J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by SwingBeep

The Superfeet insoles are much better than the insoles that come with the boots, but they're nowhere near as good as a properly made custom foot bed.

tin pot wrote: So ski hosting was always illegal. what is ski hosting then, exactly?

Ski host is a meaningless term that the TOs dreamt up to replace ski guide, which they had previously used to describe the people who they employ to show people round a ski resort.

AllyG, the training for the Swiss equivalent of a medical receptionist lasts 3 years.

It's quite expensive to get even a level 1 qualification (about £4000 plus expenses) and some training providers offer a job guarantee http://www.ski-instructor-academy.com/programmes/item/ski-instructor-anwarter-course/ so why would anybody with even the most basic qualification want to work as a ski host for a TO, the job pays next to nothing. Le Ski were also fined 7500 Euros for paying their ski hosts less than the minimum wage, strangely this wasn't as widely reported as the fine for illegal accompaniment.

If you're not prepared to try anything new how are you going to progress?

AllyG wrote:When I'm ski-ing on my own I ski very carefully and much more slowly than I do in a lesson, and I don't go off-piste. All my ski injuries have happened in lessons. I broke my shoulder in a lesson on the dry slope, I broke my toe in a mogul lesson in Courchevel, and a few weeks ago I hurt my arm in our off-piste initiation lesson.

Perhaps if you did your boots up properly and sorted out your fore / aft balance you wouldn't fall over as much. How an earth did you manage to break your toe?

The only reason I can think of is that the base materials were different. If they are cheap skis they might have HMWPE (High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) bases which don't take up any wax. As K2 is an American ski company they might be using DuraSurf from Crown Plastics for their bases. Unlike the European manufactures Isosport (Isospeed) and Creative Plastic Solutions (P-tex) Crown Plastics doesn't anneal the UHMWPE (Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene) strip as part of the manufacturing process so their base materials take up less wax.

The usual methods shops use to wax skis don't get much wax into the bases, the best way to wax them is using an infrared ski waxer (polyethylene readily absorbs infrared radiation) failing that a good waxing iron does a pretty good a job, just don't get the base too hot.

After Champoluc you might find Cervinia a bit bland.

I don't think there is the remotest chance that the French will change the law, the code du sport applies to all sports not just skiing. British skiers make up about 5% of French market so the actual number of skiers wanting this type of service is quite small.

Ski guiding forms a considerable proportion of the work ski instructors do, my ski instructor mates in Zermatt are often booked for a week just to ski with people, book tables for lunch etc. On Saturday evening one of the mountain guides I know told me she had been employed by a group to guide them along a marked snow shoe trail and at the end she got a 300 Franc tip!

As far as the EU goes, directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications states that the member states have the right to lay down the minimum level of qualification required to ensure the quality of the services provided on their territory.

"In the case of the professions covered by the general system for the recognition of qualifications, herein after referred to as 'the general system', Member States should retain the right to lay down the minimum level of qualification required to ensure the quality of the services provided on their territory. However, pursuant to Articles 10, 39 and 43 of the Treaty, they should not require a national of a Member State to obtain qualifications, which they generally lay down only in terms of the diplomas awarded under their national educational system, where the person concerned has already obtained all or part of those qualifications in another Member State. As a result, it should be laid down that any host Member State in which a profession is regulated must take account of the qualifications obtained in another Member State and assess whether they correspond to those which it requires. The general system for recognition, however, does not prevent a Member State from making any person pursuing a profession on its territory subject to specific requirements due to the application of professional rules justified by the general public interest. Rules of this kind relate, for example, to organisation of the profession, professional standards, including those concerning ethics, and supervision and liability. Lastly, this Directive is not intended to interfere with Member States' legitimate interest in preventing any of their citizens from evading enforcement of the national law relating to professions."

Mountain Addiction, on your website http://www.mountainaddiction.co.uk/ you state that a day's ski hosting is included in the price of the holiday. How did you get the notion that you were doing this for free? All the 'free' services you provide aren't free at all; they're included in the price.

AllyG, the law on this is clear and unequivocal, not only in France but also the other alpine countries and as Volf mentioned these laws have been in force for many years. Your translation of encadrer is (in this context) wrong the correct translation is accompanying. Any activity that involves the paid accompaniment of people participating in snow sports has to be carried out by a qualified instructor, details the French qualification and equivalent qualifications are to be found here: http://formationski.prosneige.fr/english/snow-sports-diploma.php

The EU law argument is a non starter as the French are not preventing anybody from working, they are just requiring that the people doing the work are adequately qualified, which they are perfectly entitled to do.

The UK TOs have known this for years, there have been other successful prosecutions but these have largely gone unreported. I suspect that this case has received so much attention because Peter Hardy, the Telegraph's skiing correspondent is also an employee of Le Ski http://www.leski.com/chalet-holidays/clinics.

The Italian law is very similar to the French law, see section 9 of this paper http://bormioforumneve.eu/3_Report/GB/Dr.%20Carlo%20BRUCCOLERI.pdf presented by Dr Dr.Carlo Bruccoleri honorary vice president of the Supreme Court of Cassation (Italy's highest court) to the European law forum on winter sports in 2005.

By writing to the French authorities on this matter you might well have informed them that you have witnessed a crime, maybe the French police will want to interview you.

I would head for the Jungfrau ski region (Grindelwald, Mürren, Wengen) about 2 1/2 hrs by train http://www.jungfrauregion.ch/

Swiss Railways do a package that includes; rail travel, lift pass and ski hire http://www.sbb.ch/en/leisure-holidays/day-trips/snownrail.angebotdetail.tagesausfluege-snownrail-saanerlandberner_oberland-jungfrau_skiregion.html

The SBB also have some special offers on accommodation that might be worth a look http://www.sbb.ch/content/sbb/en/desktop/freizeit-ferien/ferien-kurz-trips-schweiz/spezialangebote.html?_charset_=UTF-8&start=0&keyword=®ion=berneroberland&recommendation=desc

When we came for an interview 20 odd years ago the company sent us to Zermatt for the weekend, to get used to the mountains.

Hope the interview goes well.

SB

As Ian Wickham mentioned earlier this has been going on for years. There was article about the same issue in The Daily Telegraph on 19th Dec. 2001 shortly after the French ministry of sport enacted the current law http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/4180074/British-ski-guides-hit-French-resistance.html

As the law is pretty clear and the penalties are quite severe (up to 1 year's imprisonment and a fine of up to 15,000 Euros) http://www.legifrance.com/affichCode.do?idArticle=LEGIARTI000006547567&idSectionTA=LEGISCTA000006167038&cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006071318&dateTexte=20080208 I'm quite surprised that the TOs offered this service at all and got away with offering it for so long.