Jon - I caught the skiing bug in 1991 and have only missed 2 seasons since! I skied in Andorra, Bulgaria, Italy and Austria before buying an apartment in St Jean d'Aulps with a friend. That gave us the excuse to ski 5 or 6 times a season and from there, I decided I just couldn't leave the place. So, after 13 years of slaving in the rat race, Liz & I sold up in the UK, headed for the mountains and set up actionmountain.com...
A skier and proud of it, I just can't be bothered to learn to board - sorry! There's nothing better for me than heading off on a sunny, powdery day doing a circuit of the Portes du Soleil or taking a group of guests into the quieter domains of Switzerland for a blast down some fast reds and blues.....roll on December!!
Liz - I started skiing 6 years ago and fell in love with it straight away. I previously worked in London with a long daily commute from Reading and I therefore jumped at the chance to escape to the mountains full time. We've been running actionmountain.com for 4 years and in 2006 we bought Chalet le Pont, where we now live year-round!
The Portes du Soleil is a fantastic area to ski and we never get bored as there's so much variety for all levels...my favourite is probably the Plaine Dranse valley (towards Chatel) where the high number of red runs mean that you soon escape the masses - for skiers it's brilliant for practising your carving technique and snow boarders will love the steepish but wide pistes and great off-piste terrain!
Peter and Sophie - We are hosting one of the actionmountain chalets this winter. Peter is from Germany and has lived in New Zealand for the last 5 years where he met Sophie, the Kiwi. Our mutual love of surfing, good music and great food kept us happy! We left New Zealand and our busy jobs in April 08 to go trekking in Nepal & Laos and are looking forward to spending a winter in the beautiful Portes du Soleil area.
Sophie - I love to board and this season I am also going to learn to ski. So far I’ve only boarded in New Zealand and I look forward to exploring the multitude of runs the Portes du Soleil has to offer.
Peter - Coming from a little village that is surrounded by ski lifts, I have been skiing since I was 4 years old. I have skied in the south of Germany, Austria and of course New Zealand. I picked up snowboarding a couple of years ago and can’t wait to do both this season in Morzine.
Fergus
and Gill - We have been together for seven years and have spent the last
year travelling in South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. After the
year of ours lives we could not imagine returning home to a 9-5 job so we
decided to surround ourselves with great skiing, beautiful scenery and
plenty of good company.Fergus - I am from Ireland and have been living in Scotland for 6 years whilst at University. This is where I first encountered skiing with the occasional trip to Aviemore and Fort William. More recently I have been skiing in New Zealand and I am really looking forward to learning to snowboard this season in Portes du Soleil.
Gill - I am from Scotland and have only recently found my new hobby - skiing. I skied in Scotland when I was young, however whilst skiing in New Zealand I thought, wouldn't it be great if skiing was a significant part of my job!!!!!! So here I am. I am very excited about the winter season, not only for the skiing but I also have a love for good food and great fun.
Matt – Younger brother of Jon and what an
exciting opportunity...to
escape the 9-5 of the UK and embark on a season working in the mountains!
I have been a keen skier since 1999 where I caught the bug on a school trip at a ski resort in the USA. Since then, I have always stayed in St Jean d'Aulps and skied in the Portes du Soleil area. Every year I find new runs to conquer and am never let down!
I'm really looking forward the season ahead, to meeting new people... and especially to Jon admitting he's the 2nd best skier in the family!! (Make that third best! - Liz)
Darren
– An old work colleague of Jon's and chalet assistant / driver for
this winter.
I was fortunate enough to go on my first winter holiday as child, got completely hooked on the winter scene and have had the 'ski bug' ever since. Having skied Austria, Switzerland, France, the USA & 'Milton Keynes' , the Portes du Soleil still remains my favourite region and I can't wait to get out on its fantastic runs for a whole season (working as well obviously!!)
My favourite saying at the start of each season is "I might even try my hand at boarding this year" - its never happened yet, maybe this will be the year? Let's wait and see . . . . .