Yes, Toby has been sacked as the director of the weather report and we’ve drafted in Nick to show us how to do arty things. I think you’ll agree it feels more like a sequence from and episode of Top Gear rather than the usual shaky weather report…

Once again Sophie steps in front of the camera, although if you’re all very good Kent will be doing one in the very near future. So behave yourselves.

 

Last week Martin hosted a bumps clinic for some of the resort staff. Braving tropical heat we all headed up to the slushy bumps of La Chaux.

Here are the highlights…T

Yes, we decided to celebrate everything retro (for a definition of what Retro really means see our previous analysis of Chamonix), and to celebrate we chose the medium of Kenta.

Now, in the bad old days a trip out with the boys in one-pieces would have been a rather messy day indeed, but as a responsible father of two we down-graded today’s activities to some mogul skiing, a sensible lunch at Cabane Mont Fort and a couple of glasses of wine. Dole Blanche, of course.

An apology…

OK, to make sure we could surprise Kent we needed a cover story. So we put a lesson in the planning for a Mr Kamprad. The man who started IKEA. To Kent this was like skiing with Royalty so he spent the preceding weeks telling his friends, family, people in the street, his wife’s family. He was a very excited little boy.

On top of that minor white lie, his beautiful wife Sterling and their children have just got back from a trip to the States to see her family, so we would be taking Kent away from his family duties and leaving Sterling with two little jet-lagged daughters.

So we want to apologise to Sterling for the deceit, and Mr Kamprad for spreading rumours he was on holiday in Verbier…

The result:

Was a rather amusing day, as we delicately explained to Kent that there was no booking: “No, Kent, there is no client. Honestly. I lied. You are going to lunch with us. No, Kent, Mr Kamprad is not coming to lunch….”

Yup, it’s spring. And yes it’s not freezing. And snow falls are a distant memory. But does this mean we can’t go skiing? Hell no. Because spring skiing is arguably the best time of year – it’s too icy to bother getting up early, it’s great midday-ish, and by mid-afternoon we can all knock it on the head and get the lift down.

Beyond that, we all know (if you’ve done enough seasons) that just when you switch off and start wearing flip flops, then the weather turns and it throws down a few feet of snow. So let’s enjoy the sun and wait for winter to make a last minute cheeky appearance…

(PS is you read that there’s no snow in the Alpes, take it with a pinch of salt – yes, below 2000m it’s a bit iffy, and south facing resorts are in trouble, but nice high north facing resorts like, oh, I don’t know, Verbier, are holing up rather well).