British skiers are generally pretty laid back and like things to be informal when on a ski holiday. They are also pretty demanding as far as service is concerned. This is maybe why ski hosting (or social skiing) has become so popular over recent years.
The opportunity to have a member of your chalet staff or other in-resort staff give you an informal, but well-informed tour of the slopes seems like a great idea. But not everyone thinks the same!
Following the recent court case which took place in Albertville between Le Ski (a small but successful British chalet company which has been operating for 30 years), and the French state (in close collaboration with the Ecole de Ski Francais), British ski tour operators have been forced to suspend their ski hosting services in all French ski resorts. The grounds for this decision are that the guides are not specially trained and that this could be dangerous for tourists whose safety is compromised. Under French law, these ski hosts must be fully-fledged ski instructors with the highest qualifications possible to be allowed to act as a ski host, guide or leader in France.
The prosecutor stated that the French national ski school, the ESF, must be protected and following this announcement, the ESF in the ski resort of Méribel is claiming €12,000 compensation for loss of business even though Le Ski is based in Courchevel and not Méribel!
Other countries in Europe, such as Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Andorra do not have the same attitude toward ski hosting – the service is readily available in most resorts. In North America ski resorts even offer free ‘piste orientation’ tours which are run by volunteers. This is considered to be an essential extra service that brings more skiers to the ski resort and so on... In my opinion, French resorts will see a drop in the number of Brits skiing on their slopes over the coming seasons and considering British skiers make up a sizeable part of the market in French resorts, the snowball effect could be disastrous!
Having been on just a few ski holidays now, I’ve often tried this “service” and have only once been disappointed (when the “ski host” couldn’t show me the black runs as he didn’t have the level required)! However, generally, these ski hosts are experienced skiers who know the ski resort and its ski area pretty well - ski tour operators don’t usually choose someone who just got off the plane!
The idea is to get like-minded skiers together (from the same accommodation or not), show them the best runs, the quickest way back to the accommodation, easy ways to access any other linked ski areas, point out any possible dangers, sight-seeing spots and good places to eat for lunch. In true British tradition, the group then invite the host(s) for lunch! What a rather pleasant way to spend the first day of your holiday – meeting new people, sharing stories, having fun and not worrying about complicated ski maps or getting back in time for the last connecting lift! I’m sorry to say, but personally I just don’t think the French get it!
There are, of course, some safety issues to be taken into account. One recurring problem is that there are some ski hosts who are a little inclined to go where they want to go (maybe because some only get to ski one day per week) and this can mean, they will take guests out of their comfort zone and even off-piste – which is dangerous and NOT authorized at all! The other issue is that sometimes the weaker skiers in a group will exaggerate their level of ability (so they don’t get left out of the activity) and will then end up in situations above their skill level which could put them in danger.
So, who will lose out now that ski hosting has been put on hold? In my honest opinion, everyone will miss out on something. Winter sports fans will no longer benefit from informative nature of this service, won’t enjoy the social aspect and will once again have to fight with a soggy or torn ski map! Ski hosts will miss out on the opportunity to build a relationship with their clients which has so far proved to ensure that everyone has a good time…
I truly believe that this is not something that will be brushed under the carpet – the ski hosting clientele are not simply going to choose an ESF (or similar) mountain guide instead! The 2 services are incomparable and even if the ski tour operators had a budget to pay official ski instructors to offer a similar service, it just wouldn’t work – we’re back to that cultural thing again!
An easy way of sorting this problem out would be to give the ski hosts some kind of official training course. I’m not saying they need to know the different types of snowflake or flora and fauna (you can follow a first aid course and not be a doctor) but just some mountain basics and some to know what to do in an emergency. There would be a strict contract and rules to be respected and any ski host caught or reported for non-respect or these rules would simply lose their job! I think that’s enough incentive to keep in line!
This may be an idealist view of things but I live in an ideal world! There’s always a solution if you want to find one! Le Ski’s lawyers have said that EU law does not support the French protectionism case and that Le Ski will appeal right up to the European Court in Brussels. For the moment, Le Ski’s managing director, Nick Morgan, has come up with a simple (but not quite so pleasant) solution which you can read about on their
website.
Le Ski's staff photo - look like a fun bunch to me!
You also can read TravelMole’s related article, leave a comment here or join us on Facebook and let us know what you think about all this...
