It’s that time of year again! The best skiers, telemarkers and boarders from the premier European ski resorts will be gearing up for the competition that settles which of them is top dog. It is of course Boss des Bosses, the premier mogul event for non-professionals itching to get competitive on some bumps while flying the flag for their resort.
Boss des Bosses is a mogul competition held between six resorts from around Europe, who all bringing their best skiers to Chamonix to compete for the title. Bosses is a ski run which you will be able to find on the Grand Montets in Argentiere, Chamonix and it’s where our brave competitors will find themselves facing a hefty set of moguls and two kickers that are in no way small.
The competition is about the teams and wanting to win, but it’s so much more than that. There is a fair amount of drinking as well as music and BBQs to keep you amused throughout the day. Season bonding? This is exactly the kind of event that will see you meeting new people and flying the flag for your resort.
The resorts competing are: Zermatt, Verbier, Meribel, Courchevel, Chamonix and Val d’Isère. From that list you can see that all the heavy hitters are coming along, all of them are pretty serious about their skiing and none of them will be fielding a poor team this side of global warming.
Each team has to have nine members, within which you are required to have two girls, two boarders and two telemarkers. Ever tried moguls on telemark skis? You can imagine how tricky it is and how hot a telemarker you have to be to tackle the course. The teams race in pairs, both going down the run at the same time and being scored at the end.
The teams will weedle some pretty legendary skiers out of the woodwork (keep an eye out for Glen Plake’s mohawk). There will be old school people you don’t know as well as some new faces that you do.
At the end of the day they all deserve support for having the balls to take on the legendary slope. The hectic training schedule of late nights, too much drinking and general bad behaviour has to be rigorously adhered to in the weeks leading up to the competition, to ensure the teams are in full seasonnaire prime come the first run.
The resort also has to provide a judge for the competition. As we go to press we are still unsure who the judge will be, and therefore who to ply with drink for their good favour. We can safely assume that it will be someone very capable of scoring and, particularly, scoring well for their hometown. A bit of favouritism never goes amiss.
Boss des Bosses has been running for 21 years. It’s a longstanding event that has everything going for it. You can’t run a competition for that long unless you’re doing something right! There used to be a requirement for a mono-skier in the team, but that’s been abolished now. Mono-skiing competitions are now the exclusive realm of Val d’Isère (but more on that later).
One of the great things about this day is the amount of people who turn out to support their teams. Last year Verbier brought out 4 bus loads of keen supporters cheering them into third place. If you were thinking about going then get yourself booked, as we’ll need all the support we can get.
A nice day out of resort might be just what the doctor ordered anyway!
You also have a great opportunity to meet people from other resorts. Just remember to end whatever activities you get up to in town before the bus leaves back to Val. The transfer from Chamonix to Val leaves little margin in its departure time, and I doubt your boss will take ‘he/she was a great mogul skier’ as an excuse, even if they should.
Here at TME we will be out supporting in force but also using the day to see some friends from other resorts. You’ll be surprised how far word spreads about this big day out. From what we hear from our sources in Verbier, they are once again bringing a big turnout to try and cheer them into first place. It wouldn’t be proper competition without some decent inter-resort rivalry. For those who attend, if you’re able to get through the day without ending up in a snowball fight with another resort then you definitely haven’t been supporting hard enough!
Naturally, a day such as this would not be complete without the few people turning up in fancy dress to amuse us all. Last year there were costumes aplenty and, as this year’s event falls on St. Patrick’s Day, you can expect to see more leprechauns than you can shake a rainbow and a pot of gold at.
Val d’Isère will be taking out a coach load of people and you can get your tickets from the Warm Up. It’s a great chance to get a morning’s skiing in a different resort before the event, with discounted lift passes available at 22 Euros. Alternatively it’s a mere 12 for the simple ride up the mountain to the first beer of the day!
The bus leaves at 6.30am. We know that’s early, but you’ll have plenty of time to sleep off your hangover on the bus or even just get back on it again. It leaves after the prize giving in Chamonix, returning you here around midnight. Perfect if you have the day off (and it’s a Wednesday so we know many of you do) and great fun to boot.
We will be there flying the flag for Val d’Isère. We certainly hope you will be too. Boss des Bosses is part of our history (it started off as a two-way competition between Chamonix and Val d’Isère) and you’ll regret it if you don’t make the time to go and sample one of the premier events of the season. Lots of bumps, lots of jumps and plenty of drinking… what more could you ask of a day out
Tags: S5E14
