Where to Ski And Snowboard - Giant French ski lesson cancelled

Giant French ski lesson cancelled

18th November 2012, by Abi Butcher

French ski instructors will not descend on Parliament Square this Thursday

250 ski instructors from resorts all over France will now NOT descend on London this week for a winter warm-up. Tourist body Atout France has confirmed that the event has been cancelled “for technical reasons”.

“London’s Giant French Ski Lesson” was scheduled to take place in Parliament Square on Thursday (22 November) at 12.30pm, involving 250 instructors from L’Ecole du Ski Français (ESF) dressed in their striking red uniforms. The plan was then to head to Victoria Station, London Bridge, up to Abbey Road and then back to Piccadilly Circus.

The event was to be a repeat of the “Ski Flash Mob” that took place in Paris two years ago with 350 instructors — watch the video on You Tube here. The ski instructors are from ski schools across France and have apparently been practising for weeks. The event’s motto is “fun, form, fitness, formidable and friendly”, and is currently trending on twitter under the hashtag #esfflashmob

But ... the word is that the organisers have had second thoughts about the merits of trying to promote the ESF at exactly the same time as the organisation is taking legal action against a small British tour operator because of its ski hosting service. The reception the moniteurs received just might have been hostile.

We hope to have more on the ski hosting story shortly, but we are treading carefully, wary of fuelling the dispute. Watch this space.