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Jai Ashton

Seasonaire 20/21

Jai Ashton

Definition: Seasonaire ‘One who works a season in the Alps in order to ski or board a lot’

The British seasonaire has always been somewhat of an enigma. If you have ever been skiing in France they are there, cooking the meals, pouring the drinks and driving the transfers. As central as they are to the ski industry, it seems as if even the name for this group of people is entirely unknown to those who have not ‘done a season’ and even less is known of how they live, work and play.

The season of 20/21 has been one like no other, with it being the first time for nearly a century that some resorts have had no ski lifts running, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is also the first year of Britain’s exit from the European Union and with it a loss of workers rights for seasonaires.

However this did not stop some seasonaires from continuing to try and live the life that many know so little about.

This book serves to show what it is to be a seasonaire and expose the daily lives of the young people that are the backbone of the French ski industry. It will also document the only year in which the resorts have been closed down and British citizens being unsure of their future in Europe for the first time.

The images in this book were taken primarily in the small ski resort of Peisey Vallandry in the Tarentaise valley of Savoie, France.