Training in Alpe D'Huez

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Bonsoir ! Can you believe I've been here a month already and this week we had another 40cms of snow. Chamonix is looking quite Christmassy. The Christmas lights were turned on in town last weekend and there was vin chaud for everyone.

Have my saisonnaire lift pass and think I will be out on the slopes for the first time this weekend. Have Fri/Sat off but have to work Sun as we have first arrivals this weekend so the real work begins. So far its been more like a holiday ! Office is very relaxed, last Friday we had finished all our pre season set up work so took out a minibus for some resort orientation via a brasserie for lunch - traditional savoyarde tartiflette - and via Carrefour to stock up on groceries.

We've had two resort accounts training courses in Alpe D'Huez down in the Southern Alps, first time training Resort Mgrs and this week Reps. Both trips have been mini holidays, involving compulsory attendance on the reps bar crawl, quiz night and shopping trips on the way at Lake Annecy and IKEA as we were either taking vehicles to the garage for snow tyres or picking up new minibuses on the way and had a few hours to kill in between.

My colleague Rosy and I take it in turns to drive. Rosy was a minibus driver on montage and rep for Keycamp this summer in SW France so we talk alot about working on campsites and get on well. We arrived in Alpe D'Huez in a blizzard on Monday night, 21 hairpin bends not much fun when you can't see the road, but all in a days work and worth it for the view next morning.

Training went well, caught up with a few familiar faces from my previous Winter season and Al Fresco and have now met all the resort reps I will be working with over the Winter. I am responsible for ensuring correct weekly accounts are submitted for Alpe D'Huez, Les Deux Alpes, Meribel and various smaller resorts in the Southern Alps. I will also be visiting the resorts during the season and helping out on the occasional transfer day at the airport. Season starts here ! 18 weeks to go.....

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