Ski Instructor Report 8th January

The New Year’s Eve Party in the Palarine was a great success. Everyone made a huge effort. I think the best costume was definitely, Steve and Karen, who came as the characters from Avatar. Karen admitted that her hair alone took over an hour. I would have awarded a prize to the French maid, for the costume that used the least material. I had a couple of Bulgarians in my group who were staying in the Palarine, who wanted to take an active part but had not brought a costume. They made a good attempt with what they found in the local shops. The French maid was inspirational to them. They realised that all they had to do was bring their best underwear and a couple of paper doilies then you are a French Maid. I liked the costume. Someone suggested that my Angel costume was most inappropriate for the wearer. Stuart (BBA) always tries hard but never really succeeds. In the past he came as Freddy Mercury but people thought that he was Sergeant Pepper. Then he dressed as Clint Eastwood but people thought that he was the tall one in Brokeback Mountain. This year he was Robin Hood, again we got it wrong, we thought he was a pixie.

It really was a great party, with lots of dancing and one of the biggest Sweet Caroline, ever. In fact, at one point I thought that people would be trampled underfoot like those terrible tragedies that happen at the Hajj in Saudi. I think that we had seven different nationalities in the Sweet Caroline circle. The party finished late and I was glad that I was day off on Saturday. I was down in time for a late breakfast. Well done and many thanks to all the staff at the Palarine for a great night/morning.

Now something about the skiing; my group this week was very well balanced. No one was particularly fast and no one was exceptionally slow. In fact, they seemed to take it in turns to be very good or very bad, in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol that had been consumed the previous evening. The phrase “Skiing Holiday” consists of two words and I believe that it is important to enjoy not only the skiing but also the holiday. However overindulgence during the “Holiday” can serious spoil the enjoyment of the “Skiing”. You do not ski well with a hangover. (I should know). My class were all good intermediates, so I took them to the top of the Pic Negre and skied them down to the Crest Hotel in the village. A vertical drop of about 1,000 metres and with a length of approximately 7 kilometres. This run did produce a lot of tired legs. So remember to start your pre-skiing exercise programme well in advance of your holiday.

This week, I was frequently asked “Any snow due?” We have plenty of snow on the piste, due to the many snow cannons that Arinsal has. But to be honest, there is not much off the piste and this makes the resort look unattractive. Many people want to ski and also enjoy our marvellous scenery, so it would be nice if we had a fresh fall soon