SEASON MISSION

£5950

APPLY NOW. BURSARY GRANTS ARE AVAILABLE. 

what is an altituder?

No two days are the same as an Altituder but here’s an idea of what you may be getting up to.

The day starts meeting together with Bible time and prayer at 7:30am, followed by breakfast at 8am. You and your fellow Altituders will take turns to cook and serve breakfast each morning for the chalet. After breakfast, you will help clear away and do a quick tidy of the chalet before joining others on the mountain to ski.

Most of your day-time will be skiing – you will learn very quickly that the Three Valleys is the most incredible ski area. It is great to have the chance to ski with so many faces over the season whether that’s seasonnaires, guests at the chalet or fellow Altituders. There will also be ample time to ski at your own leisure: going off for a solo ski is a great opportunity to spend alone time with God.

Skiing with seasonnaires is such a great outreach opportunity. You’ll build relationships and you’ll have some great chats on the ski lifts as you spend time together.

There are four aspects to our ministry at Altitude, and you’ll help with all of them: Outreach, Church, Open-House Nights and Ski Angels.

In the afternoon, a team of you will put on your Ski Angels jackets and head up to the après-ski bars, La Folie Douce and Le Rond Point. Helping skiers who might’ve had one too many, we help them find their skis, we carry skis, we guide them to the bus or bubble car, call for help or pop them into a ski lift where possible. Each season we have physically saved lives. By being the helping hands of Jesus and displaying love in all things we do, we are able to connect with people and they are consistently amazed.

For those not on Ski Angels duty that evening, there’s a chance to go to après-ski bars and hang-out with your friends and meet new seasonnaires friends. We are all about making friends and building relationships – it’s part of the fun of doing a ski season, and it’s in these friendships that people will be intrigued by your faith.

Each day there’s a rota, with your fellow Altituders, to help with preparing, cooking and serving the evening meal alongside the chalet cook before washing up with the Ski and Servers. It is a great opportunity to learn or develop skills in the kitchen. You’ll soon find that you are comfortably able to cook for 25 people!

On a Wednesday evening, you’ll get ready to host about 200 people for our famous Beer & Burger nights. This is a great chance to welcome seasonnaires to the chalet for a free burger and beer.  We don’t preach, we just welcome everyone and show them generous hospitality. It won’t be long before they’re asking you why we do it. You’ll help with prepping the room for the evening, and with food prep.  You may have to flip a burger or two, but above all we really encourage you to mingle. Most likely, afterwards, you’ll head to the pub with your mates.

Every Altituder is involved in church in some way, although there may be some Sundays when you’re not serving. Throughout the week you might be involved in preparing to lead the service, writing sermons, doing the tech, preparing and practicing worship or generally praying into the service ahead. We have incredible Christian leaders who will be able to get alongside you to help you grow, develop and prepare each week whatever you choose to throw yourself into.

We offer refuge beds to those seasonnaires who need a place to stay for a night or two – so we’ll make them feel at home, prepare a bed for them, and spend time with them.  We’ll get them back on their feet and ready to move on at the right time.

There’s also plenty of other activities going on in the chalet; worship by the fire, bible studies, leadership and discipleship seminars both in person and over Zoom, prayer days, movie nights or just a time to relax. 

With the benefit of having fellow Altituders and the core team around you, you will have time to build accountable relationships that will last a lifetime. You’ll also have a fortnightly mentoring session with one of our leaders - a chance to go deeper in your faith. Each week the chalet welcomes up to 8 Ski & Servers and it’s a great opportunity for you to meet and mix with some inspiring people who have so much life experience and wisdom.  Sit with them at dinner, go ski together, or have a coffee by the fire. Previous Altituders have found these moments essential in their season to fuel their faith, to be inspired by and to gain wisdom off the many people that you meet along the season.

Altitude Mission is all about building relationships with seasonnaires, changing their perceptions of who they think God is, because when they meet normal people, and yet they’re Christian, it’s mind-boggling.

We would love you alongside us bringing fresh ideas, perspectives and wisdom to all that we do to grow this mission and the kingdom of God.

Get ready to be bombarded with friendships, challenges, adventures and to embark on what is going to be the best time of your life! We can’t wait to hear from you!

WHY CHOOSE ALTITUDE MISSION?

We are a spirit-filled worshipping community church in the Alps that changes people’s perceptions of God (and church) and introduces them to the love of Jesus by our radical non-judgmental loving welcome and our servant-hearted actions.

There is no other place like Altitude and there is no other ski season like Altitude Mission. It will be a life-changing experience where you will go deeper in your faith, be bold as you talk to anyone and everyone, embrace outreach, be challenged to try out your gifts, stretch yourself as you learn a new skill, step out as you help run a church, learn what it means to be a disciple, grow in so many ways and truly see God at work all whilst living in an incomparable Christian community.

Altitude Mission is your chance to make friends for life, to meet hundreds of people from all walks of life, to talk to complete strangers, to share your faith on a chairlift, to share experiences with someone twice your age over dinner, to pray for healing, to chat to a seasonnaire at an apes-ski bar, to show love to someone who’s lost.  You will create memories and friendships to last a lifetime.

