The Echo Week 10 by The Val Echo

ISSUE 1410 | JAN 25, 2019

THE

ECHO

FREE WEEKLY GUIDE TO VAL D’ISERE

M A G A Z I N E

NEWGEN’S FREERIDE CHARITY DAY

LIFE OF A RADIO STAR

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTIST

COVER ART By Max Samuel Interview: Page 10

PROUDLY PRESENTED BY THE FOLIE DOUCE ART PROJECT Each week, the front cover of The Echo is going to be a different artwork produced by mostly local artists, but also several from further afield. This project is being very generously supported by La Folie Douce, whose contribution is allowing the artists to be paid ahead of time for their work, as both Folie and The Echo firmly believe in paying people for their skills.

If you’re interested in drawing/painting/ collaging/ creating something in whatever medium takes your fancy, please get in touch by emailing contact@valecho.co.uk and we can discuss. Equally, if you’re interested in writing for the magazine or have ideas for a feature, drop us a line. At the end of the season, the plan is to

We want to encourage a community of creators and give people a space to use their talents, even if whilst out here, many are taking a break from “regular life”. Prints of the artwork are available to purchase on The Echo website, www. valecho.co.uk/shop, with profits going to the artists.

hold an exhibition of all The Echo covers from the winter, and again Folie Douce is supporting this endeavour, as it fits with their creative vision. We can’t wait to see what the artists come up with each week and look forward to talking to them about their work and life in or out of the mountains.

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www.valecho.co.uk contact@valecho.co.uk Please recycle the magazine once you have read it. Or better still, hand it on to someone else. Contributors: Sam Box, Ben Pryor, Caitlin Kennedy

RESORT GUIDE

RADIO STAR

We sat down with the legend that is Benoît Launay, the life and soul behind Radio Val d’Isere to talk about his life and love of the mountains.

EVENT GUIDE

What’s on this week: - Town events - Bar nights - Sporting competitions

CHARITY FREESTYLE

NewGen are putting on a day of Freestyle lessons, with the proceeds going to the incredible charity Snowcamp. Here’s all the info.

The down-low on everything from the best restaurants to the numbers to call in an emergency

SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTIST

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We chat to Max Samuel, the designer of this week’s cover art. The Echo’s cover is generously sponsored by La Folie Douce

14 OUT OF THE BUBBLE A satirical spin on the week’s events from further afield than the Espace Killy

LEGENDS OF VAL A deadly serious interview with our Seasonaire of the Week. This week, Dan Bridle takes to the limelight.

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SPOTLIGHT ON THE ARTIST Artist: Max Samuel

Have you ever met an ibex? No, I haven’t, but smaller breeds of goat yes. They’re definitely curious creatures. Favourite place to ski? Ahhh hard to say, anywhere can be great with good snow. Niseko, Japan or Craigieburn Valley, New Zealand maybe. How was your time in St Foy? I was there last year. Oh my god there was a lot of snow! I definitely had some good powder days there- it has amazing off piste and backcountry. Does art make its way into your professional life at all? Not so much, but one of my goals this year is to focus a little more on my art and hopefully people will like it enough to buy it. Currently, I have a small display up at a café in Devon. Would you rather be an ibex or a golden eagle?

What do you enjoy about drawing animals? I love being out in nature and the outdoors, drawing animals is a way to connect a little more with that. Plus I find them more fun to draw that people. What inspired your cover? Just an idea, when I got asked to do a cover I immediately thought of mountains, then a mountain goat.

Easy, eagle any day. Why climb when you can fly!

ORS

A S T Y V A I D C R T U

SAT

PLANKS PHOTO COMPETITION

Each week the winner of the Planks Photo Competition wins themselves a Planks beanie from the flagship store in town. Prize must be collected within a week of winning. This weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winner: Carrie Rolls Enter at www.valecho.co.uk/competitions

OUT OF THE BUBBLE By Ben Pryor

Sometimes news stories require I set aside my sardonic quill. Before normal service resumes, a fire in a seasonnaire residence in Courchevel last weekend injured 25 and killed 2. A tragedy, only prevented from being worse by the vigilance of the pompiers, to whom we should always be grateful. Thoughts go out to the victims and their families. The last thing the Alps needs is more hot air, yet the annual pilgrimage by private jet to Davos for the World Economic Forum to watch world leaders, economic titans and Bono awkwardly try to pair a bespoke

