VERBIER 2016/17 – WEEK TWO
Getting ready for exams
The Level One exam races up on trainees on any gap course and this season has been no different. No sooner had everybody remembered everyone else’s names then suddenly the Level One was only a few days away.
So they have knuckled down and stuck to the training, pausing only for quiz night in the chalet and a couple of “quiet evenings out”.
But after some excellent grounding by Jake over the first week and half, followed by expert tweaks from Emma (a BASI examiner herself) the team are looking in good shape to give the exam their best shot. All this despite the fact half the team caught one of Verbier’s marauding bugs and had to miss training. But everyone has been nursed back to health and they were ready for the challenge by the weekend.
But if they’ve been training hard surely there’s no time for anything else?
Well, you’d have though so… But there are stories abound, and we won’t embarrass them by repeating it all here.
On the other hand, perhaps we can share a little.
There’s nothing controversial but quite a lot of daftness. For example there was the evening when Jens tried his hardest to trick some bouncers into believing that the bedraggled old wristband he wears was, in fact, an Access All Areas pass to the Polaris event at the club “South”. The bouncers saw through him very quickly. But he tried very, very hard to get them to change their minds…
Then there was the sheer joy on Jaqui’s face when she discovered the “secret late night bakery” that has been sustaining Verbier Seasonaires for decades. It was as if she’d never seen a croissant before – certainly not by the neon light of Verbier’s street lamps… If you ask her now she still gets excited.
And of course the mighty Quiz night – which this week saw fierce competition and (after a few stewards enquiries) Ed, Fi, Matt and Jaqui ran away with the inaugural title. It’s always hard to tell if people are secretly googling the answers but we think it was fair and square.
Meanwhile throughout all this Will and Jens were appointed as Team Leaders for the week. Which meant they were in charge of morning updates on weather and conditions, organisation, planning and largely using all the coloured pens on the white board. The privileges of rank.
But they did an excellent job and it really was a very well drilled and organised week – so much so the new Team Leaders were already decided before Sunday’s meeting.
Then their was the delight which was “Stir Fry-day” (they came up with the pun on their own). This was the culinary treat that everyone enjoyed at the end of the week. Now there are many cliches about men in kitchens but we have to say they gave the whole thing an air of competence. And the girls were far to polite to say anything other than they did very well. We’ll let you know if it’s back next Wok. (Yes, that was also a stir fry pun).
Finally a few early Christmas presents…
With one eye on the Level one exam and another on the upcoming festivities, the trainees had to say a big thank you to Ski Service for an early Christmas present – they each received a rather impressive set of poles, in a range of day-glo colours that went from bright to ridiculous… Will it help them pass their exams? Well, it can’t do any harm – if the Trainer looks at them for too long they might not spot the odd dodgy short turn.
