The Skiers Helping in the Fight Against Coronavirus

There are numerous reports of ski resorts, ski businesses and individual skiers trying to help in the fight against coronavirus all over the world.

A common theme is creating protective clothing for everyone working in health on the front line against the virus.

The medical teams at ski resorts have been donating their stocks of now hard-to-obtain goods in many countries, including gloves, sanitisers and masks to hospitals and in the US an organised campaign to get ski googles to medics has got thousands of sets of protective eyewear to hospitals, particularly in New York state in just a few days.

Individuals are doing their bit too. In the French resort Alpe d ‘Huez ski instructor Françoise Berthet, is making protective masks from the old skiwear once used by instructors of the French Ski school (ESF) in the resort.

The washable and reusable masks Françoise creates are distributed as needed in nursing homes as well as to essential nurses and shops in the area.

In addition several famous chefs from other top French resorts have decided to keep working and are cooking meals for three of Savoie Mont Blanc’s main hospitals.

Twenty chefs in Savoie Mont Blanc region are cooking 1,200 meals every Sundays for doctors and nurses, but also for all the hospitals’ workers such as the cleaners, people working in the admin and security departments, etc.

Among those 20 chefs, there are three Michelin starred chefs: Julien Machet from Le Farçon in La Tania (one star), Clément Bouvier from Ursus in Tignes (one star) and Mickaël Arnoult from Auberge Les Morainières in Jongieux (two stars).

The chefs buy from local producers who are not able to sell their food on the markets anymore.

“We want to pass our savoir-faire and enthusiasm to comfort people who are working in this crisis to save lives,” Jean Sulpice, another muli-Michelin-starred chef, in his case part of a group helping provide food for Annecy hospital, told Radio Mont-Blanc.