14 suit with a liveried ski jacket from a corporate sponsor continues unabashed. The U2 frontman compared capitalism to a wild beast which needs taming. Investing in a Maltese business incorporating a Lithuanian shopping centre, then subsequently transferring it to Guernsey for 0% corporate taxes is a wild beast indeed. Never thought Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be comparing a good tax accountant to a lion tamer. The Donald chose not to attend Davos this year; given former PM Tony B Liar is there, one of them has to stay home to run Hell. With the US government still in shutdown and Nancy Pelosi not letting him into Congress to deliver the State of the Union (presumably two words, one of which rhymes with ducked) he turned his Twittering fingers on Venezuela, recognising opposition leader Juan Guiado as interim

president after suspected rigged elections. Many other nations did the same, but none of them have a four times bankrupted property magnate calling out the regime of a former bus driver; physician, heal thyself. This week’s parade of the odious ends with former SNP leader Alex Salmond, arrested on 2 counts of rape and 9 of sexual assault. His conduct was investigated by the Scottish government late last year. The case collapsed but not before he’d shamelessly crowdfunded over £100k to pay for his defence. Any excess was pledged to good causes in Scotland, which leaves enough latitude (in the moral vacuum which he inhabits) to re-appropriate them for his impending legal expenses. A man offering tours around Afghanistan has branded himself as having the most

dangerous job in the world; clearly hasn’t met the security guard who has to ride shotgun next to Prince Philip. A German design firm unveiled plans to solve London’s housing crisis by converting Buckingham Palace’s 775 rooms into affordable flats for 50,000 Londoners; based on a camp blueprint from 1940 by any chance. A man who provided the speakers from his gym for his sister’s wedding was left embarrassed after his phone connected and played what he watched the night before; while he was keen to enjoy a fitful night’s slumber a wedding night prequel wasn’t appreciated. And finally, US police said Wayne Rooney reeked of booze and could only talk in ‘broken English’ when arrested at Washington DC airport; someone should’ve told them they were aiming too high. Until next week, I’m off to book tickets for Mario Draghi at Glastonbury.

LEGENDS OF VAL

Dan Bridle is a chef at YSE on his 4th season in Val.

here?

Starting work in Val d’Isère at the beginning and becoming part of the English community. Because I love it: it’s such a tight knit family. And do you think you’ll stay out here for a while longer. Yeah definitely. I love cooking and I love the proximity of friends. You can walk into Blue Note or Fall Line and be instantly surrounded by 10 people you know. What do you do in summer? I’m very undecided on what I do in the summer. I’ve worked in bars, as a bricklayer, all sorts. Stripper?

How did that photo of you with the C word across your head appear in The Echo (we acquired it under very mysterious circumstances- it was sent by the Tourist Office with no explanation). Well it was just before Christmas and as I’m seeing a girl, a friend found this photo and thought a framed print out of the picture in question would be a great secret Santa present. Which it would have been, but he bailed and got her a pencil instead. What a let down! Tell us about the origins of the photo The original picture was taken at a festival and my mum didn’t speak to me for two months after seeing it. I was away from home at the time and she would only email me due to the shame. She kept saying “Your sisters are on facebook!” And presumably your sisters saw this picture. What did they think? They thought it was really funny! What’s been your proudest moment out

Is that your dream job? That is the dream really. To set up a strip club in Val where only I take my clothes off. What do you actually want to be when you grow up? I want to be an establishment owner. I want to run a restaurant that has a bar attached. I’d like to manage a team, because I think I work well with people. Nice, that’s a very grown up plan and we’d trust you in charge of an establishment any day. Who is your man crush? (Without skipping a beat) Henry Hazel, barman extraordinaire at the Fall Line. 100% What is it you love about him? (Again, not a breath of hesitation) His eyelashes. Wow- I’ll have to check them out next time I’m in there.

19 What one thing would you take to a desert island I’d take Alex Allen and his abundance of 15 Elysées wearing ‘gilets jaunes’ in whatever he would bring.

