The British Ski Academy is moving to Italy.
Our new base will be the Hotel Miage in Ponte Suaz, Aosta, at the foot of the Pila ski hill and close to the gondola station and motorway. This is a flagship location with outstanding training facilities and race pistes up to 2400 metres at the nearest resorts of Pila and Crevacol.
We love Les Houches and will maintain a foothold for a possible return. But rather than sit out a legal dispute with the French sports ministry, which concerns who we employ to coach our athletes, the decision had to be made to secure a new base of operations. The solution is Aosta, a beautiful and ancient city with great access to Turin and Milan airports.
Many thanks to regional minister Aurelio Marguerettaz and colleagues, and to the ski lift company and regional associations, for welcoming the BSA and our coaching team to the Aosta valley. Details of the BSA 2017 programme and race schedule will be published later this month.
What happened in France?
For twenty years the British
Ski Academy has brought British youngsters to the Chamonix valley for Alpine
race training and competition. The village of Les Houches has come to be
considered a home from home by generations of British ski racers. Lasting
memories and friendships have been forged.In recent years, officers of the French ministry of sports have taken an adverse position towards our coaching activities in France. This despite our safety record, sporting success, excellent local relations, and an accord with representatives of the BSS to ring-fence and protect British ski racing interests. Last autumn, tribunal charges were brought against me on the basis of the BSA's employment of two (allegedly) unqualified coaches, both of whom, please note, had formerly been coach to their respective countries' national ski teams. On March 4th, in a draconian turn of events, the deputy prefect of Haute Savoie kicked the BSA out of the country by means of an administrative closure enforced by the PGHM (Pelotons de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne), a military force charged with police duties. The cited reasons included our employment of a coach the ministry declared was unqualified to ski with children, but who in fact is highly respected within the sport and who coached the GB team at this year's world children's Alpine ski championships.
Although letters of support have been forthcoming from the British and International ski federations and from the Les Houches ski lift company and local ESF, so far we have had an unhappy time of it with French officialdom. Our legal challenge against closure was deemed non-urgent by the judge in Grenoble. When we gathered with other clubs and academies for the British Alpine ski championships in Tignes, a team of PGHM gendarmes arrived from Chamonix and spent three days interrogating coaches and parents. As for the outcome of my tribunal, faced with a request from the state prosecutor for a fine of 1500 euros, the judge in Bonneville spent three months deliberating and imposed a fine of 3000 euros. Ouch!
Our experience with the sports
ministry and PGHM tallies with that of the Ski Club of Great Britain, a
venerable institution that has encouraged British recreational and competitive
skiing since its inception in 1903. In a statement this morning, the Ski Club's
CEO used the words "misguided and inappropriate" to describe the
French position. Hear, hear. Let's wish them success in their appeals to the
criminal supreme court in Paris and with the European Commission.
The BSA's activities have
taken place for many years in a quiet corner of the French Alps where the extra
commerce was appreciated and where until now we have been made to feel
welcome. As matters stand, the Etoile des Neiges will function next winter
as a regular hotel for the public. Our legal appeals continue and if the BSA
closure is lifted before next season this will afford us a refuge on the French
side of Mont Blanc. For now, however, we are obliged to pack up our bags and
say "au revoir" to the BSA's many friends
in France. Benvenuti in Italia. Aosta here we come!
Best wishes to all,
Malcolm Erskine
British Ski Academy director
