee Blanche (Mont Blanc) in minus 20C. He was very grateful for some of the apple and caramel cake that the guests didn't manage and after a quick chat and some kisses on the cheeks, he was off to do some more dangerous adventures?!

Phil and I have managed to enjoy some very good skiing this week, guiding several different groups at various times and enjoying mountain lunches with some lovely people. We did get a couple of hours to ourselves on Monday afternoon (after I'd been shopping with Charlie) and Phil decided to snowboard as our brother-in-law has booked to visit us with the children in March. He discovered that our quick way back to the chalet is not so quick on a board as you can't get over the flat section so easily. I waited for what seemed like an age and eventually he appeared oer the hill, grumpy and sweating! I think he wore himself out and then the man flu set in! So on Tuesday I took two very lovely ladies out for the day by myself. By all accounts, one lady is very lucky to be alive due to fighting various health battles but has not been deterred from skiing and was soon back into cruising the blues.

I only had one problem this week and that was that this morning I appeared to have the wrong skis in the van. They weren't even any of our guests skis, so somewhere along the way I've picked up someone elses skis and loaded them in without noticing! I took a trip to Fred-the-skis shop this morning and spoke very nicely to the young man there and he found my skis in the rack! Very strange occurrence I tell you! And a whole chocolate cake is going their way for being so nice about it!

The ladies and I skiied down some lovely blue runs to Saint Nicolas de Veroce, the end of the pistes. It is lovely whilst there's noone around and having the pistes to ourselves is a real treat. Sadly February arrives in a few days and with it will come a lot of French people and eventually the British. Hopefully we'll be so busy the time will fly by and we'll be into quiet March before we know it!

On Friday, Adam cooked us some delicious ribs for dinner and it was really good to meet up with the others. charlie was telling me that last year Adam had done the ribs but not realised the strength of Cayenne Pepper! Luckily for us he was more conservative with the spice this year and the ribs were just perfect!

We enjoyed watching some horse snow polo this week as well. I say we watched it, we stood for 20 seconds in the freezing cold and watched the horses run around after a red ball before we moved into the stables to warm up! I'll post some pictures next week. This week I'm practising my downhill skiing for the Ski Alpin competition at the weekend. Watch out for me - I'll be the one all in pink with a white helmet flying down with no control whatsoever!!

Beautiful Megeve

Today is one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen. Yesterday the fog was down low, the skiing difficult as visibility was down to 2 metres in places, the snow was occasionally falling and it was cold. We welcomed 2 guests and enjoyed a dinner of 'clean out the freezer' which turned into scallops on pea puree, honey and balsamic glazed duck breasts with mixed vegetables and strawberry and mango Eton Mess!

This morning I enjoyed a sunrise with the mountains turning from black to deepest blue and slowly gaining definition against a dawn sky. The sun then starts its path down the mountain, highlighting just the tips first before steadily making its way down the sides to wake the village. The sky is now bright blue with the odd wispy cloud and a few vapour trails from the local little planes. We've also seen the early morning balloons making their way through the valley and what views they must be seeing!

Phil had to take the car to the airport this morning to help with a mammoth transfer. I am stuck in waiting for 5 guests to arrive but have been outside to defrost the van and take the guests we already have to the slopes. They are a lovely older couple from Australia and one has never skiied before! I've had to lend them our ski trousers and gloves as they had no stuff and then take them to the ski shop, book a lesson, get lift passes, equip them with maps... I've also cleaned the chalet, made dessert, done afternoon tea and now I'm watching the Australian Open and Andy Murray trying to make his way against Federer.

We have a rather complicated few days with people arriving and leaving at various times and then on Wednesday we get 8 men with a 9th arriving on Friday! I think after that we're back to corporate but I'm not sure - they like to keep us on our toes!!

This week we've got the horses in town for some polo matches which I can't wait to see. Last week was the dog sled racing but I was rather disappointed to find that in actual fact most of the dogs looked like random strays and there were very few husky dogs around. We also didn't get to see any proper racing as they did a 'Megeve challenge' in the evening before moving on over night.

Our guests last week had a lot of fun on the fabulous snow and one pair even decided to try and ski back to the chalet on their first day out! They were in the right area from what we could make out on the telephone, but walked the wrong way (away from the chalet) before coming back, finding the horse field and eventually the chalet! not happy that he'd provided his wife with a suitable story of adventure for the week, the next day, our gentleman in question, took his wife off-piste through some trees, one of which she became rather entangled with by all accounts! So on sunday we skiied with the pair of them and had a fabulous time on piste whizzing around Jailet.

