What's New in Chamonix?

And so it has been and gone... the 18th annual Boss des Bosses season worker's bumps competition... Check our photo gallery for the race action!

The disciplines included this year had grown, and now the teams comprise of seven male skiers and two female, plus two boarders and two telemarkers. But the ethos of the contest has remained inclusive at both ends of the skills spectrum. No where else could you find international legend Glenn Plake and former mogul world champion Jurg Binner skiing alongside the likes of Ed from Courchevel, who frankly looked like he had first put on the planks only earlier in the week. Though, saying that, the bumps this year were big enough to block the passage of medium-sized military personnel carriers so anyone brave enough to take part at all deserves respect.

The skies were hardly sunny for the 18th Boss des Bosses either, and flat-light of course makes the riding even harder. But still 5 teams and more coach loads of supporters turned out on the Grands Montets up at Argentiere to fight it out for the prize. Headline sponsor Dynamic Lives put on an awesome BBQ & Bar and alongside them supporting the event were: Hip Chalets; Sound Music Solutions; Mountain Trading Company; Natives, the Clubhouse and of course the Compagnie du Mont Blanc.

While the cerebral pairing of Chamonix novelist Jonathan Trigell and artist Adam Johnston provided the commentary, Nick Hoax, Dj Jimbo and others, played sets on the horizontal hubcaps to get the crowd and the teams jumping. And jump they did, flying off the final kicker were backflips, numerous smooth spins, Lincoln loops, mute grabs and even the occasional old school flavours of back scratchers and spreads.

It soon became evident that Zermatt had no intention of being beaten by Captain Jamie Strachan’s Chamonix for the third year in a row. They had pulled out all the stops and built a team without a single weak link. Though they were still technically catchable by Chamonix until the last race - which was appropriately enough between those two teams - from the start it had looked as though it would be the turn of the Swiss to take the trophy.

This they did the final results being: Opportunistically Neutral Swiss 1st; The Mont Blanc Massive 2nd; joint 3rd and an upper class marriage of convenience for Meribel and Val d’Isere; with recently de-Russianed Courchevel forced into 5th place, despite the already mentioned heroics of Ed and also wee Jen, who skied only in a kilt – well, not only in a kilt, sadly she wore a jacket and probably some other stuff too, but when it’s about minus fifteen, as it was on Wednesday, then wearing a kilt at all is worthy of special mention.

After the prize giving, on the Terrasse balcony, over a packed Place de Balmat, the carousing continued long into the night. The Vert, the Cantina and the Clubhouse all had special Boss des Bosses events going on. The Chamjam may have departed, but the spirit of the party still lives on strong in Cham.... roll on next year!


Event History

The Boss des Bosses is the longest running season worker’s comp in the Alps. Its roots go back to a gauntlet - doubtless luminous - flung at a Val d’Isere fop who impudently suggested that Val’s skiers were better than Chamonix’s.

A team bumps competition settled the matter in Chamonix’s favour and now, seventeen year’s later on, the comp is still moving from strength to strength. Most of those original competitors - once hard drinking, powder skiing, all-in-one wearing, bums for life - are likely living in suburbia, worrying about the implications of the new one way system to house prices and saving money for their off-springs’ university fees. But still at the helm is the man who rose to the challenge so many years ago: Mr Tom Banfield; sporting, as always, his trademark battered tan ski suit and a beard to make Gandalf feel inadequately whiskered.

Along the way the Boss des Bosses – ‘bosses’ being French for bumps – has snowballed. First Verbier and Zermatt joined the contest, then Meribel, Courchevel and finally Val Thorens. Prior to this year’s racing Chamonix and Zermatt have dominated, at least since the departure of Verbier, who haven’t entered since 1997. For several years it formed the core event of the Chamjam music and snowsports festival, before that was unfortunately ended by excessive regulation.

For more information see this website or send an e-mail enquiry