J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by AllyG

Thanks Brooksy and PrivateBryan :)

I have learnt a lot from what Verbier_Ski, SwingBeep and the others have said - thank you very much :)

But I still think there is a lot more to understand about this. I don't think the ESF or the French government really think ski hosting is dangerous, but clearly there are other problems connected with it, like the issue of ski hosts being paid below the minimum wage, which breaks the law.

I found this, on the ESF Facebook page, which is a French newspaper account of the case.



This is a description of the Smic (French minimum wage standard):

The Minimum Interprofessional Growth Salary (SMIC) sets the minimum hourly wage in France (metropolitan area, overseas departments and overseas collectivities of Saint-Barthélémy, Saint-Martin and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon). An employer may not pay an employee less than this amount set by the Government and risk incurring penalties if they do so, and this regardless of the form in which wages are paid. Since 1 January 2011, the amount has been set at 9 Euros per hour gross, or 1 365Euros per month net, based on a working week of 35 hours. A reduced rate can be applied in certain cases, particularly for apprentices. The SMIC is automatically re-evaluated on 1 January every year. It can also be re-evaluated in the case of an increase in the consumer price index exceeding 2%.


http://www.france.fr/en/working/ins-and-outs-employment/professional-relations/all-about-smic

That's good Ian :D

We're keeping to the same date, Sunday 2nd February 2014. Costs at the moment are looking to be about £100 cheaper than Kronplatz, but we haven't got anything confirmed yet.

We had a last minute change of heart, and we're currently considering Folgarida, which is linked to Madonna di Campiglio. It's also in the Italian Dolomites, but in the Brenta Dolomites.

verbier_ski_bum wrote:
"animate" means to entertain.

Thanks for that :)

You mean, entertain as in perform in a ski show or something?

Seeing as we're on a new page now, I'll put 'animate' back into context:

The laws governing sport in France say that it is illegal to 'teach, lead, guide, animate' without an appropriate professional qualification.

If the ESF want to increase the number of British holidaymakers who take lessons with them, one thing I would suggest is that they improve the standard of English spoken by their instructors.

I have had lots of lessons with the ESF and sometimes this has been a real problem. In Meribel in January 2 years ago, for example, we couldn't work out what our ESF instructor was trying to say. Luckily for us, one of the group lived in Jersey and was practically bilingual, and he translated for us.

To be perfectly truthful, I don't even understand what the ESF are trying to say in their 'statement' about the ski hosting. What does 'animate' mean? My English dictionary says it means 'breathe life into' ...

STATEMENT ISSUED ON BEHALF OF ESF FOLLOWING COURT RULING AGAINST LE SKI

The laws governing sport in France say that it is illegal to 'teach, lead, guide, animate' without an appropriate professional qualification.
http://www.esf-uk.co.uk/news

It does seem as though the ESF think that British ski hosting loses them customers. But I'm not sure it really does. Ski hosting and ski lessons are totally different things.

This is a quote from:
http://www.france2wheels.com/thoughts-on-french-ski-hosting/

Does hosting take business away from local ski school? Very little. Mountain guides? Not at all. Hosting really performs a social function, giving skiers other skiers to ski with.

Maybe the ESF are losing customers, but I think it's more likely due to the recession than to ski hosting. Lessons are expensive, so I suppose if it's a choice of not going ski-ing at all, or cutting out the lessons, people are opting to save money by not having lessons.

I nearly always have at least one lesson when I go ski-ing, and during my latest holiday I had ski hosting AND an ESF lesson.

I was thinking about having an ESF lesson when I go ski-ing again in a few days, but I'm not sure now, if there's going to be a lot of bad feeling going on towards the British holidaymaker. I usually get on really well with my ESF instructors, and we have a good laugh, as well as a lesson. So I am feeling a bit sad about that :(

SwingBeep wrote:

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

SwingBeep - I like group lessons and learning new things :)

I have no idea how I broke my big toe in a mogul lesson :(

SwingBeep wrote:

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.

Thanks SwingBeep - I must have got confused somewhere :oops:

I thought the BASI level 1 training course was what they're offering on here, for only £520:

http://www.basi.org.uk/content/alpine-level-1-course.aspx