Our Last Working Week.

This week has seen me up to my armpits in Cif and scrubbing parts of showers I never knew existed with a toothbrush! I have one handy hint for chalet builders/designers and owners: Do not use those nasty pebbles surrounded by white grouting in a shower - the pebbles fall out and the grouting turns a nasty shade of orange! Luckily for our chalet owner he has me cleaning the showers...

We've had a fabulous last week with just 4 guests and my Dad for a night before his 'adventure' home resulting in the wrong train, the wrong bus, a missed plane and an unexpected stay in Geneva! He did eventually make it back to Liverpool airport none the worse for wear and he certainly did have an adventure! Just don't tell him that it could well have been me that sent him to the wrong train station to begin with...

I've now finished cooking for the season, minus breakfast tomorrow morning for two, and the fridge is looking rather bare! The freezer has been defrosted, the unused wine sent back to the hotel, useful food stuffs have gone to Charlie and we've got enough carrots for a small rabbit family to see us through the next week. We're actually being treated to dinner at the hotel most nights next week as we have two friends staying there. We're rather excited to see them and have to lots to catch up on and tell!

Megeve is slowly changing from a Winter Wonderland into a pretty Spring village. Little crocuses are popping up out of the grass, the snow has gone from the lower unpisted slopes and the meadows are coming through and turning very green in the beautiful warm sunshine. Don't be fooled though - the weather is changing and with it will be the return of the snow - the famous late dump! Hopefully it'll arrive just before we leave so we can have a couple more super ski days!

Talking of super ski days, we had a fabulous day yesterday with Tasha (the lovely chalet girl at the hotel) and Torie (a chalet girl that shares a room with Tasha). We skied the Rochebrune area with refreshments courtesy of Phil's magic backpack and chocolate courtesy of those lovely French guests we had at half term. We were supposed to meet the rest of the Ski Royale team at Le Boitet restaurant in St Gervais but Adamdiscovered it was closed and we were diverted! We went instead to Chez Ernestine and had a tasty lunch that Trade Descriptions would probably have had an issue with as 'Moussaka' it was not, but still, it was tasty and filling! Raspberry ice cream and raspberries was pretty good too and would definitely have passed Trade Descriptions.

We then skiied a bit more in the afternoon, took Tasha down a steeper red and then had to retire to the bar! After a well-earned hot chocolate, we tootled on down to the bottom, had showers and went into town for an aperitif! I have a sunburnt nose and panda-eyes to prove how sunny it was and legs that ache to prove how far we skiied!

Today Phil and I have just done a few runs over at Jaillet before all the snow disappears and, after battling with the snow grabbing at my skis all the time, we had lunch with a view and made our way home again. Tonight we have two guests but they're eating at the hotel, so it's carrot curry for us and an early start tomorrow as I think the clocks go forward. just two more showers to clean and that's it, our season is done!

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!