We're having a staff ski afternoon on Friday followed by Adam cooking some ribs I think was mentioned. I'm looking forward to it and we should have some amazing snow and new powder as the forecast says it's 'dumping' on Thursday night! 

A Great Week for Skiing!

So the snow has arrived in Megeve and we've been very spoilt with the slopes to ourselves for three days. Unfortunately today the excellent weather forecast and fabulous snow conditions meant that the Genevoise arrived in their dozens making the pistes a little busier and also inducing a little piste-rage at moments! There's nothing like skiing carefully down a green path, watching out for kids and beginners, and then nearly being run off the edge by a crazy nut shooting straight down taking no prisoners! I won't tell you the words that involuntarily flew from my mouth! It was worth it for the view though.

Earlier in the week Phil did some guiding whist I took Charlie shopping and then on Tuesday we both did some guiding. We were guiding our 4 guests plus two more from the hotel and somewhere along the way I had 4 with me and had lost Phil and the other 2 in the off piste somewhere! We waited for ages, decided to move on and if all else failed we'd meet up at coffee. We had some fabulous skiing and stopped for coffee at Chalet Bachais in Jaillet. Two of ours decided not to stop and then we lost them! 

We've also managed a little ski with Charlie the chef, Natasha and Toria and I have to say that I wish when I learnt to ski I'd been as good as Natasha is after only a month of trying out this crazy sport!

We enjoyed a ski today from Rochebrune to Cote 2000. We haven't been able to ski this bit until now because it's been icy and hard packed snow. We had a fabulous time playing on some long runs under the Petite Fontaine lift before heading up the steepest drag lift ever - 50% to be exact! But I still managed to take a picture of it! 

We had a lovely time until we met the crazy French and Swiss teenagers and young adults bombing it down to the air bag and ski park! I've had fun trying out some new skis although I think they'll be even better when there's new snow. Still, it gives Fred a chance to wax my other ones and sharpen the edges (when they're not eating all the cake we take them)!

We've got another busy week coming up with shopping, guiding, and a family of 5 arriving on Wednesday. But I'm sure there'll be plenty of skiing fitted in as there's also the promise of more snow on it's way...

How to Scare a Frenchman!

Yesterday afternoon the snow started to fall and I think it probably kept going most of the night. It was certainly enough for the lady next door to be snow-blowing our drive before 8.30 this morning. I don't mind the noise because it can only mean one thing: fresh snow! It also encourages Phil out of bed and into action!

Sadly it was still snowing and the cloud was right down in the valley so we had breakfast and made the beds upstairs for the guests arriving tomorrow. We then skiied to the bus stop, missed a bus by two seconds - the driver refused to stop even though we waved at him like crazy yetis - and we had to wait 20 minutes for the next one. We filled the time with a quick game of snowballs and were soon on our way to Mont d'Arbois.

We decided to stay low whilst the cloud was down and stumbled our way around the pistes down to the Mont Joux lift. We bumped into Martin, the ski guide from the hotel, who was enjoying the snow but probably not at the speeds that he's used to! There was also a mention of Mont Joly (a huge off-piste area for crazy nuts) tomorrow when he was free of guests! 

We dropped off the back of Mont Joux and headed for the Clementines blue run down towards Saint Nicolas de Veroce. After a rather steep drag lift we arrived at the top and carried on down. I'm not sure what piste we were on as it all seemed like off-piste to me as the snow was way above my knees!! We arrived down into Saint Nicolas via the Chattrix run and took the lift of the same name back up. The cloud had cleared out and we had some lovely views over the valley.

Phil had trumped me today by changing his skis to some fat all-terrain wide jobs ready to float through the powder. We had fun under the Croix du Christ lift (well he did, I sweated it out with the effort of keeping my sinking skis afloat!) and once back at the top decided it was time for lunch. As Phil missed out on Le Boitet the other day I decided we'd pop over there. I led the way and without too many diversions (I overshot one lift and had to get a drag lift back up) we were soon enjoying duck liver salad and local hams by the fire.

Phil hadn't had enough powder yet so we skiied down a bit further and went to play under the Monts Rosset and Princesse lifts. I did the obligatory recording of Mr Professional and after my fabulous attempt

it wasn't long before I was back into 'Kate style' and stacked it in a big heap right under the chairlift where everyone could see!!

The cloud was starting to come back down again so we headed back down the hills where I duly landed in a heap somewhere on a green run before we crossed the farmer's field back to the chalet. 