Great. OK back to normality, do you ski with music and what’s your go-to song to get you in the groove?

cause it ‘promotes cruelty’; sameone could be When I’m on my own, I ski with protest. Macron’s comment, ‘You cannot said of their in, abuse of thesafety English language. headphone because first folks. be pro-environment on Monday and when No that’s cheating. Al isn’t allowed to And at theGuard moment, my go to song is enUS Coast reported a giant turtle, Tuesday comes be against rising fuel prices’ bring anything either. So you’re basically Unstoppable by Sia, because it makes me meshed in a rope holding 800Kg of cocaine is the kind of irrefutable logic which goes stuck with just him for the rest of your feel powerful and unstoppable. worth £41m; bet it was Donatello. A former down like a fish milkshake with opponents, life. He’s the only person you can talk but should be deployed against those deMiss Moscow, 25, has married Malaysia’s to for Amazon all of time eternity one of And what do you do when you’re crying and Googleor foruntil tax evasion King Muhammad V, 49, after converting to you the other. unstoppable? who kills wouldn’t forego a free internet search for the cheapest online deal in a month of Ok… I’m sticking with Alex Allen. Final Sundays.

answer.

Indonesia has launched a ‘heresy app’ to report Marry, anyone Kill: practicing ‘unorthodox Snog, The Mayor of Val interpretations’ of Box its recognised religions; well, d’Isere, Sam and a marmotte. pass my lover a bacon sandwich. A teenager matched with Sam his sister Tinder;I think yes, Alright, I’d snog Box on because that does mean they both right and that’s always good fun. I’d swiped kill the Mayor yes they do liveBob in the US. PETA because of the Marley Songhas of dea manded the village of Wool, derived from similar theme and I’d marry the marmotte. the Anglo-Saxon ‘welle’ meaning a water spring, change its name to Vegan Wool be-

Islam and taking the name Rihana; better Ihope spin.that To the left.app I diddoesn’t a 180 on heresy getStep-Up rolled out last year. across the region.

Damn, that’s a lot of airtime for a 180- it And finally, Poundland’s Christmas advert must have been the slowest turn in the hasever. come under fire for mocking Elton air

John’s advert for John Lewis, depicting one Yeah, it was prettyanother slow, but landofit.his elf orally relieving satI did on top piano; wonder if he was singing ‘Can you Well done Dan, can’t wait seeweek, whatI’m Feel the Love Tonight’. Untilto next you have in store this year. off to drink from a woolly spring.

OFF PISTE SNOW REPORT

and stable at the same time. We think it will stay stable until there is a load of new snow on top.

So for now, this soft snow is great to ski Brought to you by Henry’s Avalanche Talk on, with a nice sugary www.henrysavalanchetalk.com texture and minimal avalanche risk. But Variable weather ahead with a little fresh when, and if, we receive snowfall. Expecting light significant amounts of snow landing on top of snow on Sunday and it and loading it up, we more significant new snow on Wednesday. In can expect it will get the meantime there will very unstable indeed. be cold temperatures and some sun, some cloud and some light The biggest risk to off-piste skiers at the snowfall. But not much wind. Signs are the moment is currently more from sliding than from avalanches. Some exposed slopes weather is a lot more unstable after 2nd are very wind-hardened. Particularly on Feb – we will see. warmer S facing slopes, the surface can be quite crusted and hard due to melting and There are some lovely cold soft snow refreezing. We’ve certainly been gritting conditions around though, particularly on our teeth on some icy morning traverses high N facing slopes. Over the last few dry, sunny days we’ve been walking to find on our way to the better snow on the more sheltered N faces! any off-piste snow that’s not been tracked out. It’s noticeable how many people have The forecast shows possible snowfall on touring equipment nowadays, with the Sunday or at the beginning of next week same idea in mind! but how much we actually get is yet to be seen. Just 5 cm or so would be a great help Off-Piste Snow & Weather Report 26 and it will still be very stable. This would be 31 Jan 2019 very welcome. Until we receive any substantial amount Off-piste weather forecast for 26 to 30 (30 to 40 cm) of fresh snowfall or snow January accumulated by the wind, the snowpack will remain stable to ski on. The avalanche SATURDAY 26 risk is currently around 1 to 2 on the Mountain conditions improve with the European scale of 5. See our descriptions return of clearings during the day. The of what all the avalanche danger ratings cold in the morning fades with significant mean. warming in the afternoon (isotherm 0 at With recent bitterly cold temperatures, the snowpack is becoming more and more unconsolidated with every passing day. But a snowpack can be both unconsolidated

