Along Verbier’s main street, between the Arctic Juice Bar, Burton and The North Face, hitched above the télécabine or off the subterranean parking garage of the hotel Montpelier, are a series of almost secret venues into which young people disappear with odd-shaped boxes on their backs. These people are the young musicians of the Verbier Academy, the crème de la crème, and they are gathering for masterclasses, rehearsals and coaching sessions. In a festival committed to their well-being, the classes offered in these spaces are not just in violin and piano but range from Shakespearian acting, sports psychology and tax consultancy, and I have been invited to be the resident mindfulness coach.