Now, onto the question of how to scare a Frenchman: Ski all day, jump in the hot tub (minus the swimsuit you left at home), wait for the French chalet owner to come and clear snow from his solar panel above the hot tub, et voila!! Thanks to Phil's hasty turning on of the most powerful bubbles, Alex's eyes and my dignity still remain intact - I think! However, the poor gentleman feeding his chickens at the bottom of the garden, who happens to be Alex's dad, may well have got more than a view of the mountains as he locked his chickens up for the night!!

Corporate Skiing and Alain Prost!

What a few days we have had! On Thursday evening 5 gentlemen arrived to Chalet Megeve, closely followed by another in a beast of a car - I'm led to believe it was a long-base Landy - for some skiing courtesy of PVM Oil Associates. A lasagne, salad and chocolate brownie went down well before a trip into Megeve to explore the bars. Phil and I were invited but declined the offer as we were 'preparing' ourselves for the next day when we would be guiding these lovely gents around the mountains.

On Friday morning one more gentleman arrived and after a late night and a large donation to Megeve Casino, bacon and eggs were a very welcome start to the day. We visited Fred in his ski shop for skis and I took one gentleman into town for Telemark skis before making our way up the Mont d'Arbois telecabine. Keen to get going, we skiied at least three runs before a coffee stop was requested so we made our way via a green run (no one fancied the black?!) to our new find - Little Freddy's - for hot chocolate, coke, rum, coffee, and more hot chocolate! 

Lunch was booked over at the Alpette restaurant so we made our way back down to the Rocharbois to get across the valley. We arrived at the Alpette and as I took my skis off, a gentleman came and took them for me, stood them up against the racks and attached my poles to them too! A whole new type of valet for me! The Alpette has a reputation for being the best mountain restaurant in Megeve and I would agree with that completely. The service was great, the food fabulous (especially the dessert buffet), the staff completely unflappable and the company wasn't too bad either! 

We managed to enjoy lunch outside in the sunshine with a great view of some very interesting cloud formations gathering round Mont Blanc (which I now know exactly which one it is) and Alain Prost, Formula 1 driver extraordinaire!

Once Phil had finished the dessert buffet and several bottles of wine had been consumed, it was time to head down the mountain before the lifts closed for the day. After hot tubs and showers and a couple of beers with afternoon tea (and maybe a sneaky nap), we found ourselves on our way to the Beef Lodge - a lovely hotel and restaurant in the heart of town. Two more guys joined us and after a couple of pink mojitos, we sat down for dinner at 1015!

Our starters were all really good, especially my prawns wrapped in a basil leaf and filo pastry, but the main courses were a bit of a let-down as quite a few were not cooked the way they were ordered and sauces were mixed up. The accompaniment of potato puree was tasty but a few vegetables would have been gratefully received! We beat a hasty retreat as the clock crept up to the early hours of Saturday morning and somehow ended up in the Casino hoping to claim back the 'donation' from the night before!

Needless to say, the Casino came off better than the players and we left with our tails between our legs! 

On Saturday it was left to me and Phil to decide a ski plan and lunch stop so we took our enthusiastic bunch over to Jaillet. It was a beautiful day and some hot air balloons were making the most of the gentle breeze to cruise the valley.

I used my best French and booked the 'P'tite Ravine' for lunch - a tiny chalet with simple, good food and great views of Mont Blanc. We skiied well on good snow, enjoyed delicious hot chocolates, did some mud sliding on the barer patches and water skiing on the more melted sections before coming to rest at our lunch stop. Somehow we got to 4pm again and, once back in the chalet, it was my turn to do dinner. Thankfully I had thought ahead and cooked the lamb shanks on Wednesday so all I had to do was make the lemon tart. 

This morning I had to guide our guests by myself as Phil was not feeling too good (there's a nasty virus going round). I think the guests were a little nervous as I had previously shown very little knowledge of knowing where I am at any given time on the mountain, including pointing out Mont Blanc from places where it's not even visible! However, I am now in possession of a very useful panoramic postcard view of the local mountains, and can tell you the names of 4 different mountains! We did not get lost and I did not loose or break anyone, I found our lunch stop (one I've previously never been to) and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves! 

Over the past two days Phil and I have been treated almost as if we were one of the group. We've been very lucky to experience some famous restaurants, meet some great people and have been made to feel like we weren't really working at all! Thank you PVM, and we're looking forward to welcoming the next groups in February.