Good Condish by Wayne Watson

900 and 2500 meters). The NE wind remains on the ridges (gusts 30 to 60 km / h) after a strong gust of wind at night. Expect a disturbance in the weather in the night from the north (to be confirmed). SUNDAY 27 AND

MONDAY 28 JANUARY The weather remains variable with sunny spells and some showers. TUESDAY 29 AND WEDNESDAY 30 JANUARY The weather is mostly cloudy. Scattered snow is expected

THURSDAY 31 AND FRIDAY 1 FEBRUARY Passage of disturbances bringing snow in mountain alternating with clearings. Tip of the week Observe the quality of the snow you find at different aspects and altitudes. This will help you predict which slopes offer good snow for skiing and which will be difficult. With the cold temperatures and a snowpack which is not very thick, a persistent weak layer is forming, which weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll need to watch out for for the rest of the season.

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RADIO STAR We sat down with Benoît, who headed Radio Val d’Isère for over 30 years and grew it into the incredible service it is today.

Have you always lived in the mountains? No, originally I come from the West of France; Normandy, Brittany and Vendée. After my Graduate studies in Nantes, I became a French teacher, but since I was young I always used to play around with records and would be mixing every day after school. From the age of 11, I decided I wanted to work in radio. One day, during the February holidays, I was in a discotheque with a friend who said that tomorrow, he would leave for Chamonix. Without a second thought, I told him, “I’m coming with you” and I never returned.

Office. The studio, if I can call it that, was incredibly small. At the beginning, there was no internet, no mobile phones, so if you wanted to get hold of someone, you had to be sure that they were at the other end of the line as communication was all by wired telephone. And of course, everything was vinyl because it was before the advent of CDs. So to ensure we had a 24-hour emission, we recorded tapes to broadcast at night. We had two Revox tape recorders and I had to create an electronic system that would cause the second one to play when the tape on the first one finished. This went wrong a lot! I’d arrive at the radio the next morning, with the tape just spinning, and no radio on. You can often be found taken some electronic system or gadget apart. Have you always been good with your hands when it comes to technology? Yes, but I never really had a choice. We didn’t have a lot of funds at the radio in the early days so you had no choice but to figure out how something worked and fix it when it went wrong. Having said that, it is something I’ve always been drawn to since I was very young, so I have a knack for it.

Rumour has it you had long hair and were in a band. Was that around the same time that In Chamonix, I became a DJ in a disco and you were making mixes? (With a smile) Yes, round also worked as a producer at a national about that time, when I was radio station based in Chamonix: FR3. 15 years old, I was in a Rock From there, I went to Avoriaz where I was Band. We had no transistors director of Radio Avoriaz for 4 years. and didn’t know how to work the amp. But we would go to How did you end up in Val d’Isere? The director of the Val d’Isère Tourist Office a friend’s house in the country and play the opening bars to had heard about me and, in 1985, came Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the to Avoriaz with a proposition to help get Water” all weekend. Radio Val d’isère off the ground. Prior to that, it existed but only on a small scale. My That must have been fun for response: Of course, but I come with my team! That wasn’t a problem, so we arrived his parents! Who has been your favourite interviewee and completely restructured the radio, over the years? which even then was based in the Tourist

27 It’s hard; I’ve

interviewed so many people in my life. Peter Gabriel, The Jackson 5, Robert de Niro… It’s hard to choose. Certainly, it was an absolute pleasure to host Val Rock in 1987, 88 and 89, with huge names at the time performing in Val d’Isère and doing acoustic sessions in this very studio. Groups like Scorpion played- they were fabulous and those are cherished memories.

There’s a great photo of you on what I imagine was a very early iteration of a snowboard. How did snowboarding arrive in Val d’Isere? A gentleman by the name of Jean-Pierre Raymond starting boarding with wooden planks from his garage. His children are actually still in Val d’Isère. He was very passionate about surfing on snow and he quickly became very popular in the world of snowboarding. Many, many people asked him for snowboards that he constructed out of wood. And that’s how snowboarding started in 1986. Later, a Parisian who was passionate about snowboarding came to Val d’Isère and wanted to test all the types of board. They decided on a shape with a swallow tail at the back.

