Skiing holidays – do you love them or loathe them?

I wonder if the love for skiing holidays is (as in your case Lorna) always born of a childhood spent skiing. I hadn’t skiied (or snowboarded – is that the right word?) until the age of 24 when I went on a short break to a ski resort in Japan. I tried snowboarding, fell on my face repeatedly, got concussion, then swapped my snowboard for a plastic sledge which I found far more entertaining. My friends who had started skiing/snowboarding as children, on the other hand, couldn’t understand why I was so nonplussed by the whole experience. By the end of the 3 day trip there were two camps: those who’d done it as kids and were whooshing off down the slopes having a great time, and those who hadn’t started young who joined me in the ‘plastic sledge’ camp!

But I think the main thing that puts me off about these holidays is that you’re usually based in a ‘resort’ and spend most of the time skiing/snowboarding rather than travelling around. My ideal holiday is one where I get to do lots of wandering, see all the local (and not-so-local) sights, and ideally cover a fairly large area. So whether it’s sunny or snowy, anything resort-based is likely to be bottom of my travelling list.

Im currently in the hate camp. I first attempted skiing at age 30. Found it painful to learn but got a little enjoyment on shallow slopes. Now on my second attempt at skiing at age 33 I’m completely hacked off with the whole expensive painful experience. Are ski boots meant to be a form of foot torture? Are beginner slopes some sort of cynical joke on those of us whose legs do not bend unnaturally to prevent us crashing into the nearest snowboarder/ski lift/tree/hotel??? This will be my last ski holiday. My wife who learned to ski very competantly as a teenager yet cannot drive a car without hitting something has vowed to go on her own next year. Action sports holidays! Pah! Give me the best museums and galleries Europe has to offer.

On my first trip age 13 I broke my leg so badly I was off school for a term and didn’t ski again until I was 15. I’m surprised I don’t live in the Alps. I compare it to dancing especially if you have music too – and of course a sport that requires gaining and maintaining skills and being fit and flexible. A ski season gap year, another season since and I am delighted to be taking my family out for the third time in a decade. Yes, it is expensive. We’ll save for it and have no other holiday. Perhaps body boarding/surfing is another thing we have done as a family but without any doubt this is the only thing we all love, love, love. I had the children out first when they were 5/7, then when they were 10/12. This has been enough for them to be like riding a bike. I’m usually ignored but I try to get everyone onto a dry slope a few times in the weeks before we go out simply to get them mentally prepared – I do the dry slope as my only form of exercise bar walking the dog. As well as Which? I value membership of the Ski Club of Great Britain for advice and discounts. Then it is horses for courses …. ‘Ski Sportif’ in a block of flats skiing to the door in France doesn’t suit everyone, so you pick a resort town like Wengen or Kitzbuhel.