All's Well in Meribel
Father Christmas visited our London office early in the form of 2 deliveries, one from our friends at GoPro ( 6 new camera's to help us with our video blogs) and secondly a delivery from Salomon team (Basecamp kit sponsors for the 2012/13) season.
I am out here in Meribel for the season and arrived with my wife Lottie (BC Chalet Chef) and 15 month son Oscar (BC Chalet mascot) on the 27th December.
New Year in Meribel was full of fireworks and fun down at the Chaudane (central lift area, genuine heart of the 3 Valleys). Having welcomed our first holiday guests of the season, we are pleased to say that they left 2 weeks later vowing to book the same again next season. They were a fantastic group, full of fun- day and night!!
Basecamp Chalet holidays have got off to a flyer! Watch this space for more Basecamp chalets next season!
As we all know, December 2012 in the Alpes was blessed with some of the best snowfall in memory. This has set us up for the season that we are all enjoying out here now. The best thing about the conditions is that we have also had plenty of 'bluebird' days, not a cloud in the sky and some pretty warm temperatures too… all in all, a great start to the season.
Our 10 weeks Career Break Ski Courses landed on Saturday. By mid-day Sunday we had done our best to cover as much of the 3 Valleys as we could. This is without doubt one of the strongest groups of skiers that we have had here on Basecamp. We have some serious skiers in Meribel this year, the 3 Valleys is going to be ski'd harder than ever by Basecampers this year!
18 years later – I am back on the Ski's
Having first got on ski's at the age of 4 (Zurs, Austria – March 1987) I skied with my big sister until the age of 12, together we hit ski school pretty hard, with our parents opting for time out and the mountains to themsleves (how could they?). What that meant is that back in the day I was considered by some to be pretty handy on ski's.
By the mid 90's snowboarding and peroxide hair was where I felt I needed to be. The hair was a phase, snowboarding was not and I have been a snowboarder in winters, and a surfer in summer right up until I came to be living out in Meribel this season.
Safe to say, with a group of only skiers in the Chalet for the majority of the season, and a young Oscar, keen as mustard to hit the slopes with his feet on Daddy's ski's, I have ended my 18 year exodus from the ski's and the dreaded ski boots. 3 weeks in and I am loving the ski's, it really opens up so much more of the mountain. Having said this, as soon as the next dump of snow lands I will be back on the board.
Skier by trade, snowboarder by nature! At the end of the day, just being out in the mountain air with the mighty 3 Valleys as a backdrop means that whatever your mode of transport, the mountains are a pretty special place to be.
So it's great to be out here, the snow has fallen, the flakes have settled, we are all loving the mountain lifestyle out here and now that we are settling in at the end of day 3 of our ski course season, I will do my best to get the gopro out on the hill to give you more of an insight into life in the mountains with the Basecamp team.
Thanks for tuning in.
Will, Lottie and Oscar
Would you like to find out more about our ski instructor and ski performance courses in Meribel?
Ski instructor course Meribel – 10 week BASI level 1 and 2 instructor course in Meribel
Ski performance course Meribel – 10 week performance course in Meribel