And did you try it? Yes of course. It was tough to begin with because we used Why didn’t Val Rock continue? ski boots and there Money! We used a lot of it, broke weren’t proper everything and drank everything. bindings, just metal plates which Understandably not the most successful we tried to strap business model. Has an interview ever ourselves onto. But gone wrong? it was very exciting The most catastrophic interview I ever did having a totally was with Kim Wilde. I wasn’t prepared, she new thing to try on arrived, and the champagne was warm. Plus, the microphone the snow. didn’t work. We Did you prefer monoskiing or must have seemed snowboarding? like such amateurs! Monoskiing, without a doubt! I used to go I did notice, in a lot monoskiing every day with a young man named Luc who worked with me at the of the old photos radio. As soon as the morning show was of the early days, over, we went monoskiing. Good weather, champagne makes bad weather, it didn’t matter. One day, after an appearance? a dump of snow, we got to the top of The Yes, it was in our Face and Luc turned his monoski down the contract that we hill and straightlined it. Suddenly I heard a had a bottle of yell and said to myself, that’s it, he’s dead, champagne every as I’d seen him go straight over a rocky day. outcrop. To my relief, he got back up, but the monoski, had turned into duoskis- it had Times have split right down the middle! certainly changed!

But monoskiing was fabulous for off-piste skiing. In fact I monoskied the whole way from Val d’Isère to La Plagne. Now that was a lot of poling! My arms were double the size by the time I got there. That’s incredible! Have you ever entered the Monoski World Championships? No… I’d be too good. What’s been the biggest change to the Radio since you started out here? When I started, the size of the studio was literally arms width. It was just the space where the old ski lift chairs now are and that was it. So I think one of the biggest changes is the sheer size of the radio. And then of course, technological changes have made a big difference. As I mentioned before, we had two tape recorders that were supposed to switch over when one finished. But when it failed, we would have to spend hours winding the tape back up, which was incredibly frustrating. And working with vinyl records, the turntables were 40kg. Nowadays, all the adverts run automatically, but back in the day, we would have to take one tape off and put another bobbin in with 5 or 6 ads on it. Everything had to be done by hand. And without computers, the Piste report was very time intensive. You were on the phone for 20 minutes filling in the sheet from each pisteur. And presumably, the snow and ski report from the radio was even more important for

people back then as they 28 had no other way of getting that information? Exactly! There was no internet, or twitter feed, or any means of knowing what was going on except the radio. I remember one night when we had a very heavy snowstorm, I just had to stay at the radio all night so that every hour we could broadcast and tell people “Don’t leave your homes. The avalanche risk is too high. The roads are inaccessible”. What is your favourite gadget at the moment? That would definitely be my Bose noise-cancelling headphones. It’s such an incredible breakthrough in technology and a real revolution for me. I put them on and enter a totally silent world, which I love. In contrast, I do not like social media. I have great fear about the future of the human race with regards to its social networks. It is not something that brings about happiness and I find the interactions to be very false. Do you prefer summer or winter here? I prefer summer. The scenery is more varied with many more colours in the summer. The flowers are beautiful and all the animals come out. Also you can move much more easily - half an hour’s walk in any direction and you emerge in a totally untouched world. The bearded vulture has given its name to the WIFI in the radio and is always top

of the news bulletin. What do you love about them? Often it’s not so much the animals themselves, magnificent as they are, but the shadow of them soaring over the mountains. In a sky with few birds, you look up and ask yourself what is this mysterious huge shape up above? They are utterly majestic. I have spent many days observing them up in the hills in the summer and know all their habits. They are beautiful birds- I prefer the bearded vulture to the eagle. I also love to watch the marmottes in the summer. I have spent whole days in front of a burrow to film them, getting just 50 centimeters away. One thing I noticed is that these marmottes got used to my presence. When I first arrived they were very shy but at the end of three or four days with them, they were no longer afraid and I could film them easily. It takes time though, and a lot of patience. Eventually

I could recognise individual marmottes because they have different character traits and different faces, with specific scars (as they fight a lot). I knew if the marmotte I observed on a certain day was the same one I was watching yesterday. Final question: how did you come to use words so beautifully (Benoit’s daily weather report is always the most poetic description of a sky you could ever hope to read)? Because I love the French language. And because I was a French teacher. In French, we can say so many beautiful things. For example, if we say, “it is good weather”, that’s fine. But If we say, “our solar star that warms the skin is shining bright in a cerulean heaven”, it is much more beautiful. I love the music that the French language makes. Everyone is talking the same way. And I don’t want to talk in the same way as everyone else. I want to speak differently to say the same things.

