Meeting of French Masters in Les Estables

October 22, 2008

On September 27 and 28, 2008, the Association of French WL Masters met in the village of Les Estables on the foothills of Mt Mézinc in the Massif Central. This association is open also for skiers who are preparing their first Master, and for family members. Previous meetings occurred in the Jura mountains, home of La Transjurassienne (nickname Transju) and in the south-eastern pre-alps.

Both days were blessed with a splendid weather, cool but sunny. The participants arrived in dispersed order on Saturday 27; some had their lunch on the spot, others on the road. More than 20 people were present. In the early afternoon the whole group made a 4 hour hike culminating on the top of Mt Mézinc, 1753 m. To say the whole group is a little bit exaggerated: the two babies stayed in the village with one of their parents. The climb to the top is an arduous one, although the difference in level is only about 400 m, the path is uneven and in some places you have to look out at every step. From the top there is a 360 ° view on the Cévennes. However, that day, because of the haze created by the fine weather of the previous days, we could not see the Alps, including Mont Blanc. The way down was via another route.

In the evening we had a dinner in the hotel where Hervé Courtine had reserved the accommodation. Hervé is the founder and the perpetual president/secretary of the association, a non-registered “amicale” (group of friends). Les Estables is a lively village with many hotels. In summer time it offers hiking and mountain biking, in winter mainly XC skiing but also downhill skiing; it has of course a ski school. Our hotel was typical in the sense that the environment is calm and the food excellent (French!).
After the dinner we used the meeting room. I made a Power Point presentation called “Skiing Around the World”. It began with the catalog of all winter sports. What is the record of snow ball fight? Answer: 3745 people in some place in Michigan. What is the record of speed skiing? Answer: 251 km/h. Then I concentrated on XC skiing and especially WL. Boris Petroff projected hundreds of pictures of his huge collection. He had also brought half a dozen of his big size albums containing paper versions of pictures taken over many years, with fitting legends. Lively discussions took place about skiing experiences.

Sunday morning after breakfast there were several options. Some of us preferred roller skiing. Since there are many ups and downs on the roads in this area, it was necessary to choose the right spot.  Boris transported the roller skiers in his car to a place from where we could ski uphill for a distance of about 5 km, with a climb of about 300 m. That was a good workout. Boris hurried back to the village where he participated with several others in a mountain bike event with a choice of more or less challenging courses. The remaining participants walked around in the area. After lunch the group separated and drove back to their homes: Paris, the Auvergne in the middle of the Massif Central, the Vosges mountains in NE France, the Provence in the SE and many places in between.

The Association of French WL Masters is the first associated member of IAWLS. We wish to remind you that according to our statutes, IAWLS has individual members and associated members. The latter are bodies such as clubs, associations etc. whose goals are in harmony with those of IAWLS. Any such body that has at least three individual IAWLS members qualifies. It is not necessary to be a registered association, provided there is a continuous program of activities/meetings. What are the advantages of being an associated member? Each associated member has one vote in the IAWLS General Assemblies, in addition to the votes of its members present. Whereas the IAWLS General Assemblies are mainly devoted to business and little time is left for general discussions (GAs take place during a busy week preceding a WL race), local associations often meet for a couple of days and have ample time for discussions. Matters concerning Worldloppet and what IAWLS should do can be debated and can result in recommendations addressed to IAWLS. So, if in your area there is an association or club of WL Masters/skiers, we invite you to sign up as an associated IAWLS member.

The attached pictures show some features of the French WL Masters’ meeting. In one of them the oldest member (myself, 77 years) is surrounded by Noé, 6 months and Maxime, 9 months. Noé is the son of Daniel Montgermont, 5-fold WL Master and Maxime is the son of Sophie Courtine-Damoizet (see article on Sophie’s first Master). The future of Worldloppet is assured, global warming permitting.
Hannes Larsson

This page was last revised on February 20, 2009