Alumni Dispatch: Pierre-Philippe Reiller (MBA ’90) You Can Go Home Again! Some sensible people might wonder why I left a beautiful and friendly country such as Canada to move back to France. As an MBA, I cannot help being outraged, for instance, by the way French politicians handle the country’s huge debt (i.e. in a typical French fashion: do nothing). However, after 13 years in Canada and many events in my personal life, I decided that I had to make some radical changes. I left my job in the finance department of the Ministry of Education with some regret. While at the

Ministry, highlights included the financial restructuring of one French-language school board and two English-language school boards – typical MBA work, which I enjoyed very much. Yet, despite all this, I decided to take a job as a primary school teacher in France – at half the salary – and concentrate my remaining energy on skiing, ski mountaineering, flying, sailing, and windsurfing. True to my MBA education, I am still using some of my best skills!

Pierre’s “indispensable equipment.”

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I am currently living in Albertville, Savoie – the host of the 1992 winter Olympics and located in the middle of ski country. Geneva is about an hour and a half away, Grenoble one hour away, and Italy (through the Mont Blanc tunnel) two hours away. Basically, this is the ideal place to be for somebody who wants to enjoy mountaineering activities. By coming to France, I was not going to a foreign land. I was born in Moûtiers, 25 kilometres away, and I spent the first 30 years of my life (with some notable interruptions) in this part of the world. My whole family lives here, and I still have many friends in the region. When I came back, the first thing I did was to invest in some indispensable pieces of equipment: not a fridge, or an oven, or a bed, but two pairs of skis. The first was a pair of downhill skis, which are excellent in powder snow and the second, a pair of mountaineering skis. My personal experience has shown to me that few people in Toronto are familiar with ski mountaineering. Allow me to explain: simply put, ski mountaineering consists of climbing up a mountain with some special skis and then skiing down that mountain. Mountaineering skis are very similar to downhill skis, but lighter. The bindings are very light, and allow your ski boots to move up and down. When I go up a mountain, only the front of the boot is attached to the binding, which allows it to pivot. To prevent the ski from sliding, I use some special equipment (seal skins, made out of synthetics materials) that sticks to the bottom of the skis and allow me to climb. On the way down, I remove the seal skins, lock the back of the ski boot, and ski as I would ski on any ski slope. I started out skiing in Courchevel, Meribel,Tignes, and other resorts, but they can be expensive and fairly crowded, and the slopes aren’t steep enough for my liking. I like to pump some adrenaline into my system, so I go to places where there are few people (most of the time). Don’t get the idea that I am an excellent skier; I am trying to improve, but I am far from an expert.

When I climbed Grand Paradis (4,000 m) with my brother, we skied down powder snow for 1,300 metres (vertical height). Sometimes, the snow is difficult to ski and it is not that pleasant, but the scenery makes it worth it. For your information, heliskiing is forbidden in France for environmental reasons. Since I cannot afford it anyway, I find this rule perfectly acceptable.Towards the end of the season, I choose more difficult mountains to climb. I am happy to say that this year I climbed and skied down ‘le couloir de l’Aiguille du Grand Fond’. I had promised my two sons, Jérémie and Le Benj, that I would ski down a couloir (a narrow and unusually steep slope). The slope was at least at 40 degrees, with some rocks in the middle, so I was pretty tense and would not have won any medals for my ski style. At the bottom, I promised myself that I would never do it again. But, as James Bond once said, “Never say never again.”When my sons are older, I will try to convince them to visit me in France and maybe climb and ski down that same couloir with me. The region has a variety of ski resorts that are beyond comparison in the world (a

When he’s not teaching or skiing, Pierre-Philippe can be found in the cockpit.

My taste for adventure is not new to me.When I was living in Canada, I came to a time of my life when I needed to accomplish something challenging and different. Freud once said that a happy man (I guess women did not need to be happy) was one who accomplished his childhood dream. Then somebody else told me that the difference between a boy and a man was the

I’ve decided to take a job as a primary school teacher in France and concentrate my remaining energy on skiing, ski mountaineering, flying, sailing, and windsurfing. very objective view, no doubt). Some cater to families, such as Les Saisies, while others are for more adventurous skiers.The season starts in December and ends at the beginning of May. One word of caution, as you may know, the French have lots of vacation time (hence my presence here.) February is to be avoided, and April as well. In January the weather is colder and the snow lighter. March can be pleasant – the snow slightly wetter, but still excellent.

price of his toys.With these two principles in mind, I decided to learn to fly aeroplanes. While I cannot afford that kind of toy, at least I can rent them. So, I received my private pilot licence, my twin rating, and my commercial pilot rating in Toronto. When I arrived in France, I proudly showed all these documents to the appropriate official, who told me that they were worth nothing, and I had to start all over again. Undeterred, I passed my private pilot licence in France, and discovered a whole

new way to look at these mountains that I love so much. Once in a while, I rent a plane (usually a PA-28) from the Albertville flying club and I go around Mont Blanc. I lack words to describe the beauty of the scenery. Flying by these imposing peaks is an experience never to be forgotten. I have started a sort of ‘business’ by asking people to fly with me and share the costs of the plane rental. Since I am not a commercial pilot in France, I cannot charge for my services. I have also, with the help of a friend, created a website (http://desirs.ailes.free.fr), where you can see pictures of me flying and of Mont Blanc and nearby summits. The major advantage of France over Canada is that the country is relatively small, so it does not take long to travel to the Mediterranean Sea. I have decided that I should start teaching sailing again. So in the near future, you may find me roaming the waters of the south of France and nearby countries. This is the lifestyle that I have chosen for the time being, far from my MBA education, and, as one French philosopher put it, ‘Far from the noises of the city’. How long will this chapter in my life last? I do not know. Pierre-Philippe can be reached at [email protected]

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