Just now I'm off to bed before I go shopping tomorrow with Charlie, who very kindly invited me for breakfast at the hotel before we go. I'm currently undecided as to whether poached eggs and bacon will win over 20 minutes extra sleep...

The Best Changeover Day Ever!!

We had a very early start on Sunday with guests leaving at 7.30am. By 7.15 they were all up and ready to go having enjoyed bacon butties and porridge with lots of coffee! We had planned on getting the first lift up the pistes at 9am but it was snowing and very low cloud so we got on with the cleaning. We stripped all the beds, cleaned 3 out of 4 rooms and then the sun came out, so that was us changed and up the mountain by 10am! What a changeover day we had...

We went up the Mont d'Arbois telecabine and then over the back towards Bettex and St Gervais. These runs are fabulous and, if you don't stop, give your legs a really good work out. We then came back up and played around the Ideal lift and Mount Joux before taking the plunge and heading up to Mont Joly. This is one lift you would not want to do on a cold, wet day as it takes about 15 minutes to get to the top! 

The wait is worth it though as when you get to the top the view is amazing and Mont Blanc is so close you feel you could reach out and touch it! Feeling inspired, and knowing I need to improve my off-piste skiing before I can do the Vallee Blanch on Mont Blanc in March/April, we set off down a red run. With fresh snow on top it was a lovely ski, but then we hit a path. Watching people side-slip down an icy path is almost as terrifying as being on it yourself, so I took the plunge and went into the powder! It was all going very well until I decided to start turning and having made two successful turns, the third didn't go quite so well and I ended up with my head down the slope and my skis firmly planted in the soft stuff and sticking straight up in the air. Unfortunately for you, Phil had no camera so couldn't take a picture and I can assure you getting out of these amazing positions is much harder than getting into them!

Having got myself out of a big hole and navigated the rest of piste with a greater degree of success, we decided it was time for a hot chocolate (well I did!). We wanted to find a little restaurant in the trees on the blue piste 'Raviere'. We'd seen the signs from a chair lift but the chalet is well hidden from view. We had so much fun riding the bumps on the slope that we shot straight past and had to try again! Having explained to Phil where it was I managed to stop on our second attempt, however Phil shot past a second time and had to walk back! I slipped down a little track and shot off the snow onto the restaurant's balcony and almost made it through the front door! It was well worth the effort for the delicious hot chocolate and the amazing views of the valley.

The reason for navigating the trees and ice is that this week we have a corporate group coming and thought they would enjoy this place if it was a bit of a snowy day. Anyway, we enjoyed another hour or so of amazing skiing before our legs were well and truly worn out and then skied all the way down from the top of Mont Joux to our chalet and I have to say my little wiggly tracks over the farmer's field left Phil green with envy!

Sadly, the temperature has risen and the snow is once again disappearing but with the big freeze in America, surely it won't be long until it reaches here?! Our lovely chalet owner, Monsieur Alex, said that if you have Christmas on the balcony, you'll have Easter by the fire, so I'm crossing everything for a big snowfall anytime soon! 

We don't have any guests just now so have used the time to clean some windows, catch up on emails and, of course, ski. Phil took his skis back to Fred, the happy ski shop owner, and asked for some faster ones as his wife was faster than him! The boys got to work and found him a couple of pairs - one for giant slalom, one for slalom! He chose the slalom skis but was regretting it this morning when we went up Rochebrune and quickly discovered a lot of ice! We made our descent and tried Mont d'Arbois instead which was much more friendly before it got a bit sticky in the sun.

We have a number of men arriving at various times this weekend and we're looking forward to doing our first bit of guiding. There's also rumours of a lunch at L'Alpette restaurant - the most expensive place on the mountain. I'm just hoping there's some snow on Thursday night so we can get there! 

Sking in Snow vs. Sailing in Rain

Yesterday we had our weekly day off and enjoyed waking up a bit later and a little lie in before the curiosity as to what the guests were banging around in the kitchen got the better of me. As it turns out they the disaster zone I had been imagining was actually the ladies washing up and loading the dishwasher! We enjoyed a late breakfast as we watched the snow fall and decided on going up to Jaillet to play in the fresh snow. One advantage of where we are is that when it snows the French stay home, the kids go sledging and we get the pistes virtually to ourselves! Our road is also poorly ploughed which means the 4 minute walk to the bus stop becomes a 30 second ski!

