Ski Angels are here to help you get down the mountain safely. We will guide you to the most appropriate runs, we will carry your skis, we will pick you up when you fall, and we will ski with you, until you have reached a place of safety. We’re the welfare service on Skis, our aim is that no-one should be left stranded out on the mountain.
Ski Angels have guided countless individuals down the slopes securely, transported numerous pairs of skis, offered cheerful directions to the safest pistes, and served as an essential first aid response for on-slope accidents—an insight into our expanding impact across the snow.
What We Do
Outside the après-ski bars and music festivals at various alpine ski resorts, Ski Angels play a crucial role. Every evening, a dedicated team of Ski Angels is stationed to assist skiers emerging from the bars, ensuring their safe journey home. For each skier we aid, we extend a helping hand, a warm smile, and thoughtful advice on whether they should ski, walk, or opt for a bus or ski lift downhill. Recognizing that not everyone leaving the bars is fit to ski, Ski Angels act as a safety net, preventing unnecessary accidents.
We collaborate with bar and music festival staff and work in harmony with slope security personnel.
In our 5 years of operating, it’s become clear that there is a very definite need. In Meribel, where we first started and continue to operate, the slopes officially close at 5pm; the pisteurs (slope security) then clear the slopes and head home. One of the slope-side bars stays open till 7pm and then everybody tries to ski home. There are no pisteurs around, so the ski angels ensure people get home safely – we advise people to get the bus home and then we sweep down the slopes ensuring no-one has fallen over in the dark, or even fallen asleep. In our first season of operation one of our Ski Angels came across a skier who’d decided he needed a rest on his ski home, lay down on the snow in the dark and fell asleep. If we hadn’t found him, he would have died of hypothermia, as the overnight temperatures in ski resorts plummet. This was the start to countless stories we’ve gathered over the years since. Each year across the Alps, young people head home from the bars late at night, and some just never make it home. Ski Angels hope is that we have enough teams in enough ski resorts, to make sure each one of these needless deaths is avoided.
Ski Angels are also trained in Mental Health First Aid to help those in need. Like many people, seasonaires, locals and holiday makers are struggling with increased depression and loneliness. The Ski Angels are there to talk with all people who may be struggling and get them the help they need, while ensuring they get back to the resort safely.
This year the role of Ski Angels is more vital than ever. The Covid 19 pandemic has left many young people suffering from ill mental health. Amid fear, anxiety, sleep deprivation, anger and isolation, it's certainly no surprise that cases of depression have more than doubled in France during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis (France24). Ski Angels aims to provide this necessary care for anyone who may be in need.
If your company would like to support Ski Angels through a partnership or sponsorship then please get in touch now!
If you have been helped by the Ski Angels, or want to support what we do, then we’d really appreciate a regular gift or a one-off donation. This will help fund the work of Ski Angels for the rest of this season, and future seasons.
