My second Australian ski season

Fifty years ago, I left the French Alps on June 27 for a short ski instructing season in Australia that would last until the end of the third week in September. 

In these days, the trip meant 27 hours sitting uncomfortably inside many airplanes of various airlines, from Geneva, to Vienna, Bahrain, Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, Sidney and finally Melbourne. I was so beat up and exhausted when I arrived that I never was able recover until about mid-October of that year!

The ski school was the same and so was its director, Alexis Saudan. Once there, I’d also rejoin Gérard Bouvier, Christophe Saudan, Philippe Coutaz and meet the two cousins Leon and Serge Empereur, Monique Boyelle, Nicolas Bauer, the Canadian John Peters and Roland Raphoz who joined us later. 

The season was a good one, snow was pretty decent, but the job had become more of a routine and the process of discovery was over, so in the end it wasn’t nearly as fun. We sure drank our share and left the rest for the thirsty visitors and the French instructors who would follow us into our fun, slaloming path...