We skied a few runs and made our way up and down a few empty red runs, playing in the fresh powder at the top, skiing like a pro on the nice soft stuff mid-way down and then dodging mud and stones in the sticky, heavy stuff at the bottom. Phil wanted a video of himself in the powder so I duly skied down to a post, took off my nice warm glove and filmed him...he stacked it in a big pile!!

We enjoyed a delicious lunch at a restaurant recommended by our guests from last week. The Chalet des Bachais is at the top of the Pertuis lift for those in Megeve and when it's quiet on the slopes it is well worth a visit. Phil and I spent 35Euros on a monster burger, a beer, a vin chaud and I had delicious goat's cheese-filled baked pastry puffs with some ham and salami and a salad. We had a nice rest from the thigh-burning runs and dried out a bit ready for the rest of the day.

Whilst sitting on a very slow and long chair lift turning into a snowman I decided that skiing whilst it's snowing is much more enjoyable to sailing in the rain. Whilst both snow and water are essential to their respective sports, it is definitely more fun to ski in snow than it is to sail in rain although both sports are probably at their most enjoyable when the sun is shining!

Today was another wet start so we decided to head down the mountain so I could purchase a helmet. I've never felt the need for one before but having reached the mature age of 30, seen enough nasty accidents (including Michael Schumacher's), and am now at the point where I can follow Phil all over the pistes and off piste and also keep up with him as well as skiing faster than him over the moguls, I've decided it would be very sensible to have one. So although I would have liked a nice fluorescent one, I've got a very comfy white Salomon one. 

I'm looking forward to some more snow overnight tonight so I can try out my helmet in the soft stuff tomorrow. So, off to cook dinner and tonight is a good one: Beetroot, pear and feta salad with toasted walnuts; Apricot and pecan-stuffed Filet Mignon with fruity couscous and romanesque (a cross breed of cauliflower and broccoli); and Lemon Tart for dessert. 

One Giant Jump for a Chalet Girl...

Happy New Year!! We celebrated in style here at Chalet Megeve. The guests kicked their night off down in the town and enjoyed a few beers whilst they watched the ESF and ESI ski instructors parade past with big fire torches. One back in the chalet we enjoyed garlic butter escargots as a deliciously French canape before moving on to a starter of pan-fried scallops on pea puree with very crsipy bacon. Next on the agenda was honey and balsamic glazed duck with roast beetroot, asparagus and celeriac mash and to top it all we had a delicious orange vodka and cranberry semifreddo. Of course some smelly cheese followed to just make sure we were completely full to the brim!! I have to say that only one brave soul attempted the snails (as well as me) and we enjoyed a good dozen or so!

The French enjoy a good party and have developed various contraptions to aid the process. Whilst in Metro I picked up a 'party box'. Hats, streamers, noisy things and pea-shooters with cherry-sized 'peas'! I think I'll be finding the 'peas' for the next 3 months!! After dinner the men retired to the hot tub for an hour or so and made good use of my kitchen window conveniently placed so as to be able to top up wine glasses without them having to leave the warmth of the hot tub and also without me having to leave the warmth of my kitchen! We now also have various sized and shape snow angels in our garden! A good few games of 'Who am I?' and lots of fireworks from chalets all around and we were well on our way to midnight and a glass of champagne.

This morning we had a slow start in the chalet but scrambled eggs andd smoked salmon soon sorted everyone out and by lunch time I was enjoying a sandwich with a view up the mountain on a deck chair! Some clever people we saw had used their skis and poles to make bench seats but I think if I returned my poles to Fred, the ski shop man, in a less than straight condition, all the cake in the world wouldn't put it right! (He's probably feeling a little neglected this week as the guests like cake and eat most of it every day. I'll have to make him a special one next week...)

Today we skiied around Mont d'Arbois and St Nicolas. Some runs are really empty and have good snow on them whilst others are very busy with no snow, lots of rocks and patches of ice. We stuck to the empty red runs and had a fab couple of hours in the sunshine. I am definitely faster than Phil over the moguls and I even managed a huge jump today. Well, I thought it was big and it certainly felt like I was flying for a least 20 seconds before I landed (on two skis) but Phil says it was barely an inch off the ground! When it was time to head home I decided I'd show Phil how to ski back to our chalet. He attempted it on Monday having finished guiding the guests but left the piste too early, went up a track, crossed the river and ended up not at our chalet. So today I led the way and we made it first time! I'm not sure I looked quite so competent whilst skiing through the hard off piste snow of the farmer's field but I got us there! 

Tonight we're having a Thai Green Curry for tea which I can't wait for, so I'd best be off back to my kitchen! 

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