European Snowsport

Outstanding, independent ski schools in Verbier, Zermatt, Nendaz, St Moritz and Chamonix

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    A New ES Resort for Winter 2017/18

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    NEW: ES NENDAZ

    Since winter 2014-15, a high quality ski school in black uniforms specialising in personal service and great instructors, has been operating out of the Premier Alpine Centre ski shop in Nendaz.

    We have been watching their professional operation with interest ever since, and this winter we are pleased to announce that we will be taking on their existing instructor team and growing their operations as ES Nendaz!

    The school will continue to operate from Premier Alpine Centre, so that Nendaz clients will be able to arrange everything for their holiday from one central point.

    Premier Alpine Centre Nendaz
    Premier Alpine Centre in Nendaz

    Premier Alpine Centre is a high quality shop, rentals and services provider with premises in the Hôtel Nendaz 4 Vallées, a luxury four-star hotel and spa complex located in the resort centre. With an emphasis on personal service, and a flexible and responsive team, PAC has a lot of objectives in common with ES and we are very much looking forward to working with them this winter.

    You can take a look at Premier Alpine Centre and what they do HERE.

    With this partnership, ES Nendaz will grow and offer a greater variety of lessons with qualified and experienced instructors who specialise in helping you get the most out of your holiday time. Whether it’s the pre-lesson meeting at your accommodation, or the little extras like tissues, balloons for the children, and lip salve, the emphasis, as with all of our ES resorts, is on quality and individual service.

    European Snowsport Private Ski Lessons
    Take a private lesson with ES in Nendaz. Photo: Nick Reader

    In Nendaz we will also offer our well-known Kids Academy; Small group lessons where each child is tracked by GPS, with medals, certificates, goodie bags and an end-of-week prize giving (with vin chaud for the parents 😉) outside Premier Alpine Centre. These small group lessons will run in the peak holiday weeks of the winter. There are limited places to ensure quality, with a maximum of six children per group (never exceeded).

    We will also be offering our awesome Kids Academy in Nendaz

    ES Nendaz also gives us the opportunity to add on some fun days out from Verbier, such as ‘Skiing and Spa’ days. More information to follow..!

    For more details and to book, please contact:

    [email protected] or +41 27 771 6222.

    We are open seven days a week and will be delighted to hear from you.

     

    The Verbier Boss des Bosses 2017

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    On March 15th, Verbier once again played host to the Boss des Bosses. For the uninitiated, the Boss des Bosses is Europe’s biggest inter-resort mogul competition.  Like many a good idea, it’s origins can be traced back to late night drunken banter! Way back in 1990 an argument broke out in a Val d’Isere bar about which ski resort had the best skiers. The obvious way to settle the question being to get a bunch of skiers together, put them in fancy dress, pour a load of booze down them and send them down a monstrous field of moguls!

    This year ES Sponsored the event, and our instructors were on hand to help build the course, carving out the bumps and shaping up the kickers in preparation for the arrival of the teams from Zermatt, Chamonix, Portes du Soleil and, of course Verbier. Each team consisted of 5 skiers, 1 telemarker, 1 snowboarder and at least 2 girls, with several of our own instructor were competing for both Verbier and Zermatt. The simple format sees the winner of each head-to-head race pick up a point for their team. An extra point is available for best form and best jump on the line of kickers at the bottom of the course.

    The competition got underway around 2pm, once the spring conditions had softened up and the bumps became slushy. In the spectators’ area however, things got underway a little bit earlier particularly at the ES bar where we’d arranged for a supply of the excellent local beer from Winslow brewery.

    As always the level of skiing was mind-blowing! Each skier spurred on by the crowd, showed scant regard for their knees as the hammered down through the bumps and span and flipped off the kickers. After whittling down the field it was left to Chamonix and Verbier to fight it out in the final, in the end the Verbier team reigned victorious with help from our very own instructors Elias and Julia. Chamonix came in second and Portes du Soleil completed the podium in third place.

    As the competition came to a close the party showed little signs of slowing up as competitors and spectators alike slid the short distance down to Le Rouge. Once again a great day and a successful competition helped the Boss des Bosses to secure its place as one of the highlights of the season!

    Zermatt Charity Valley Rally

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    On Wednesday 8th March European Snowsport Zermatt held our annual Charity Valley Rally.

    The Event consisted of 5 teams competing to explore the ski areas whilst answering questions, taking photos and complets.

    The day started with perfect sunshine and all the lifts open. The teams began arriving at Papperla Pub around 10am to collect their information packs and their Flaikes (GPS Trackers that we usually us for our kids groups). At 10:35am the teams left in all different directions, including our walking team who headed for the slightly more leisurely Gronergrat Train to start.

    We had 5 instructor points around the mountain where the groups would have to visit and take part in a challenge set by an ES instructor. These included restaurant/bars such as Alphitta and Blue Lounge.

