Team building in Meribel

Our main office in Paris had most kindly invited us to a mandatory 3-day team build event in Meribel (a ski resort in the Three Valleys area) – yeah they really had to twist my arm on that one ;-).

So off I set with the other participant from our office, Hannu, bright ‘n early Wednesday in Hannu’s Ford Galaxy. The drive took us about five hours, passing through Italy via Turin, surrounded by the Italian Alps…. After the twelve kilometre Frejus tunnel (which cost us 32 euros!), we finally arrived on the French side again. Shockingly, the sunshine on the Italian side was replaced by mist and rain… So not a very good start to the event…

Anyway, we checked in, and waited for the rest of our colleagues from Paris. We eventually managed to identify them (not as easy as it may seem – as we had never met any of them!), and joined them for the opening activities (after sneaking in a quick beer in the bar) – speeches and watching videos the others had prepared during their train journey. The team building continued (as they tend to…) in the bar – we even managed to overcome our customary Finnish shyness (by drinking alcohol, of course!) and speak to a few of our distant colleagues.

The next day (which was, thankfully, perfect weather-wise with a clear blue sky and sunshine) kicked off with some more physical team activities, including sawing a tree trunk and giant skis (four people on a set of skis does take a bit of team work and coordination, actually….), followed by some Vin Chaud as a reward for our efforts. After a quick lunch at the hotel, we had the afternoon to ourselves to try the ski slopes. It was pretty amazing – the best skiing I’ve done so far. I guess the Three Valleys is one of the best ski areas in the world (at least the ski ticket said it’s the biggest in the world ;-).

In the evening, after some relaxing in the hotel spa (they even had a Finnish-style sauna, although my favourite was the heated outdoors swimming pool, surrounded by the Alps…), we were treated to a Savoyard dinner – raclettes and fondue, and some nice local wines. Nice…. This was followed by an open bar (which me and Hannu made the best of, obviously), after which we headed to a nightclub. Eventually we stumbled into our rooms at about 3:30 in the morning…

Thankfully, the program for Friday had been cancelled, and we were allowed to ski all day. So we really got to take advantage of the slopes, which were in great condition, especially in the morning (in the afternoon things got a bit too bumpy for my taste). We managed to ski to one of the other valleys all the way to the highest point in the Three Valleys (Pointe du Bouchet at 3230 meters). What a great day – but hard work as well, I tell you that… (skiing back to Meribel took us about 4 hours – although admittedly a large part of that was spent queuing for ski lifts…).

All in all, we had a great three days in Meribel – best team building I’ve attended so far ;-) More photos here.