As one season ends and tour operators prepare for another, the French authorities appear to be sharpening the guillotine for any rosbif who dares to challenge their autocratic rules on ski hosting.
Latest victim of an increasing reviled squad of mountain gendarmes is the Ski Club of Great Britain whose leaders take parties of members both on and off-piste in a wide range of resorts. The gendarmes – not be confused with local resort coppers who mainly don’t give a damn about this – are based in Modane in the Maurienne Valley. They spend the winter roving around French resorts, on the lookout for anyone who might be vaguely considered to be in breach of Article 212-1 of the French Code du Sport.
This controversial edict, which appears to have no standing in European law, states that anyone leading or guiding or instructing for remuneration must have the full French ski teaching qualification. Of course, we all want ski instructors to be qualified, but you really don’t need a qualification to point out the best runs and the best lunch spots – especially if you are not teaching.
Who the law applies to is, of course, a nonsense. It all depends on how you define remuneration. If I owned a chalet, invited you to stay for the weekend and showed you around the pistes and mountain restaurants of my home resort, would I be in breach of the law? Well, yes, if you take me out to lunch or dinner and even give me a gift for having you to stay. I guess that could be construed as remuneration.
This brings us on to the Ski Club of Great Britain. Two of their leaders have been questioned by the gendarmes this winter – most recently earlier this month in Val d’Isere when a leader was skiing on piste with members. The Club has now been ordered to appear before an examining magistrate in Albertville in September to explain the actions of their leaders in relation to Article 212-1.
The Ski Club argues that its leaders are unpaid volunteers and therefore exempt. However, they do normally receive free accommodation, free lift passes, and some contribution towards their travel expenses. The Club may well have a problem persuading already biased officials in Albertville – and no doubt these will be supported by the ESF – that this is not remuneration.
Ski leading is the Ski Club’s raison d’être, and the implications of a court case that finds against the club could be devastating for its future activities in French resorts. Personally, I absolutely support their right to host members on-piste – but not away from marked and patrolled runs unless the leader has the necessary internationally-recognised qualifications.
First to fall foul officially of the snatch squad was Hudderfield-based tour operator Le Ski. Their ski hosts had been taking guests around the Three Valleys for 30 years, until one of them was stopped last winter. After he volunteered for further questioning the company was charged with breaking the law.
Amazingly, for reasons only known to their union leaders in Grenoble, the ESF immediately jumped on the bandwagon. They demanded – and got – 5,000€ in damages overall and a further 4,000€ in damages for lost business in the Meribel Valley (yes, what business? And yes, you are correct – Le Ski isn’t based in Meribel, but in Courchevel 1650), and ESF costs of 1,500€. The company was also fined 15,000€.
It would appear that the ESF management has entirely lost the plot. Ski schools and individual instructors across France are bewildered by their involvement. Inevitably there’s been a boycott by British tour operators and skiers in general. The loss of business and goodwill has been huge. In a single stroke the ESF threw away 10 years of work to rehabilitate its image as the caring ski school, and the famous red uniform has become a symbol of vilification.
It’s worth noting that, prior to the case, Le Ski hosts met their guests each morning outside the ESF office in Courchevel 1650. They did this for 30 years without complaint.
The case, backed by a dozen British tour operators, has gone to appeal. The next hearing is in Chambery in a couple of weeks’ time – but don’t hold out any hopes for an immediate resolution. The case seems likely to meander on – possibly to the High Court in Paris – before reaching the European Court in Strasbourg. The consortium of tour operators is confident that the conviction will be overturned there.
No, I haven’t mentioned British ski instructor Simon Butler being arrested on a chair-lift and thrown into jail in Megeve. That’s an entirely separate can of worms that is utterly unrelated to the ski hosting issue.
The only common factor between Le Ski, the Ski Club, and Simon Butler appears to the French desire to ignorantly bundle them all into the same tumbril and feed them to Madame Guillotine.
Sometimes the French, love them or loathe them, can be a real pain in the neck.
For more on the subject, see also our feature Is this the End of Ski Hosting in France?