British skiers are generally pretty laid back and like things to be informal when on a ski holiday. They are also pretty demanding as far as service is concerned. This is maybe why ski hosting (or social skiing) has become so popular over recent years.
The opportunity to have a member of your chalet staff or other in-resort staff give you an informal, but well-informed tour of the slopes seems like a great idea. But not everyone thinks the same!
Following the recent court case which took place in Albertville between Le Ski (a small but successful British chalet company which has been operating for 30 years), and the French state (in close collaboration with the Ecole de Ski Francais), British ski tour operators have been forced to suspend their ski hosting services in all French ski resorts. The grounds for this decision are that the guides are not specially trained and that this could be dangerous for tourists whose safety is compromised. Under French law, these ski hosts must be fully-fledged ski instructors with the highest qualifications possible to be allowed to act as a ski host, guide or leader in France.
The prosecutor stated that the French national ski school, the ESF, must be protected and following this announcement, the ESF in the ski resort of Méribel is claiming €12,000 compensation for loss of business even though Le Ski is based in Courchevel and not Méribel!
Other countries in Europe, such as Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Andorra do not have the same attitude toward ski hosting – the service is readily available in most resorts. In North America ski resorts even offer free ‘piste orientation’ tours which are run by volunteers. This is considered to be an essential extra service that brings more skiers to the ski resort and so on... In my opinion, French resorts will see a drop in the number of Brits skiing on their slopes over the coming seasons and considering British skiers make up a sizeable part of the market in French resorts, the snowball effect could be disastrous!
Having been on just a few ski holidays now, I’ve often tried this “service” and have only once been disappointed (when the “ski host” couldn’t show me the black runs as he didn’t have the level required)! However, generally, these ski hosts are experienced skiers who know the ski resort and its ski area pretty well - ski tour operators don’t usually choose someone who just got off the plane!
The idea is to get like-minded skiers together (from the same accommodation or not), show them the best runs, the quickest way back to the accommodation, easy ways to access any other linked ski areas, point out any possible dangers, sight-seeing spots and good places to eat for lunch. In true British tradition, the group then invite the host(s) for lunch! What a rather pleasant way to spend the first day of your holiday – meeting new people, sharing stories, having fun and not worrying about complicated ski maps or getting back in time for the last connecting lift! I’m sorry to say, but personally I just don’t think the French get it!
There are, of course, some safety issues to be taken into account. One recurring problem is that there are some ski hosts who are a little inclined to go where they want to go (maybe because some only get to ski one day per week) and this can mean, they will take guests out of their comfort zone and even off-piste – which is dangerous and NOT authorized at all! The other issue is that sometimes the weaker skiers in a group will exaggerate their level of ability (so they don’t get left out of the activity) and will then end up in situations above their skill level which could put them in danger.
So, who will lose out now that ski hosting has been put on hold? In my honest opinion, everyone will miss out on something. Winter sports fans will no longer benefit from informative nature of this service, won’t enjoy the social aspect and will once again have to fight with a soggy or torn ski map! Ski hosts will miss out on the opportunity to build a relationship with their clients which has so far proved to ensure that everyone has a good time…
I truly believe that this is not something that will be brushed under the carpet – the ski hosting clientele are not simply going to choose an ESF (or similar) mountain guide instead! The 2 services are incomparable and even if the ski tour operators had a budget to pay official ski instructors to offer a similar service, it just wouldn’t work – we’re back to that cultural thing again!
An easy way of sorting this problem out would be to give the ski hosts some kind of official training course. I’m not saying they need to know the different types of snowflake or flora and fauna (you can follow a first aid course and not be a doctor) but just some mountain basics and some to know what to do in an emergency. There would be a strict contract and rules to be respected and any ski host caught or reported for non-respect or these rules would simply lose their job! I think that’s enough incentive to keep in line!
This may be an idealist view of things but I live in an ideal world! There’s always a solution if you want to find one! Le Ski’s lawyers have said that EU law does not support the French protectionism case and that Le Ski will appeal right up to the European Court in Brussels. For the moment, Le Ski’s managing director, Nick Morgan, has come up with a simple (but not quite so pleasant) solution which you can read about on their
website.
Le Ski's staff photo - look like a fun bunch to me!
You also can read TravelMole’s related article, leave a comment here or join us on Facebook and let us know what you think about all this...
Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. One ski holiday a year was never enough and tears rolled down my face as I looked out the back window of the car on the drive down the valley on the way home!
