Sainte-Foy: Snowhere Else We'd Rather Be.

Firstly, we'd like to point out that our first 2 weeks of work have been highly mentally taxing, and thus we apologise for the abysmal quality of the title pun. It was a toss up between that one and 'We're Having an Ice Time'.

For those who are not aware, we're spending the next 4 months working in the ski resort of Sainte-Foy Tarentaise in the French Alps. Over the past couple of weeks we've been honing our skills in the kitchen, getting to know the Auberge crew, preparing chalets for the guest arrivals. And, of course, skiing! Thankfully we don't have photographic evidence of us trying to master the waist-deep powder, but it's safe to say that we've found ourselves out of our depth more than once. Felix had a half hour encounter crawling up some serious powder under the chairlift to retrieve his buried skis, only to be abused by some arrogant local French ski bums, while Phoebe had a near death experience in powder 2 metres off the groomed trail.
Our parents have each since invested in avalanche safety kits, thank god.

We're as keen as a pair of spring marmots to spend the season here, and with a bit of luck we will have mastered the powder as well as the kitchen, come April!
 

Waking up to this makes it difficult to start the day on a bad note.

Phoebe enjoying the spa. Felix got out cos his hair was frozen, poor wee dumpling.

 The snow-covered sauna chalet, set on a magnificent backdrop of early morning sun glistening off the virgin slopes of Les Arcs.

Deeply saddened that our local cinema isn't screening The Hobbit, we have settled for following Gollum the Auberge cat around instead.

 Our first catering experience doing Raclette. Felix noming while Phoebe does the catering.

Félix, always the voice of reason, wearing safety goggles to safely melt the sugar on his crème brulée.

 Phoebé, with a flippant disregard for the safety of our wooden chalet, incinerating her crème brulée.

Guess whose crème brulée?

Da Phoeb$turr ready 2 hit the powPOW whaduupp #YOLO mofos.

 A member of the Sainte-Foy mafia being a menace to society. Incidentally, we thought this was a pretty rad shot.

Phoebe with all her new skiier friends.

 Our deck. Before we started shovelling.

We are still working on the after photo...

Next time: A white Christmas and a hectic new year.