    I headed to Alphitta to help and also to take pictures of the groups as they completed the challenge (A 6 person Human Pyramid). A number of the groups didn’t have enough people so had to ask poor unsuspecting customers from the restaurant. This turned out to be one of my favourite parts of the day as it led to many laughs and to meeting some fantastic people.

    Zermatt Charity Valley Rally

    The other stations had similar moments as the teams had to compete in Pole Balancing, 3 Legged Races, 1 ski skiing and boot skiing. All based on teams of up to 6 people taking part.

    As the day progressed, the weather started to close in and it began to snow. The teams all persevered and continued to press on. Well all except for Team Girl Power who made the mistake of having a quick look at the Alphitta menu and decided they would have to stop for lunch. They promised me that the restaurants 10 week old puppy had nothing to do with their decision!

    2 of the teams had come in fancy dress and were there to win the top prize (6 course Michelin Star meal at The Omnia Hotel and a Fondue Dinner at Ferdinand Restaurant, The Cervo Hotel). The teams were: The Horny Hornli Herd and Greg’s Harem.

    As everyone returned to Papperla Pub at 4pm it was time for beers, pizza and music until prize giving.

    The results this year was very close at the top. Both Greg’s Harem and The Horny Hornli Herd were tied on 60 points. After some deliberation between the judges The Horny Hornli Herd were declared winners due to their well made, if not a little risqué costumes (as seen below)

     

    It was a fantastic day out and everyone involve had a great time. It couldn’t have happened without the full support of our sponsors, all the helpers who spent all day out in the cold as well as Charlotte Gardener and Tim Franken.

    Thank you to every single person involved. We raise over 600 chf this year for A Future For Nepal and will hope to raise even more at next year’s event.

     

    Skiing with Super Nan!

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    Skiing holidays are an amazing experience for all the family, however some elderly relatives may feel that they are unable to venture up onto the slopes. One of our staff members, Emily recently had a visit from her elderly grandmother, who was able to experience the joys of skiing with a little help from ES adaptive.

     

    At 90 years old my, almost completely blind, almost wheelchair bound, grandmother is not the most likely candidate to don skis for the first time.  But that is exactly what she did in December 2016.

    I was introduced to adaptive skiing in my first year working at European Snowsport and saw first-hand the opportunities it opens up.  Not just for the disabled, but their families, and even proficient skiers recovering from injury who are still keen to be out on the snow.

    My grandmother, despite having had difficulty walking for much of her adult life, has never been short of ambition or determination.  She continued her London office job well into her 80s, wants to take a hot air balloon ride (we are still looking for a company that runs balloon rides for wheelchair users) and is determined she will one day do a bungee jump!  I had no hesitation to treating her to an adaptive ski lesson for her birthday.  The original plan was to arrange a taster session at an indoor snow centre in the UK – this would have been logistically simple.  But that is not our style!  Oh no, having not set foot on a plane for over 10 years, we booked my grandmother a flight to join me here in Verbier for a week at the start of December.

    The weather was perfect – snow on the hill and not in resort so she could shuffle between wheelchair and car, and sunny so she could get a feel for the beautiful view here.  After a few days of ‘relaxing’ it was time for the big moment!  We had a dress rehearsal – making sure nanny could wear the three pairs of trousers and six tops she needed to keep her warm – and on the day of the lesson I had no reservations about handing her over to ES Adaptive instructor, Charlotte.  She took care of everything!  She met with us the day before the lesson to talk everything through.  She selected the best sit ski for the job, including padding to support my grandmother’s bad leg and a blanket in case the 20 layers she was wearing weren’t enough!

    We had a 3 hour lesson where Charlotte was in total control.  My mother and I even had a quick run into Lac de Vaux ourselves while nanny, Charlotte and Will (our helper) went in for a coffee break.  We arrived to nanny sitting back in her wheelchair which Charlotte had asked the lifties to send up from Ruinettes.  Amazing service!

    It’s fair to say the first run in the sit ski wasn’t my grandmother’s favourite experience.  It felt “nothing like she’d imagined”.  But after a coffee and chocolate re-fuelling she thoroughly enjoyed the second run from Attelas to Ruinettes and could be heard shouting “weeee weeeee” at every turn.  Having been expertly lifted from wheelchair to sit ski and sit ski to wheelchair and in and out of the car, my grandmother was pleased to get home.  Later that day she said “I don’t know what’s happened to my legs but these don’t feel like mine”!

     

    Adaptive skiing enabled my grandmother to step into my world in the mountains.  She might not have the strength to ski for herself, but she got to experience the majesty of being in the mountains, life on the snow, and could see why I love skiing so much.  All the family were, and still are, immensely proud of her.  Most of all, as a ski instructor, it was a pleasure to hand over control of everything to one of our ES Adaptive instructors, making a dream come true and not a moment of stress for any of us!

    The Association Annapurna – Already 10 Years Old!

