Mountain living

Bonjour!

so last year i lived in Austria and France i did 2 winter seasons and 1 summer season working in chalets in the Alps. Right now i am getting the need and urges to go back to the mountains, however, with the plans me and my boyfriend have we cant justify working another season. instead i will tell you all about what being a chalet host is like. 
i will tell you the ins and outs from my last season as opposed to my first season, which was not the best despite meeting my boyfriend there. 

Our 3rd season (2nd Winter) started on the 6th of December where we made the journey from Brads parents house to Luton airport. we got on our flight and flew to geneva, switzerland where our new boss lorna picked us up and the other chalet couple and driver up. we need made the journey back to Morzine in France. our home for the next 6 months. little did we know this was the place we were absolutely going to fall in love with. We arrived at our chalet to find it was exactly how we would have imagined. a typical wooden chalet that was perfectly decorated. knowing that Lorna had worked in this very chalet and had done all the work we were about to do was great as that meant she knew exactly what we were going through every day. i cannot speak highly enough of Lorna, she became a very good friend of mine and Brads through that season.



Morzine itself was an absolutely delightful place. full of the french mountain resort charm you would expect. mine and brads only problem we did not speak french that well, despite what brad thinks, his french was terrible. we quickly made many friends across the town and had our favourite drinking and eating spots. 



the ski area was amazing, i developed so much as a snowboarder in Morzine that i am now extremely comfortable in that environment and i like to 'bomb it down' the pistes. there are 650km in the portes du soliel ski area, you can ski or board across to switzerland pretty quickly. me and brad absolutely loved it there and even his parents, cousin and best mate came to visit us. 

 a typical day in a chalet starts at half 6. Alarm is going off. you need to be up and in the kitchen at 7 to prep the breakfast for the guests. Brad was the chef and prepped most whilst i set up and served the people. most weeks the people were lovely and generally became friends. whilst breakfast is on we also prepped what we could for dinner in the evening. as you do not provide lunch for guests, just breakfast and dinner. i also baked a cake every morning for afternoon tea which guests had everyday for when they got off the mountain. After breakfast was finished and all the guests had left to go skiing we would then head upstair and clean their rooms, which involved making their beds, hoovering, emptying bins and cleaning the bathrooms. after we had completed this and clean the lounge and dining areas we would then be off for the day until 5 o clock. we would generally be finished by 10/10.30 which we would then get changed and head up the mountain ourselves. 

once back at 5 we would continuing prepping dinner for 7 and serve our guests vin chaud, which is mulled wine to the english. we would serve a 3 course meal everynight except our day off which was also followed by tea and coffee and chocolates. 

Every friday was our shopping and ironing day, where i would iron all the best sheets (which i was responsible for all the washing in the chalet) and brad had to go shopping for all the food required for the week. then every sunday was changover day were we deep cleaned the whole chalet and changed the rooms over for the next week of guests. Both these days are days you cannot go up the mountain as you just do not have enough time. 

People always think that because we are living abroad its constantly a holiday but getting up at 6.30 every day and working 6 days a week for 6 months is a very hard demanding job. your down time is spent skiing or snowboarding a very tiring hobby. it was great but definitely not a holiday. if anyone is thinking of doing a season, do understand it is demanding and hard work but definitely worth it. My season is Morzine was incredibly and i made some amazing friends and had some incredibly times. Brad and i are heading back at the end of January for our first holiday together ever, in the 2 years we have been together. i have the feeling this is going to become our annual pilgrimage. 

I hope this provides a little insight into the life of a chalet girl, its not all like the movie Chalet Girl. but it is amazing, and you are very unlikely to improve your snowboarding abilities to competition level in 3 months!! 

Kelsie 

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