26TH Cocorico - Après Ski Live Music: The Trends Victors - Seasonaire Saturdays. Tacos & Tequila. Petit Danois - Live Music - Joe & Will 5pm. DJ PSD 10pm

27TH

Le Hibou - Curry Night - Curry & A Pint/Glass of wine for only €15. Served 14.30 - 21.30. Cocorico - Après Ski Live Music: Hobo Chic La Folie Douce - Sunday - The Danish are coming Blue Note - Cheap Cocktails. 22h-23.30h

Le Lodge - DJ K2 11:30pm-1:30am

Petit Danois - Live Music - Goldbeat 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 10pm

Dick’s Tea Bar- Industry Night B2B Resident DJ Megan and Jack Igglesden (Petit Danois)

Moris - Toss the Boss. 22h-00h

Moris - Two for one 1080s. 1/2 Price Chiken Wings Doudoune - Vintage Fever by Kevin Delmix

Next Bar - AZREL & friends (Techno, 100% vinyl) Saloon - Apres Live music: Mullit & The Machine 17h-19h, DJ Funksoul Bruvva 22h30-01h30 Doudoune- Latin Feeling by Kelian Marques Dick’s Tea Bar - Dirty Sunday w Alex Marshall

30TH La Folie Douce - WTF Party

Cocorico - Après Live M

Cocorico - Après Ski Live Music: Les Lunettes

La Folie Douce -La Fol Find 1 of 5 tokens to wi

Le Hibou - Wings Wednesday IN TOWN - Free Cross Country Relay Ski Race 18.30. Prizes for winners. Vin chaud for all. Arctic - Local’s Breakfast: Porridge + Latte 8€ Next Bar - ANTON X (Techno Underground Bananas - Garage & Bassline Night - B2B DJs. Happy Hour 22.30-23.30 Petit Danois - Live music - Gallie 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 10pm Moris - Live Music: 8PM onwards - Hobo Chic. Evening- Tenacious Ski Dick’s Tea Bar - After Dinner Club w/ Pocket Size Dave, Sophia and Alex (Violin and Sax) Doudoune- Hip Hop & Urban w Kelian Marques

Le Hibou - Quiz Night €50 bar tab, 2nd Prize -

Saloon - Live music The

Petit Danois- Live Mus PSD 10pm

Moris - Toffee Thursda Mullit & The Machine. E

IN TOWN - Airstar Nig entertainment and free Dick’s Tea Bar - LUNA Anthony

Doudoune- Ladies Nig

COCORICO - 2-4pm Happy Hour, Live Music every day from BLUE NOTE - Happy Hour with Hot Gin and Nibbles from 3 to 6pm FALL LINE - Happy Hour 3-5pm PETIT DANOIS - Happy Hour 2 for 1 on Beers and Drinks 4-5pm & 9-10pm. Food served all day. DJ Jack Igglesden every day from 10pm. BANANAS - Seasonaire Menu: 3 Courses and a beer/wine/soft drink for €20

28TH

29TH

La Folie Douce - Discopolis

Cocorico - Après Ski Live Music: The Trends

Arctic - Juice Pump - Do 30 Push Ups and get 50% off Juice or Coffee

La Folie Douce - Too Many Lefthands

Cocorico - Après Live Music: Blazin’ Strings

CCAS. Open & free for musicians with VVD card Petit Danois - Live music - The Revolverlites 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 10pm

IN TOWN - Free Avalanche talk with the ESF in English at 6pm at snowfront kindergarten chalet Vie Val d’Is - Weekly Language Exchange. Free French lesson for VVD card holders at 8pm Petit Danois - Live Music - Mullit & The Machine 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 10pm Moris - 2 for 1 Burgers. Live Music: Apres- Max Whittal. Evening- Goldbeat Next Bar - SONITH (reggae, world music) Doudoune - Crazy Monday by Kevin Delmix Dick’s Tea Bar - Resident DJ’s Megan and Alex Marshall