As a Ski Angel, you’ll love walking up the slope carrying skis, you’ll help people find their lost skis, you’ll rescue people that have fallen into an icy stream, you’ll take someone down to safety in the bubble car, and they may well throw up all over you.  You’ll look after someone who’s unconscious until help arrives.  We’ll give you the training you need for outdoor First Aid, and drug and alcohol awareness.  And once trained and experienced, in future seasons, you’ll be able to join our festival teams as we go to other ski resorts to serve as Ski Angels.

You get to run a church - this is your chance to stretch yourself, to try a preach, to lead worship, to stand at the front and welcome people. Or maybe you’re a technical wiz.  You can run the sound desk, or the visuals.  And we always welcome new ideas and new approaches, so bring innovation, and enthusiasm and let’s see where God takes Altitude Church.

We have seen how hard it is to live out your faith whilst doing a ski season without the support of fellow Christians. Altitude allows you to ski that ski season you've always wanted whilst getting support from fellow Altituders and the core team throughout the entirety of the season. You’ll keep accountable to those around you, and grow in your own faith. 

At Altitude Mission, you will do so much. You will be challenged and exhilarated in equal measure, you will laugh till it hurts, you will be bold by showing people God’s love, you’ll ski/snowboard like you’ve always dreamed, sing God’s praises as you sit on a mountain top, help run a church, you will put others before yourself whilst also learning new skills in and around the chalet. To top it all off, you might find yourself watching the sunset, with a beer in hand, overlooking all of the Three Valleys with the best bunch of people you’ve ever met. 

ACCOMMODATION

Chalet Altitude is a 28-bed ski chalet located in Meribel Centre, just a 5-minute walk from the slopes, in the heart of the 3 Valleys, the world’s largest ski area. All meals are provided for the Altituders and we all eat together as a family – a cooked breakfast, a picnic lunch, afternoon tea and a 2-course dinner prepared by our resident cook and a rota of Altituders.  One night a week is a night off, when you can cook for yourselves, eat leftovers or go out and enjoy one of the fantastic restaurants in town.  We will provide you with the ingredients to make your lunch baguette or you can choose to eat out on the mountain.

The chalet is equipped with Wi-Fi and each bedroom has its own en-suite bathroom.

You will be sharing a twin or triple room with fellow Altituders and live in community along with the Ski and Servers. the Altitude leaders. Will and Lara, and their dog ‘Lily’ also live in the chalet and their 4 children stay regularly.

Along with those staying in the chalet, we are always welcoming seasonnaires as it is a space where they can feel comfortable and at home throughout the day so expect to see familiar faces grow throughout the season. 

COSTS

24/25 ALTITUDER SEASON - £5950.00

COST INCLUDES

• Accommodation in Chalet Altitude from mid-November to late April/early May (exact dates tbc.)

• Food – breakfast every day, a sandwich for lunch, afternoon tea and two-course dinner 6-days a week.

• Pre-season training in resort 2 weeks of seminars, bible studies, training, team worship, fellowship and skiing.

• Travel to resort. We will arrange to pick you up from Geneva airport and bring you to Meribel. We will also cover taking you back to Geneva at the end of the season.

• Altitude Team Uniform

• Avalanche Training Course

• 2-day Rescue and Emergency Care First Aid Training with Alcohol and Drug Awareness training.
  *Training takes place in the UK before the season starts

• Food Hygiene Level 1 & 2

• Enjoy ministry and serve alongside our collection of influential and successful leaders who will be joining us over the season and via Zoom, grow in ability to collectively run a church, engage in leadership and discipleship seminars.

• Introduction to the world of hospitality and catering, see how a chalet is run, support the cook, become an instrumental part of it all. Learn how to bake a cake at altitude and cook for 25!

• And of course, be involved with everything we do!

  • Ski Angels - once you’ve trained and gained Ski Angels experience, in future seasons you can join our Ski Angels teams on events weeks across the Alps

  • Outreach

  • Church

  • Seasonnaire Hangouts (Beer and Burgers night, group skis, etc.)

  • A season of discipleship growing alongside like-minded Christians, whilst realising the mission we have for Meribel.

  • So much more!

OTHER COSTS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

• Travel to Geneva – you’ll need to book your own flights or travel.

• Ski Pass. A 3-Valley season pass for Under-30s costs approx €950 (price TBC).

• Ski Equipment – we recommend bringing your own kit however we can provide basic equipment hire free of charge.

• Insurance – we recommend you take out ski accident or travel insurance. As part of that we require you to have a Carte Neige season accident insurance cover. It costs around €50 and covers mountain rescue costs but not medical costs. You’ll buy this when you buy the ski pass at the start of the season.

• Après-ski drinks and lunches (buy on the slopes, or just remember your sandwich!)

Bursaries available – Altitude Mission is a UK and French registered charity, and Chalet Altitude is run on a not-for-profit, cost-only basis. We want anyone to be able to benefit from doing a season at Altitude so we don’t want the price of the season to be prohibitive, so if you need financial help please do get in touch. There is a bursary fund available for suitable candidates.

You will be doing mission work, so you may want to apply to your church and church members for financial assistance, or there are grants available from Christian funding organisations. 

Please contact us for more information, and see our T&Cs for payment details. 

BECOME AN ALTITUDER NOW. LIMITED SPACES.