Meet Another 2 of our Chamonix Reporters

To some of you in Chamonix these ladies don't need much of an introduction, but to those of you who haven't met them yet, Ali has been working for us for a number of years and will be bringing you a regular flurry of activity reports the odd snow report and event updates, and Katy will be keeping you informed of what's hot on the apres ski and nightlife scene this season.

Ali Shayler

I’m originally from Liverpool but studied history of art at Leicester and Manchester with an eye to working in galleries, then took the obvious career step of moving to a ski resort…

After a few seasons of doing the usual hotel/bar jobs I landed a job with Chamonet.com and now write regular reports on where to go and what to do while you’re in Chamonix. My intimate knowledge of the local party scene is of obvious value to my role and I take every opportunity to carry out research.

I love all things mountain - Chamonix never fails to keep me excited and motivated about getting out there and having fun. In summer I am hanging out with the chamois on the trails, I’ve ran the Marathon du Mont Blanc a couple of times and love finding new hiking routes.

I only learned to ski in my late twenties so still feel like a complete novice compared to some of the gnarly folks around here but I love Alpine skiing and cross-country skiing. I’m also trying to learn how to monoski - purely so I can justify wearing a fluoro one-piece.

I achieved a massive goal last spring when I went to Nepal with a group of friends from Chamonix and ran in the Everest Marathon - we thought we’d have a head start by training at altitude in Chamonix but we were totally sideswiped by how hard running can be at over 5000m! Our next goal is to take part in the 2015 Transrockies - a 6 day, 120 mile trail run across Colorado. We’ll be training hard all winter and hosting loads of events to raise money for our chosen charity, so make sure you follow us!

Chamonix is the only ski resort I’ve lived in, so I can confidently declare that it is my favourite! For a small town it has so much to offer, there’s just always something going on whether it’s a party in town, an event up the hill, or a race of some sort. I’ll be doing my best to sample a bit of everything this winter to give you a taste of what goes on in Chamonix - you’re welcome.

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Katy Dartford

I’m a freelance journalist from Kent. I used to work as a broadcast journalist for BBC South east Today and then I went freelance as a Newsbeat reporter at BBC radio 1 and BBC London. I also did a stint at the Daily Mail online.

I came to Chamonix as I’d also been travel writing for about two years and contributing to climbing/outdoors magazines. I went on lots of ski trips and came to Chamonix during the summer for trail running and mountaineering. I got to know more and more about the place and the possibilities of living here, then work at the BBC really began to dry up in London when they moved to Salford. So I just thought "it's now or never to make the move". I’d been told by a friend I met on a press trip that if I did a season skiing I’d be “shit hot….” that planted the seed. I’m still working on the shit hot bit however…..

My main interests and passions are rock climbing, skiing and trail running. I also like mountain biking and I really enjoy learning new sports, so I’m currently attempting to skateboard (which you can do in places like Chamonix without feeling like you are having a mid life crisis) and surf.

Since living in Chamonix however I’ve rediscovered a few old passions which I’d put on the back burner. I used to sing and play the guitar at school and was very into art and dancing and despite being the adventure sports capital - there are lots of opportunities to get into all this in Chamonix.

Qualifications?- I’m a qualified broadcast journalist….and I have a gym instructor award. Things people don’t know about me - I’m half Greek and my name is actually Katilena. I only ever used it to get a job at the BBC as i thought it would tick their “diversity” box! My biggest achievement is probably moving to Chamonix. And maybe working for newsbeat.

Where do I want to visit and why? This changes a lot. South America - Rio carnival - and to ski. Lots of climbing destinations - Wadi Rum, Oman. I’ve also been looking into trips to Ethiopia and Senegal. Currently I'm keen to go to Sumatra to do some grass roots travel and surfing. I hope readers will hopefully enjoy the fact that I’m realistic about Chamonix to show you that you can go out, have fun and enjoy all the social opportunities as well as do the sports. OK you wont be the BEST- but you CAN still complete an ultra marathon for example and have a social life.

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Read up on Apres-ski and nightlife from Katy here, and watch this space for Ali's first Activity report.