31ST

Music: MAPS

lie Douce Treasure Hunt in a prize

21.30 Kick off! 1st Prize - Bottle of wine

e Jawbones Two 17h-19h

sic Guinea Pigs 5pm. DJ

ays! Live Music: Après Evening - Blazing Strings

ght. Light show, street e vin chaud on main street Thursday with Brent

ght by Kevin Delmix

Vie Val d’Is - Jam session from 8pm at the

Moris-Tequila Tuesday. Live Music: Après-Daisy

B & Tom. Evening- Chop Shop Arctic - Tag us in what you’ve been fuelled to explore. Best picture gets a free juice. Energy shot for all entrants

Saloon- Apres Live music: Big Mountain17h-19h Doudoune- CocoLoco Techno night Guest DJs K2 and Matt Davies. By Phil Garner Dicks Tea Bar - DJ Nicolas Monier

1ST Cocorico - Après Ski Live Music: Pink Miami Le Hibou - Prosecco Fridays with Prosecco Cocktails for €5.50 Petit Danois - Live Music - Karen & Andreas 5pm. DJ Jack Igglesden 10pm

Dicks Tea Bar - After Dinner Club with Pocket Sized Dave accompanied by Sax and Violin Moris - Fizz Friday €20 Prosecco. Live Music: Evening- The Trends 6 NATIONS - France vs Wales 21.00. Shown in Fall Line, Blue Note, Hibou, Danois... Doudoune - Cirque du Soul w/ Guest DJ Dazed. By Phil Garner

UNDERGROUND - Après Ski Tapas from 5pm LE PETIT CUISINE - Daily 12 - 3pm - Seasonaire Meal Deal VICTORS - Cocktail Hour 9-11pm LE LODGE - Happy Hour 4:30-7:30pm €4 large beer SALOON - 3-6pm Happy Hour 2 for 1 on beer wine and more. ARCTIC - Weekend Midday Refuel: Soul Bowl or Sandwich plus a latté for only 10€ (+2€ to add a juice)

SWITCH-180 FREESTYLE DAY

What NewGen are putting on a Charity Freestyle Day. Three groups running: Intro to freestyle ski, intro to freestyle snowboard and then an advanced freestyle ski group. Where Val d’Isère Park. Meet at the bottom of the Val Park drag lift. When Wednesday 6th February 11.30am to 3.30pm. With Who With the instructors at NewGen who specialise in Freestyle. Mike will be teaching the introduction to freestyle group, Julian is with the snowboard group and Jerome is running the top group he’s won instructor awards for his freestyle teaching. How the day will pan out Once you’ve met your instructor, you’ll have a warm up, get introduced and find out what your aims are for the day. With freestyle it’s good because you can do lap coaching, so the instructors can cater for a range of levels. You’ll also learn how to ski in

36 the park safely. The plan is to have a bit of a social session afterwards by heading to Folie or Cocorico. We may have some goody bag prizes to win as well, which the instructors can run a competition for. What’s the Charity bit about? The Instructors have donated their time, so the lesson’s costs will all be donated to the Snowcamp Charity. We started working with Snowcamp this year and every resort is doing something different. The plan is for this year to raise as much as we can for them, but in future, take a more involved, collaborative approach so that we work with the young people who have been through their instructor programme. We also want to have seasonaires and clients on board with mutual fundraising. So last week we did a trial charity session with clients over in Tignes in which we asked a group who’d agreed to come on board what they’d like to do and then afterwards they donated what they thought the lesson was worth to Snowcamp. It ended up being a bumps session, which was unusual - normally people hate moguls, but it went really well and that kicked off the fundraising efforts. For those that don’t know, Snowcamp is a charity that gives disadvantaged inner city kids the opportunity to develop skills in the world of snowsports. From week long courses on dry ski slopes in the UK all the way up to mountains based training to complete their BASI 1, Snowcamp mentors disenfranchised young people and opens up a door to them that might otherwise have stay closed. Why is it important for Newgen to support

