After a brief visit to the UK in the Spring to buy this...



we came back to the Alps to look after the chalet we had worked in for the winter, to find the ski slopes in summer mode...





although the atmosphere was dampened by a certain amount of pouring rain, low cloud and even lower temperatures. The weather soon picked up however and since then we have been mostly biking in Morillon...





in Les Carroz...









and Samoens...



as well as hiking in the Cirque du Fer A Cheval at the end of the valley...









in the Gorges de Tines...



and climbing the Criou mountain and most of the Col de Bostan. By way of meaningful employment we have been managing chalets, cleaning apartments and working on building sites. This is one of them...





where we have worked with Jas, Adam, Karl, Liam and John for Karen and Andy...



Sarah is now an experienced pointer. Approximately 120 square meters so far. Here is a highlight...



We took a weekend bike trip to the Cirque with Karl, Adam and Liam...









Visitors to the valley have included John in the wettest week of the summer...



and Mum in the hottest...



and Frances, which gave us an excuse to climb up to the Refuge de Sales...







The Cascades de Sales on the way up...



We have also watched some of the Mont Blanc Rally as it came through Morillon...



and visited David and Jenny in Evian for a day out on Lake Leman (Lake Geneva)...



and a trip to the Medieval town of Yvoire...



We will be making another fleeting visit to the UK in November/December before coming back out to the Alps to run a different ski chalet for the winter, this time in Samoens. Hope to see you all then.

Us again. We're nearing the end of the ski season in the Alps and heading back to Blighty for a few weeks before coming back to France for the summer. At least that's the plan at the moment. Since our last update we have been working over winter at Chalet Morillon in the Grand Massif for Andrew....



To be fair to Andrew, this picture was taken in the back of a piste basher on a 45 degree slope....

Along with Becci who also works here, we have been cooking, skiing, cleaning, skiiing, driving, skiing etc etc and in 18 weeks we have peeled or cooked approximately 600kg of spuds, got through almost 1800 eggs, opened around 1200 bottles of wine, baked 119 cakes and made nearly 700 profiteroles for roughly 250 guests, or punters, or Billy Bunters....Some of the things guests have said are:

"My loo is ready to clean, although actually, I'd give it five minutes......."

"What's for dinner?"

"Do you have any WD40?"

"Do you have a proper job?"

"My kids will always wear helmets but I don't need to because I never fall over...."

"What kind of skis do you use? I've just bought some new racing skis...."

"Will my blue jumper be warm enough at the top of the mountain?"

That pretty much covers our season, although we should add that it has been fantastic fun, nearly all the guests have been a pleasure to meet, and skiing five or six days a week beats doing a proper job....

Pictures now.....starting with the view from our window...



The office where we have to spend our days....









Sarah in her 'Dick of the Day' pants, earned for losing a ski while standing still in front of a busy restaurant and then falling down the hill trying to retrieve it....



And in action on the Diamant Noir black run in Flaine....



And the Diamant Noir black run in Flaine which is much steeper than it looks....



These are the kind of places we have lunch....





John and Jane came to spend a week with us, spoiled us rotten and significantly, also brought proper sausages with them. Here they are on the chairlift out of Morillon....(the tiny figures in red)



The Lac Du Ger valley at the end of a long ski from Flaine....



And the piste basher taxi to get back to the lift after lunch at the Lac du Ger Refuge....



Finally a couple of dogs. First is Bonco, who lives at the Igloo restaurant in Morillon...



and secondly Woody, the chalet dog and occasional baguette thief....



We will be in the UK for a few weeks and would love to see as many of you all as we can before we come back to France. Naturally, what we are going to do when we get there is still a little vague.....