‘Tis The Ski-son To Be Jolly! – Tilly J
This week, I thought that I would take a break from rugby reports and write about something more wintery…SKIING!!! Some of you might be going skiing this Christmas or in Easter but I can tell you, it looks like it’s going to be a good season. I don’t think anything could be worse than last year’s snow, and hopefully resorts won’t have to use snow machines as much this year. Although some might say that this Nordic sport is elitist and for the snobs of society, there is a plethora of resorts that are easily accessible, cheaper than the “famous” ones and family-friendly (skiing isn’t always about the apres-ski!!). There are so many underrated ski resorts that are in the shadow of the greats, and there are some that make you think, you can ski there?? (cough Australia cough). Yes, when someone says Australia, people automatically think of blue oceans and white beaches but believe it (or not), you can actually go skiing there during July/August and its biggest resort is Perisher!! So here are profiles of a wide variety of ski resorts from all around the world:
Verbier, Switzerland:
If someone talks to me about skiing, I always think about Verbier. Verbs (as some people like to call it) is always dotted with celebrities from the Prince and Princess of Wales to Leonardo DiCaprio. The resort consists of 4 areas called the “Four Valleys” (Medran, Les Savoleyre, Mont Fort and Bruson) which totals to 410 km of marked runs of different difficulties. Although Verbier has a lot of marked runs, it is very famous for off-piste skiing as it’s run ‘Bec de Rosses’ is the annual host for the finals of the Freeride World Tour and is the one of a few resorts to have a mountain with no pistes coming down it (Mont Gele). Despite Verbier being an incredible resort, it is often described as the M25 of the skiing world. If you want a quiet and peaceful ski trip, don’t come here or you will be woken up by chalet girls walking back from an apres-ski or even flattened on the pistes by a stampede of skiers and snowboarders.
Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland:
Although it isn’t the most well-known resort, the Cairngorm Mountains are a great place to ski if you don’t want to travel far or only wanting to ski for a short-period of time. It has over 30 km of runs, 13 ski lifts and freestyle terrain, which might seem small compared to other resorts but I reassure you, it’s worth it! Looking at the webcams on the the resort’s website (www.cairngormmountain.co.uk), Scotland has recieved a ton of snow but some of the pistes do look a bit icey (definatley not the conditions for a beginner). Ski passes cost around £480 for the entire season which is relatively cheap if you compare to the £1,312 pass for Verbier.
Jahorina (Dinaric Alps), Bosnia and Herzegovina:
When you think about Bosinia and Herzegovina, you probably don’t think about when they held the Winter Olympics of 1984 or even the Summer Olympics of 1992. An unusual place to go skiing but it makes a perfect trip to get away from others (only 150 Brits visited Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019) making it a very peaceful and quiet resort. However, I have heard from family members that it is better to Nordic ski (basically running on snow with slimmer skis) rather than the traditional, down-the-slope skiing as the ski season is very short due to the low altitude. I’ve also heard that the apres-ski is relatively cheap as a pint only costs around £1.50! Not only is it a good place to ski, it’s even better if you want to learn about the history of this country as during the Bosnian-Serb rule in the mid-ninties, it became a strategic location for army units planting mines in the forest and NATO bombed the mounatintop.
Les Contamines, France:
Onto the resort that I ski at. I could go on and on about Les Contamines but I’ll keep it short (definitely not going to be bias…). I learnt how to ski here with my sisters, had my first major crash and spilt a very hot chocolat chaud all over my brand new salopettes. This is an ideal place for a family to ski as everyone is super friendly and there is a large variety of restaurants (my fave has to be L’Op Traken but it closed down in the summer of 2018:( ). The ideal Alpine village and a perfect view of Mont Blanc, what else could you want! It didn’t receive much snow last year (I guess like everywhere else), but looking at the webcams, let’s just say that I’m going to be very sad by missing out this year.
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