Alpine Experience was created during the summer of 1992 and we kicked off our first season in 1992-93. Setting up a ski school wasn’t that easy in those days. There was a lot to organise but our first priority was finding a shop to house our office.
During our last season at Top Ski we had Jock and Sue Dunn running their new ski shop Precision Ski next door in the Gallerie des Cimes. Their shop was small and crowed so we knew they were looking for a new home, which they found in the Val Village. After approaching them about some office space they welcomed us with open arms. It was a win-win situation for us both but we’ll always be grateful to Jock and Sue for their help in launching Alpine Experience. We remained with Precision Ski for two years before we moved to on Jean Sport, where we’ve been ever since!
Who’s in the photos?
One of today’s photos is from an old Harpers and Queen’s Magazine. There is a photo of TJ, Chris, Giles and I although I’m not sure where JM was that day. There is also a photo of Dick Yates-Smith looking pleased with himself as he’s flanked by a couple of girls! And there is also a photo of his brother John with Annabel as well as a shot Jock with his shop assistant Chuck. I think that the Yates-Smith boys look pretty good considering all the water that’s passed under-the-bridge in the last 30-years!
The second photo is of me skiing the bottom of the Point Pers. TJ, Chris and I had skied the Point Pers in stunning conditions with exceptional snow quality. It was back in our Top Ski days when we used to wear moustaches and one-piece suits! It wasn’t a particularly good look but at the time we thought of ourselves as fairly cool guys! (I was skiing on Kastle 205cm GS skis.)
Back in the day Chris took his camera everywhere. He had some beautiful camera equipment with motor drives and various lens. It was necessary to check exposures, sometimes change lens’ and then focus the frame. It was very unlike today when everyone is a photographer. With smart phones and digital cameras anyone can take decent photos. People now just click away with automatic focus and delete the rubbish as photography is cheap.
Chris misses the ‘art’ of photography and having just a pocket-sized digital camera in his pocket just isn’t quite the same. But, he still spends hours at home enhancing his photos. At the moment he’s trying to work through a catalogue of his life’s photos and scanning them from slides to a digital form. He has thousands of slides and it will take him an enormous amount of time to work through it all. Good luck with it Chris!
Many of the photos I’m using at the moment are photos that Chris took of magazine articles, old brochures or posters. Sorry for the lack of quality in these shots but they are as good as Chris can enhance them.
Stay tuned for more news and photos tomorrow.
PS The old photos are mixing themselves up and aren’t in the order intended.
PPS Dick has just sent me a few photos taken in Dick’s T-Bar many moons ago. Don’t miss them in tomorrow’s update!
PPS I also added a team shot of TJ, Chris, myself, Giles and JM.