Snow cover:

40cm on lower slops

88cm on upper slopes

75 or 77 runs open in the Meribel Valley

Happy Christmas from everyone at Fish and Pips!

We have had an excellent Christmas here - the conditions are fantastic with sunshine most of the week and great snow coverage all over the valley thanks to all that fell in late November and early December.

Christmas day started with a festive breakfast in the chalets - the guests in Chalet Aurigny were all dressed up as Santa, his elves and reindeer!  While all the guests were off skiing, the elves at Fish and Pips were busy preparing for supper - turkeys being cooked, puddings being steamed, vegetables pealed and crackers put on tables.

The Fish and Pips team celebrated Christmas with some champagne and Secret Santa presents in the Lodge in the afternoon.  Some of the best presents were Vic’s dinosaur egg - put it in water and within 24hr out hatches your own little Tyrannosaurus Rex.  Nick’s fireworks also went down of a storm and we had a great display after supper.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at Fish and Pips.

Saturday saw the first day of the season and what a first weekend it was!  We had decided that as the forecast for Saturday was dull and snowy, Fish and Pips would work on Saturday so that when Sunday dawned with the most beautiful blue sky, we were all able to take the day off and hit the slopes!

The team met at 9am at the Chaudanne and split into different levels for refresher lessons courtesy of Parallel Lines.  When we reconvened at lunchtime you couldn’t wipe the smiles off everyone’s faces.  We spent the morning skiing fresh tracks just by the piste, the snow cover is amazing.  There is a better base than last year as the snow came a few weeks earlier, so we are set for an excellent season.

The snow is falling again today and has been all night.   The latest snow depths do not take into account the foot we have had over night.

Upper slopes: 130cm - Lower slopes: 70cm

It has been a busy week here in Meribel.  Last Monday Holly and I headed off to Geneva to collect our new team, who were full of excitement for the winter ahead of them.

For Kevin and Fiona, the team in Chalet Aurigny and both Australians, it was the first time they had ever seen snow in such vast quantities.  We started our ‘training’ gently on Tuesday morning with a tour of the resort and a play in the snow.  From then on in we have all been beavering away, stacking logs, loading wine, training on our new hot tubs, menu planning, sorting, sorting out ski hire and lots lots more.