Real story of a ski career with Crystal

My name is Kev and I’ve worked for Crystal ski since 2007. I began my path as a rep in Les Deux Alpes and had a fantastic time mainly due to having a great group of people around me. About halfway through that first season I decided that I wanted to apply for a management role for the second season. I came back the following winter and was placed into La Plagne (our biggest resort in the program) as first year manager which was definitely a massive experience and almost forced me to improve on a number of personal skills such as time management, organisation and communication. This was one of my toughest seasons work wise and was a massive learning curve however just left me wanting more.

So back I came once again for a third winter and was placed in La Plagne for the second year running. This time I felt far more prepared for the challenge ahead and was able to hit the ground running. I set myself the target of becoming Resort Manager by the end of the season and would constantly look for more opportunities to take on more responsibility. By the end of the season I had pretty much taken sole charge for the resort and passed my Resort Manager assessment. I then decided that it was probably about time to get involved in the Crystal Summer program so went off to Lake Garda in Italy to be a rep in a resort called Desenzano. I found that this was a massive change from the ski program but loved the change of pace and getting to see all the fantastic sights and cities that Italy has to offer such as Venice, Florence, Verona, Milan & the Dolomites.

As winter approached again I packed my bags and header off for ski season number 4 as Resort Manager for Val d’ Isere. Having never been to the resort before but hearing so many things about it I was very eager to get underway. Val d’ Isere as you may expect was an incredible place to work with a great atmosphere, fantastic ski area and probably the best team that I’d had working for me. We had a fantastic season smashing all targets and previous years results out of the water.

My greatest memory of working ski seasons was having a lads ski day in a place called La Grave which is just of the back of Les Deux Alpes. The area is completely un-pisted and the day before there had been over a foot of snow and it was clear blue skies. We got to the top and were told not to stop at any point as there were crevasses and if you fall in one you probably won’t get back out. So the day was spent surfing the powder, avoiding trees and some spectacular falls. It was only when we got back to the van at the end of the day completely exhausted that we realised we had been so eager to get on the mountain in the morning that we had left the van doors open all day!

After spending 2 and a half years overseas I decided that it was about time that I came back to the UK for a bit, and this is where I find myself now as a part of the Crystal Ski recruitment team for the summer, trying to recruit nearly 800 members of staff for this fast approaching winter season.