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Simply Savoie

Guided walking – snowshoeing – via ferrata in the French Alps with Mark Tennent

Ski

Why NOT to go to a ski resort in summer

If you are ever planning to enjoy the French alps in summer my recommendation is NOT to go to a place that is principally a winter ski resort. Why?

“Ghost Town”

The place can be like a ?ghost town?. Many of the big resorts make their money in the winter and the summer is sadly just an after-thought. This is clear when you find that most of the shops and cafes are all shut or at best just open from early July to the first week of September. I remember starting out from Val Thorens one August and couldn’t find a single cafe open for a coffee!

Do you enjoy living in the midst of a building site? Another reason is that summer is just about the only time the resort can do construction and maintenance work. The result is sprouting cranes, concrete mixers and builders working frantically to complete new projects while the weather makes this feasible. Dust and noise may be your constant companion.

Industrialisation

Do you enjoy unspoilt nature. Ski lift pylons sprouting amongst the alpine pastures or the bulldozed ski runs partially partially covered with the grass that may have survived being covered in heavily compacted snow. Artificially produced snow from the ?snow cannons? lining the side of the winter ski runs has a averse effect on the types of grass and flowers that will grow. Bull dozed tracks criss cross the ski area to allow maintenance of the ski paraphenalia. The only ?developpement durable? here is the copious amounts of concrete.

Up and down! Ski resorts may be high up with only one road up and down connecting them with the valley bottom. If you want to do anything else than stay in the immediate area of the resort that may be great but otherwise you will find yourself driving up and down the switch back roads to and fro from the valley bottom before being able to visit other neighbouring areas.

Prices. As they say here the prices inflate along with the altitude. The ?Huit a huit? superette, if it’s open, has a very limited stock along with high prices.

Amusement Park in the Mountains

The ?Disneyland des Alpes? – to me Disneyland would be hell on earth and yet many ski resorts seem hellbent on the ?Disneyfication? of the mountains. Sadly the winter ski clientele are largely composed of the ?want it now?, ?instant gratification? generation with no real ?feeling? / connection with the mountains that need no man-made embellishment necessary. The epitomy of this ?enfer? is the ?Folie Douce? – outdoor discos on the ski slopes with pounding music with a bass that can be heard across the valley. This leaves aside the alcohol fuelled debauchery. No thanks.

Recommended Places

Here’s a few of some of my favourite places. Pralognan-la-Vanoise, Beaufort, Areches-Beaufort, Talloires.

British Ski Instructors not welcome in the French Alps? Not True!

The British press including the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail have carried articles on the arrest of a British ski instructor, Simon Butler, at the resort of Megeve, Haute Savoie. He will appear in court on the 7th April. The articles have been verging on the xenophobic and are quite misleading.

To debunk the myth that British ski instructors are not welcome in the [French] Alps you should note there are currently a large number of British instructors operating entirely legally in France with absolutely no issues with the French authorities or indeed their French colleagues. These instructors hold BASIs highest qualification ?Level 4 ? International Ski Teacher Diploma (ISTD)? This gives mutual recognition in various alpine nations including France.

Simon Butler is apparently no stranger to the French courts. He has already been convicted by the court in Bonneville, Haute-Savoie in 2004 and fined 10,000 Euro. In 2013 he was convicted again. This time he was found guilty and give a 6 month prison sentence and a 10,000 Euro fine which he appealed and has not yet been heard on appeal.

The French system for sports professionals

To help to understand his arrest it is helpful to understand the cultural and legal framework in France. In France the profession of ski instructor (and other sports professionals including mountain guides, mountain walking leaders, rock climbing instructors, kayak instructors, etc, are ?regulated? professions. As such you are required to hold the relevant French qualification or it’s recognised equivalent.

Sports professionals (i.e. working for payment, whether in cash or kind) are further required to declare themselves to the French sports ministry. This is the same irrespective of nationality. The ministry officials will examine the declaration and assuming all is in order issue a ?Carte Professionnelle?. This professional licence gives details of the qualifications you hold and is requested when checks are carried out by ministry officials, supported by the gendarmerie, or following an accident. The penalties for not doing so are quite dissuasive; one years imprisonment or up to a 15000 Euro fine or both.

The European context and France

One of the principles of the European Union is ?freedom of movement?. The main EU Directive that enshrines this is EU-2005/36/EU. This however is not a ?carte blanche? to simply go and start working within another EU state without complying with relevant administrative procedures. As an EU national one applies either for ?Freedom of Establishment? where one wants to establish a permanent presence on French territory or ?Freedom to Provide Services? where the activity on French territory is of a temporary, or occasional, nature.

In respect of sports professionals the local sports ministry officials will then (providing the qualifications and professional experience is deemed sufficient) issue the appropriate authorisation ? a ?carte professionnelle?.

References and Definitions

What is a regulated profession?

A profession is said to be regulated when access and exercise is subject to the possession of a specific professional qualification. (In the UK the ?profession? of ski instructor is not a regulated profession).

?Significant differences?

