When a determined skier or boarder starts a new relationship, one of the great worries is whether their new partner will love or hate winter sports. OK, it’s pretty sad if it’s a make-or-break factor, but even so it can cause logistical and relationship-politics issues if you don’t share a love of snow.
So, although I never really had serious doubts, it was a rather nervous day for me, as well as my partner Fiona, when she clipped in her ski boots on the indoor snow slope of Glasgow a year ago, for her first time on the slopes.
I need not have worried, however, because by the end of this first session, Fiona’s love for the sport had already taken hold. That of course led to the next stage: planning a first joint ski trip abroad to put Fiona’s newfound skills to the test at a proper resort.
Fortunately it’s never been easier to book a ski package, and we found a plethora of special deals aimed at first-timers just like Fiona, with the costs like lift passes, rentals and ski school that can double the cost of a holiday before you reach resort rolled into a discounted first-timers’ deal, making it much more affordable than we’d feared.
In the end we chose Crystal Ski Holidays, who sent us a travel-information pack a couple of weeks before departure. In this we found our plane tickets and all the required information plus the company’s contact information to reassure any first-time travellers. They also emailed me a copy of this pack online to be extra sure – never let it be said that Crystal don’t look after their clients.
The next issue was ensuring Fiona had all the ski wear she needed. For this we made a ‘one-stop shop’ at Sports Direct who stock well-known quality brands like Nevica but at the low prices for which the company is famed. So we got Fi kitted out in a jacket and salopettes, along with several sets of thermals, gloves and socks, and we still had change from £200.
So, all set in the long, dark January of 2014, we packed our bags and jumped on a plane headed for the Austrian resort of Söll, part of the country’s largest ski area, the SkiWelt, with 280km of piste, and in the famous province of Tirol.
On arrival in Salzburg, we grabbed our bags and headed straight for the bus for the final stretch of our journey. After attempting to request help from a rather large Austrian driver (he was forced to communicate in a mysterious form of sign language due to the enormous pastry wedged in his mouth), our Crystal travel rep turned up to help – a charming lad by the name of Rupert. Apparently we had arrived a tad early, but after matching our details with his register he asked the driver to let us dump our bags and grab a quick lunch. Then we hopped on the bus and headed for Söll.
This final stretch took a couple of hours, during which Rupert visited everyone with a larger info pack detailing everything the resort had to offer, accompanied with a town-map, lift passes and instructions on acquiring our rental gear. Here we hit a slight issue: I had unintentionally booked us both into the ski school’s “total beginner” rank, which meant our passes only granted us access to the nursery slopes.
Rupert told us he could upgrade these for us then and there; however, we chose to wait until Fiona had tried on her skis again before spending any unnecessary money.
We arrived at our accommodation, the Chalet Mounty, in the early hours of the evening, where we met our friendly Crystal base rep Mike, along with the other chalet residents. We then enjoyed some delicious food, accompanied by a brief welcome introduction by the chalet staff. They informed us of the rules of the establishment and the various amenities around town, then we headed to bed to get up bright and early for the next day’s skiing.
The following morning we dressed quickly in our ski gear and headed to the base of the lifts. Here we collected our equipment and began to follow the large group of adult ski-schoolers to the bottom of the drag lift which would lead to the main gondola up the mountain.
It was at this point that Fiona found her “beginner” lift pass to be slightly beneath her abilities; obviously that half-day at Snow Factor had been the big boost to her abilities we’re always told that pre-trip snowdome or dry-slope classes are. So we upgraded our passes to give us access to the whole mountain. Then, after a few warm-up runs on the nursery slopes, we jumped in the gondola and headed on up.
From the top of this lift we found a great selection of runs, some long blues and wide reds – perfect to help Fiona practise her turns without fear of colliding into fellow skiers. Unfortunately, the snow was sparse and slushy on our first day, but our prayers were answered the following morning when we awoke to thick flakes falling fast outside. The conditions soon improved, and by the mid-week Fiona was already confident on the reds and keen to explore more of the mountain.
Our daily routine was soon established and great fun. Up at 7, cooked breakfast, ski through the morning, lunch in piste-side café (mostly enjoying wienerschnitzel), ski through the afternoon, snack in piste-side café (cake and beer), ski back to base, dinner in the chalet (hats off to the catering staff – the food was consistently excellent), après-ski usually in one of the cosy bars around the town centre, then back home to bed, and repeat. A full-on but hugely enjoyable week.
There was a long list of après-ski options provided through Crystal’s rep. We especially enjoyed the pub quiz, the dancing and, most of all, the fondue. Söll is a town used to catering for British holiday goers, but that’s not to say it was lacking in the local charm that makes visiting any foreign resort worthwhile.
So we returned home with Fiona now an accomplished skier, and now we’re looking for packages targeted especially at second-week skiers.
