Why A Ski Weekend?

There are many people I’ve known over the years who’ve caught the ski or snowboard bug and went off on a few ski holidays during their late teens or early twenties, but then suddenly stopped going.

There are a few factors involved, including financial ones that often involve starting a young family; but another major reason is time.  Now this of course is completely understandable.  With the fast paced work culture that we now live in, we are working longer hours and having less time off.  Our Holiday allowance from our employers is treated more sacred than a cow in a Hindu temple - and is used wisely.

With summer holidays taking centre stage and a contingency plan put in place for any days needed for unpredictable events such as weddings and elaborate, over the top stag or hen do’s, a ski holiday for some can be lower down the list than they would ideally desire.

For most, the perception of a ski holiday is a week’s long trip to Europe, or at least ten days spent across the big pond in Canada or the US.  But what about a long weekend?

With increased air links, budget airlines, fast roads, Eurostar and the Channel Tunnel, Europe has gotten smaller and it is now virtually as easy to pop over to the Alps as it is to take a weekend’s break in the UK.

For example, you can fly out to Geneva from Gatwick in just over an hour and then it can take less than two hours drive to get to some of the main resorts in the French Alps from the Airport.  Can you imagine looking out across the runway from the airport lounge, dark grey clouds blanket the sky and driving rain pounding the tarmac?  Then, only within a few hours, breathing in that Alpine air and looking across the snow covered mountains!  The vast ski areas of Three Valleys and Paradiski are also very accessible and easy to get to.

Spending a long weekend at a French ski resort is a quick and affordable way to spend a few days out on the slopes, getting your ski or snowboard fix like an adrenalin needle to the heart.  Combine this with a spot of Après ski straight off the slopes, then that really describes the perfect weekend.  Just a tad better than getting a Saturday night take-out while watching the X-Factor or I’m A Celebrity!

To make the most out of the weekend, flights are on a Thursday evening and you return on Monday.  Lift passes are pre-booked and handed out on arrival so no hanging around in a long queue at the Ski Lift pass centre in the morning; just head straight out onto the slopes after breakfast.

Of course, time is not the only issue and for many a ski trip seems like an extravagant expense and hard to justify while juggling finances.  This is another reason why a ski weekend should be considered.

With the cost of flights being heavily reduced over the last few years, flying has become very accessible for those on a budget.  Another alternative is to travel by luxury coach.  For those of you who are on the wrong side of 40, the words ‘ski trip’ and ‘coach’ may stir the feeling of fear as memories flood back from a school ski trip back in the eighties.  I know I spent 17 hours travelling to Austria in a coach that looked like it was a relic from the soviet eastern bloc.

Times have moved on and modern Luxury coaches are now an enjoyable and relaxing way to travel. The coaches travel through the night so you can kick back and relax watching a film before putting your chair back and having a snooze.

Imagine waking up as you arrive at Brides Les Bains in the Three Valleys!  Brides Les Bains is situated just under Meribel and is an ideal base to explore one of the biggest ski areas in the world.

Now, because you have travelled through the night, here is the best part, when you arrive at the resort in the morning, check in, throw your stuff in your room, get changed, collect your hire equipment (if you need it) and head out on the slopes!

In traveling by coach, not only are you saving loads of cute penguins and polar bears by cutting down on your carbon footprint, you actually have more time to enjoy on the slopes.  This is an important factor as you will want to squeeze every last blissful minute out of your couple of days on the slopes.

Another thought to leave you with when considering a coach trip is because it is overnight travel, the whole trip is only over three days and best of all, only one work day.

If we go right back to the initial question of why a ski weekend, surely the question should be ‘Why not?’  Even if you have spent a week sliding down the mountain already this season, you do not need to stick to the stigma of only having one ski trip a year.  There is no better way to unwind than sneaking off for cheeky ski weekend to breathe in that mountain air and shred the white stuff.  If doctors prescribed a ski or snowboard trip to everyone who was over stressed, all the shrinks would be out of a job!

So, no more excuses about ski holidays costing too much, you don’t have enough holiday days allowance to justify it, or that you simply haven't got enough time. I don’t even want to hear that you have already been skiing a week; go dust down your skis or snowboard, find your ski clothes from the back of the wardrobe (they will probably be in Narnia by now!) and book yourself a ski weekend.

If I was a shrink then this advice would have just cost you more than the total price of a ski weekend! 

Mark Barber