If the authorities of the host country find significant differences between the training acquired in your country of origin (including your professional experience) and that required for the same work in the host country, they may ask you to complete a traineeship or aptitude test. In the case in question the agreed test is the ?Eurotest?. The Eurotest is a timed GS Slalom.

British Association of Snowsport Instructors

www.basi.org.uk

Relevant European Union Legislation and Guidance

Recognition of Professional Qualifications

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/index_en.htm

Directive 2005/36/EC

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/policy_developments/legislation/index_en.htm

French Derogation regarding ski instructor qualifications

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs/ski/com-2000-2262/com-2000-2262_en.pdf

Relevant French Legislation

Code de Sport

http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichCode.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006071318

LIVRE II : ACTEURS DU SPORT

?Environnement Specifique?

The Code de Sport defines certain situations to be an ?environnement specifique?. In these cases it is deemed that particular safety measures are needed. However it doesn’t go on to define this term. There are several sports / activities that are classed as being in such an environnement including skiing. The Sports ministry has clarified this as being where there is the real possibility of a serious accident (taking into account accident statistics) and how easy or otherwise, it is to evacuate an injured person.

Weekend of Ski de Fond (Cross-country skiing)

Two consecutive days of skiing at La Feclaz on one of France’s biggest cross-country skiing areas.? La Feclaz is in the Bauges mountains (bounded by Annecy, Chambery and Albertville).

The area has more than 140 km of pistes on an undulating plateau area covered in pines.? The pistes are maintained to a high standard.

Both days I skied with Patricia covering around 20km on each occasion and today I finally got to grips with the “pas un temps” where each time there’s a push off one ski to the other there’s a similar push with both poles.? (Here I’m talking of the “skating” technique).

Les Menuires 7 – Staff “Occupy” Ski Chalet, Savoie

7 Chalet staff were sacked by email by a company called “Ski The 3 Valleys” in very dubious circumstances and were told they would not be paid for the work they had done.? In addition they would be left to their own devices to return to the UK.

What followed was an incredible level of solidarity, not only from other “seasonnaires” but from previous clients and indeed all over the world.? Their Facebook page reached over 4700 “Likes” in about 48 hours.

Their action was reported by the Dauphine Libere, The Daily Mail, TV8 Mont Blanc (local TV station), The Telegraph and many internet forums and of course Twitter.

Les Menuires 7 created video blog posts and had interviews with the press and it was a very good example of the power of “social media”. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Les-Menuires-7/135799119875601

They had support from the local Gendarmerie and finally a meeting was set up with one of the tour operator’s representatives.? This was attended by the French “Inspection du Travail” and the staff were successful in being properly paid for the hours they had worked.

The tour operator was apparently made to register his business with the French tax authorities (“Impots”) and comply with other French business requirements.? This may be a salutary lesson and may be a warning to other tour operators who use, arguably, dubious employment practices.

Ski Touring, Maurienne

I met up with friends at St Etienne de Cuines in the Maurienne valley on Saturday morning to enjoy a great day out with blue skies, some good powder and good company.

We drove up to a small village to find that we weren’t going to be alone!? We left the roadside with skis on and started up the lower Merlet valley following a summer track.?? At last we reached the large valley bottom.? The sunny side of the valley had a few remnants of avalanches following the recent rise in temperature however the north-facing slopes looked good.

At the end of the valley we gained height steadily before a small subsidiary cwm led to the col du Villonet at 2545m; about 1500m of ascent from the car.

There were fine views towards the Aiguilles d’Arves and southward to the Ecrins.? After a “casse croute” it was off with the “skins”.? The first 30m was quite hard and icy before we got into wonderful powder which induced the normal cries of joy.

Back down into the valley bottom we managed to ski to within 50m of the car with the snow taking on typical spring snow characteristics.

Skiings Benefits to the French Economy and Savoie

An interesting article from Le Dauphine newspaper (a regional paper for South-East France) on how much skiing introduces to the economy.

http://www.ledauphine.com/savoie/2012/10/26/skier-en-france-combien-ca-coute-combien-ca-rapporte

Ski lifts, through the selling of lift passes, generated 1.2 billion (French: milliard) Euros last year.? It is estimated that each euro spent on a lift pass generates 6 Euros spent on other items.? So one arrives at a figure of 8.4 billion euros spent for all the French ski resorts.? These resorts generate 120,000 jobs.

Savoie benefits from 65% of the income generated.

It’s clear that skiiing generates a huge income for the Savoie department.? How much of this income remains in the economy is a different question with large companies owning the ski lifts, such as the Compagnie des Alpes.? Does most of the money end up in the hands of shareholders rather than in the local economy?

With global warming, if you don’t believe it look at the dramatically shrinking glaciers, having so many eggs in the “skiing” basket may be a recipe for future economic disaster.

I find it surprising that people wish to take a summer holiday in a purpose built ski resort as many resemble a building site in summer.? What appears to “fit in” during the winter i.e. the ski lifts and ski runs suddenly take on a rather incongrous appearance in summer.? Ski runs are often eroded and tracks criss cross the hillside.

if you’re looking for a summer holiday in the Alps look to the more authentic villages where the landscape hasn’t been subject to the demands of the voracious and unsustainable ski industry.