A SEASONAIRE'S GUIDE TO WORKING A SKI SEASON

As Winter 23/24 comes to a close we asked Fleur, one of our fabulous seasonal staff, to share her experience from spending the winter working in our Chamonix office.

My snowboarding got off to a shaky start on Mount Etna in Sicily, where I spent most of my lesson getting blown over by the strong winds. The year after, I moved up in the world, learning to glide down the slopes with a group of under-10s in the Alps, and quickly realised how expensive skiing and snowboarding could be. After lots of Google research, I came across Action Outdoors. Their affordable packages across top French resorts made it easy to convince a group of friends to join. We continued booking trips with Action Outdoors year after year as it kept everyone happy, with time to be challenged within lessons and time together at a more chilled pace.

So, how did I end up here?

Around ten years after my first snowboarding trip, I decided it was time to escape London, applied for the administrator job with Action Outdoors, and was in Chamonix by November. I got mixed reactions and puzzled looks from colleagues, friends, and family when I told them that I was planning a ski season at 32! I had never been to Chamonix before, but it had good connections for potential visitors, lots of different ski areas to explore, and the role with AO offered a good work/snowboard balance. Chamonix was magical in November, as the snow line gradually lowered, and we waited impatiently for the lifts to open.

By mid-December, the lifts were running, and the impressive snowfall gave a Christmassy feel to the place. I started to explore the ski pass areas within Chamonix and beyond, heading to Les Contamines, Courmayeur and later Combloux. We soon learnt that we’d need to brush up on our off-piste skills to make the most of the skiing Chamonix has to offer. There were lengthy office conversations on which transceiver and shovel to buy (in between working hard, of course!). With all the talk of ski touring, I eventually gave in to the peer pressure and tried a split-boarding course at Le Tour. The views were amazing, but the climb was brutal!

Working with Action Outdoors

The Action Outdoors team were great, very supportive and took the time to provide training, so I was prepared for the hectic winter period! We got to spend time on and off the slopes together, with the occasional dramas of a collision or forgotten ski pass, and priceless jargon clarifications (no passport needed to hit the boarder-cross!).

If you’re thinking about working a winter season, Chamonix is a great place to be. It is quite different to other ski resorts, as it is a proper town with separate ski areas. The town is relatively low in altitude, so it's not often white or snowy at the town level, so home runs are a rare enough achievement. You’ll need to rely on the bus network to get around – which is quite efficient and frequent! There’s a large international community here in Chamonix, so it’s easy to connect with others through ski touring groups or French lessons and social meetups. If you’re looking for good on-piste and off-piste terrain, access to a variety of resorts and ski areas, and the opportunities to cross into Italy for a proper plate of pasta, then look no further.

Interested in joining the team? Send us an email with your CV and we'll get back to you once we are hiring for W24/25!