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    Maryse Kaiser has been with ES since the start, as our admin office manager she is the sun around which the ES universe revolves. Many years ago her affinity for the mountains took her to Nepal where she fell in love with both the country and the people. After witnessing the poverty affecting some parts of the country, and with the help of other members of the Verbier community, she set up a charity in aid of the disadvantaged children of the region.  Here is her blog:

     

    Already 10 years! The Association Annapurna was founded in 2007 when we set ourselves the goal of improving the situation of disadvantaged children in the city of Pokhara in Nepal.

    We give priority to young girls in order to prepare them through education to the world that awaits them! We enrol them in a private school until the end of their studies. We are proud to say that one of the young girls has already completed her nursing studies and is working in a hospital in Pokhara. Others are about to finish and have achieved excellent results in school. The children speak fluent English and will be able to turn to the evolving tourist trades in Pokhara, starting point for many treks on the Annapurna side. School is not compulsory in Nepal and girls are often sold in India where they are forced into prostitution.

    Nepal is a very poor country, bordered by China and India. An unstable economic situation coupled with numerous natural disasters, illnesses and lack of access to medical care have caused great distress and decimated families. Many orphaned children find themselves deprived, on the street and without hope of a future ……. 35% of the population lives below the poverty line and 70% of women are illiterate.

    Our Association is made up of members and sponsors. We also organise many mountain film nights and we often have a stand in various events.

    We have quite a few projects for 2017, the 10th year of the Association! We will be among others present at the Feast of August 15 on the Alpine de la Chaux in Verbier and we will also organise different events.

    The first event will take place on 4 February at the Salle de la Combaz in Verbier, a magnificent film of the crossing on foot of the Himalayas 2500 km between Sikkim, Ladhak, India , Nepal. by Nicolas Bossard (Waldensian director), who also summited Everest in spring 2016, with the expedition of our guide friend Tendi Sherpa.

    We are also proud to have realised another dream … .. the reconstruction of a school in the region of Gorka, a region largely destroyed after the earthquake of April 2015, thanks to all the generous donations we have received .

    Our evening of mountain films at the Châble of April 24, 2015 has just drawn to a close when the violent earthquake hit Nepal causing thousands of deaths and injuries. We decided to give the all the proceeds for that evening for first aid. The next day dozens of people showed up on our Facebook site to make donations. We collected a nice sum and decided to rebuild a school in the hard-hit Gorka region. Today this school is operational and many students go there to study.

    Dhan Adikari, founder of the Association, visited the site in November 2016 for the inauguration. He was received by the Gorka authorities, schoolmasters and children. We are very pleased to have been able to contribute, to the extent of our means, to the well-being of these children, who otherwise may not have had the opportunity to return to school for a prolonged period of time. We thank all generous donors.

    For more information, visit the website : annapurna.ch

    Ski Racing Camps With Kandahar Racing

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    If you are the parent of keen skiers, there comes a time when they want to go racing.

    As a parent who is also a keen skier, I know this is absolutely the best thing for their skiing as well, a happy coincidence.

    Now that my son is 8 (8 and a half, as he corrects everyone) and my daughter is 11, racing time is here!

    ES is a sponsor of Kandahar Racing and so their autumn race camp in Saas Fee was an obvious choice.  Kandahar Ski Club has a long history in skiing, and is the most established ski racing club in the UK.  The Swiss connection goes back to its foundation in Murren, Switzerland in 1924.

    Kandahar gs training

    Children are able to join Kandahar Racing autumn camps from 8 years old, and can either stay with other children and coaches in accommodation right by the lift, or with their parents and just join for the skiing.  Saas Fee is a car free village at the foot of a glacier, with skiing open all year round.  During the week we were there, they even had some fresh powder, twice!

     

    Over the autumn the resort fills up with national teams and the children get to train and race next to their heroes (it is a good time to get autographs if you are a ski racing fan!).  Lara Gut of Switzerland was training there last week, just before winning the women’s Giant Slalom in the opening race of the World Cup season in Sölden.

    The children ski each day until around 2.30pm, have a break and then do afternoon activities.  These included volleyball, swimming, an interclub football match with Sandown Ski Club (the Kandahar girls’ team was amazing!), ski tuning workshops, and rides on the bobsleigh.

    The camps are inclusive and the emphasis is on teamwork as well as individual performance.  For children new to race camps, it is a great introduction with fun and friendly coaches and an open and encouraging atmosphere.  There is plenty of technical feedback, video, and exercises too.

    kandahar october race camp

    The children spend the first couple of days doing some technique and then have some time in stubbies and gates towards the end of the week, with a team race (and medals) on the last day of skiing.

    Our children loved it; they both made new friends, their skiing really came on over the week, and they thought their coaches were great.

    Over the winter Kandahar Racing also run camps based around the English and British championships, including both race training and academic tutoring in the weeks leading up to the big races.