charities like Snowcamp? Well initially when we set up Giving, the charitable arm of the company, we wanted to make sure any charities we supported had some kind of link to us as a ski school based in the French Alps. Last year, we donated clothes and funds to some Calais based charities, which we felt was relevant, as obviously a lot of people drive through Calais on their way out and winter is the worst time for refugees in camps. We always have spare staff uniform, which is very warm so it made sense to donate it. NewGen has also worked with a company called B1G1, which is an umbrella organisation which links us with charities all over the world. Through that we have various giving schemes set up. For instance we have a one for one promise meaning that for every hour’s teaching we deliver on the snow, we give a day’s education to a child in India, which links to the teaching aspect of our work. But a lot of this work can feel quite remote, so we were keen to support a more local charity that works within the snowsports sector. Snowcamp ticked all the boxes. We’re keen to get our team donating their time in the UK as well, so that was another attraction. Longer term, we would like to have some of their apprentices come out and train with us. For instructors out here, it would be a great opportunity for them to be involved, especially if they are non British, as we have instructors from all over the place. Which group should I sign up for? The beginner groups are for people that really haven’t done a lot in the park. If you’re landing 360s, then best to sign up for the advanced group. But even more advanced freestyle skiers who are throwing

bigger tricks can get a lot out of the day. The instructors we have lined up are really good with helping you judge your run in, fix over-rotation problems, that sort of thing. And there will be maximum group sizes of 8 so people can get plenty of individual feedback. What advice do you have to get prepared in the run up to the session? With freestyle we usually get people that are either super-keen and willing to throw themselves off anything, or people that want to give it a go, but are maybe a bit nervous. My advice would be if you’re interested, don’t worry, just book on, because it’ll be a really fun day and we really do aim to cater to all abilities. There’s no pressure in terms of previous experience or getting to a certain point, it’s more just about trying to get a bit better and meeting other people who are keen on freestyle, whilst raising money for a good cause in the process I’m hooked and now want to be the next Woodsy. What other freestyle sessions do you have lined up? We usually do some week long freestyle coaching in the spring, which is a great way to hone your skills and really progress. So watch this space for more info on that nearer the end of the season, when the weather warms up and the landings aren’t quite as rock hard. How do I sign up? Contact either: Emily (Val d’Isere) valdisere@skinewgen. com 0651854341 Holly (Tignes) tignes@skinewgen.com 0651236729 We have a donation page set up on our website so we will probably get people to donate directly to that. The 4 hours teaching costs 40€ so you’d be hard pushed to find a better value session.

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NEW STYLE

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TALK OF THE TOWN

Doyouthinkhesaurus

It is an unspoken understanding that people that wear animal onesies about town are not worthy of nice things. However, it would appear that we have found an exception. If said animal is extinct and oversized, it can be quite amusing.

Have You Seen This Dog?

He isn’t missing or anything he is just really cool.

What Big Teeth You Have

Pizza Boy

A certain pizza chef in town had a presumably odd encounter the other night. We can’t repeat exactly what a girl in his room was overheard shouting but here are some alternatives we have come up with:

Here is this weeks winner of The Echo’s new photo comp (the name and prizes of which are tba next week). Out of the photographs that are taken every week for The Echo, we will choose a winner judged on amusement, originality and ridiculousness.

“KNEAD ME, PIZZA BOY” “FLIP ME OVER, PIZZA BOY” “SEASON ME, PIZZA BOY” “SLICE ME, PIZZA BOY” Who needs role play when you are the pizza boy.

If these are your teeth, email contact@ valecho.co.uk to claim your prize!

SPORT Shown at Le Petit Danois:

46 HANDBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Final Sunday 5.30pm

FOOTBALL

Saturday 26th Jan: Acc. Stanley v Derby 1.30pm Bury v Lincoln 6.30pm Wimbledon v West Ham 8.45pm Sunday 27th Jan: Chrystal Palace v Spurs 5pm Chelsea v Sheffield Wed 7pm Monday 28th Jan: Barnet v Bradford 8.45pm Tuesday 29th Jan: Newcastle v Man City 9pm Wednesday 30th Jan: Liverpool v Leicester 9pm.

6 NATIONS

Friday 1st Feb France v Wales 9.00pm Saturday 2nd Feb Scotland v Italy 3.15pm Ireland v England 5.45pm Shown at Le Petit Danois, The Fall Line, Blue Note and Le Hibou.

SEPARATED AT BIRTH

Doggo With Wig

Bloke With Wig

DICKS TEA BAR PRESENTS

TUES 29th JAN