Saturday 8th December 2012: with record early snowfall Argentiere's Grands Montets opened up for the weekend.
Among the early season skiers and snowboarders was Emily Watts, known as Mimi or Mims to her friends and family. Mimi was in Chamonix for the season.Having previously worked in Morzine and been bitten by the seasonnaire's bug, she had moved to Chamonix for the winter.
Tragically that day Mimi lost her life - after an excellent day with fabulous conditions, she was making her last run down alone. Jibbing around in the powder just off piste, she caught an edge and fell head first into a very deep, soft snow bank.
A few minutes later a passing skier stopped by the edge of the piste to wait for his family and noticed what he thought at first to be a bird stuck in the snow. It was the tip of Mimi's board. He tried to free her and couldn't. The rescue services were alerted. They dug her out but she had sufferred a cardiac arrest. They managed to get her heart started but by then her brain had been without oxygen for 45 minutes. Five days later, on Dec 13th, with family and friends at her bedside, doctors switched off her life support. She was just 26.
Passions, ambitions - and Good Story
Mimi was passionate about snowboarding and the mountains. She was also a talented designer and artist and had wanted to design a range of snowboarding wear for women under the name 'Good Story.' Good Story Clothing would be aimed at female snowboarders and skaters, giving them the same versatility and style of men's brands, but in women's sizes.
Now following her death, Mimi's family have set up the Good Story organisation - aimed at helping young, creative people with good ideas to find the help, advice and even funding they need to turn their ideas into a business.
Mimi was at times overwhelmed about how to turn her designs into a business, and often found advice to be conflicting and confusing. Good Story aims to take away that confusion through offering advice, mentoring, and start up loans or funding.
Charlotte Grant, one of the trustees of Good Story, and Mimi's best friend, explains;
"Good Story is looking for applicants between the ages of 18 and 30, who can tell us a 'good story' about how their creative passion started and what has driven them to want to turn it into a business. If we feel it can work, the Good story team will meet the applicants, give them advice, and also assign them to one or more of our mentors who we feel can help them. In some cases we may also offer some forms of funding or loans if we think this is appropriate"
Good Story already has a host of different mentors who have agreed to give their time; from designers, accountants, marketing and PR professionals to tattoo artists! If you feel you have the skills and experience which could help young creatives to move into the world of business, then why not get in touch? The time can vary from just giving an hour or so for a chat, to a longer term commitment.
If anyone is interested in applying to be an applicant or mentor they can email Good Story at: [email protected]. Donations are also welcome.The money will be put towards loans or small donations to help young creative people start up in business, to help pay expenses to mentors who are volunteering to help these young creative people, and, at the Trustees discretion, to make grants to help young creative talent. If you are keen to make a donation you can do so on the Good Story website.
Mimi's family and friends returned to the Grands Montets in January to scatter her ashes in the mountains, the environment she loved and where she died.
