Speechmatics take on the French Alps

A group from the Speechmatics team swapped their desks with the snowy French Alps last week as they embarked on a team ski trip. On arrival to Nice the team were met with lots of rain and fog – certainly not a winning combination when it comes to skiing – nevertheless, the team was resilient. Ironically the talented engineers’ first hurdle came long before the slopes, when they struggled for what seemed like hours (really only 10 minutes) to get the automatic van into drive… but we’ll put this down to the long 2-hour flight, shall we? Once the van was up to speed, Paul, Speechmatics’ VP Engineer, preceded to drive over his CEO, Benedikt’s board bag… the trip could only get better, right? Fortunately for the team, it did get better, slightly! Despite the poor weather rendering most ski lifts broken and the slopes near impossible to ski on, the team remained optimistic and had a great time both on and off the slopes.

Brad, Systems and Infrastructure Engineer at Speechmatics, said:

“Aside from the skiing, my personal highlight was watching the 6 Nations rugby game between France and England in an Irish bar near to our resort. Although the result wasn’t in our favour, it made my day when the French barman came over to us at the end of the game to give us all paper towels to dry our tears – at least he had a sense of humour!”

With a larger group and a little more notice, the Speechmatics team are looking to take on the slopes next year in what they hope to be a more successful ski trip. Want to keep up-to-date with the latest team news? Keep an eye on our blog to see what else the team gets up to! Ben Leaman, Speechmatics