Are the happy days of ski hosting over? https://t.co/nZGRWz6hEN
Are the Happy Days of #Ski Hosting Over in France? via .@Welove2ski https://t.co/Sx26inuBcP
Great piece Peter, just keep telling it as it is. Hopefuly UK skiers will all soon fully understand exactly what some of the French, but not all, are up to. We look forward to your report of the European Court in Strasbourg hearing.
Not sure why Peter thinks the SCGB shouldn’t lead off-piste. Does he also think my mate Sid shouldn’t lead me and some of the lads off-piste?
Unless your mate Sid is a mountain guide that’s exactly what I think.
Great piece Peter,thank you.
However isn’t your point about off piste leading confusing and inconsistent with the rest of your argument? Are you saying that the law should require that you can only ski off piste with a recognised mountain guide? Or that you should only ski off piste leaderless, unless with a qualified mountain guide?
For what it is worth I disagree strongly with either suggestion – and think both completely impractical. The reality is many people choose to ski off piste, as I do. Most don’t use a mountain guide every time we do this. To do so safely you should be in knowledgeable, well equipped, groups, aware of their limitations and the risks involved – this implies some leadership.
As a matter of interest I understand that the Ski Club’s safety record off piste is good and compares well to other off piste leaders/guides. I believe them to be anything but complacent in this. There will be many reasons for this, but I for one am very happy being led off piste by the ski club.
It will be a very sad day if I cannot ski off piste in a group I choose. Of course you will also choose who you are happy skiing off piste with, I don’t understand why you would limit that choice for others.
Hi Tom, my view is very straightforward: you should only ski off-piste with a qualified guide – that’s my personal opinion . This has nothing to do with any law. I don’t like laws that tell me what to do – or not to do – in the mountains. I believe that like the sea, you should be largely free to do in the mountains what you want. I like to ski off-piste with someone who is a mountain safety professional.
I’ve lost enough friends and acquaintances (yes, sometimes accompanied by a guide or even guides themselves )in avalanches over the years to be extremely wary of this force of nature. An avalanche can happen anywhere, given the right gradient. It’s worth noting that more people are killed in avalanches within site of a piste than in real backcountry situations.
There’s no such thing as risk-free off-piste skiing, but I want to reduce the risk to its absolute minimum. Of course, lots of people ski off-piste without a guide. That’s their choice, but it’s not mine. It’s not for me to comment on the off-piste safety record of the Ski Club. That is documented elsewhere. I just don’t think they should do it! But that’s just me.
One final point: it is crucial to remember when skiing off-piste that you alone are ultimately responsible for your own safety. Never be lulled into thinking that just because you have a group leader – whether a high mountain guide or a an unqualified friend or acquaintance – that he or she is responsible for the whole burden and you don’t have to think for yourself.
Are the Happy Days of Ski Hosting Over in France? – Excellent piece by Peter Hardy on @welove2ski https://t.co/GxWI8eY83w
Hi, typical of the french mentality, but I do have issues with the ski club taking members off piste with little local knowledge of the area they are leading in. Potentially lethal.
You can say everything you want about these matters of instructors but WHO ARE YOU compare French people to Neo-Nazi? This part of the article is really shocking! If you have a bit of respect you should cut that awful sentence.
Richard, i’m not talking about ‘matters of instructors’, nor am I comparing French people to Neo-Nazis. Read it properly!
Interesting to see another group condemned…when will it end?
https://t.co/a1yWs5pOkr
While steering away from Ski Club issues for obvious reasons (as the recently departed editor of Ski+board) I am grateful to Peter for clarifying a pretty complicated situation with a great piece of writing, including some welcome comic relief. Peter is first and foremost the best ski writer in the country and anyone who can shed daylight on such a complex scenario does us all a service, even if he is controverial on some points (and I am including some of his own comments, above). I defy any other writer to do a better job in trying to explain the pros and cons – I certainly could’t have done so!
The PGHM (Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute-Montagne) Modane are people/Gendarmes who spend their lives and risk their lives on a daily basis on mountain rescue operations (yes this is their main job). They cover mainly the Maurienne Valley and probably also part of the 3 Valleys at times I suspect. One of the other better known PGHM in the Northern French Alps being Chamonix. Thankfully, I have personally never required their rescue services but those who have will undoubtedly ask for a little respect. Are some of the comments really necessary?
Are the days of ski hosting over as new regulations take hold? https://t.co/FzytqJhnGz