Ask the average skier how good they are and the chances are that they will say
“OK”. Almost six out of ten people class themselves as intermediates.
The big problem for British winter sports enthusiasts is that they cannot get
to the slopes often, with most taking a single week's holiday in the snow
each year. This means that after the initial burst of learning, most people
are happy to sit on what is known as “the plateau”. That is why resorts with
extensive terrain for the average skier do so well.
These are my favourite resorts for intermediate skiers.
Aspen
Skiing in Aspen is not cheap but when you do ski at this American resort you
realise what all the fuss is about. There are four mountains, all of them
good in their own ways. Snowmass is the biggest and best for intermediates.
The Green Mile run is as long as Tom Hanks’s film of the same name while Big
Burn run gives a hint of how your thighs will feel after skiing it. A week
at the four-star Silvertree Hotelin Snowmass costs from £775, room only,
with Ski Dream, including flights. www.skidream.com
Davos
The Swiss resort deserves to be better frequented by the British intermediate.
Skiing is spread over five mountains and it offers some of the best runs for
improvers in the Alps. The best intermediate runs are the long reds down
from the Weissfluhjoch to the villages of the Klosters valley, although the
lower parts might be challenging if the snow is patchy. My favourite starts
at the top and ends 12km (7 miles) later on run 53 at the hamlet of Serneus,
where you can have a well-deserved schnapps and coffee. A week’s half board
at the four-star Sunstar Park Hotel costs from £445 with Crystal, including
flights and transfers. www.crystalski.co.uk
Méribel
Vertical drops are the order of the day in Méribel, the central valley of the
extensive Trois Vallées network in France. If you like putting your foot
down and skiing a different run every day, this is the place to come. One of
the best runs in the valley is the Combe Vallon. Take the Mont Vallon bubble
gondola then let yourself go for more than a kilometre of vertical down to
Mottaret. The blue Pic Noir is another nice long run down from Col de la
Loze, which winds through the trees to Altiport. For a change, nip over to
Courchevel and Val Thorens next door. A week’s chalet board at the Chalet
Leopold in Méribel-Mottaret costs from £379 with Skiworld, including
flights. www.skiworld.ltd.uk
Paradiski
Take two of the best intermediate resorts in the world, stick a big lift
between them and you end up with something special. The Paradiski piste map
is crisscrossed with hundreds of red and blue runs, ranging from wide
motorway runs to cheeky reds that swish through the forests. In nice weather
the wide runs from Aiguille Grive down to the bottom of the Plagnettes chair
in Arc 2000, France, can hardly be bettered, while on the Arc 1800 side of
the mountains there is a dazzling choice of runs for the average skier. Over
in La Plagne the terrain around Plagne Centre is like a big bowl of milk and
you will be smiling like a Cheshire Cat when you ski down these. The Roche
de Mio area also has some stunning blue runs. A week’s self-catering in a
two-bedroom apartment at Les Alpages de Chantel, Arc 1800, costs from £879
for the apartment, including the Euro-tunnel crossing, with Erna Low. www.ernalow.co.uk
Whistler
If you are an intermediate, you have to make the pilgrimage to Whistler in
Canada once in your life. Its two mountains – Whistler and Blackcomb – have
extensive terrain that is ideal for intermediates, including some bowl
skiing just below the peaks. If the snow is good, and Whistler’s often is,
you will want to try the blue Peak to Creek run. This gives you 1.5km of
vertical through the trees down to Creekside. Over on Blackcomb mountain,
the 7th Heaven chairlift is aptly named. It takes you to plenty of gorgeous,
cruisy runs between the trees. A week at the five-star Fairmont Château
Whistler, room only, costs from £835, including flights to Van-couver with
Thomson. www.thomsonski.co.uk
Prices are per person and based on two sharing a room, unless stated otherwise
Back to the slopes – and make it snappy
Quite how I was “volunteered” to test the Schnupftabakmaschine I
do not know. After seeing its effect it was clear that nobody else wanted to have a go.
The Heath Robinson-style contraption uses gun caps, a wooden mallet and
mirrors to force snuff up your nostrils. It enjoyed pride of place at the
isolated hut of Lindlingalm, in the Austrian resort of Saalbach-Hinterglemm,
and was brought out to stun unsuspecting skiers into action after a hearty
meal. It certainly got me out of my chair.
That was one of those moments when you realise you have been in a restaurant
too long and should be off skiing.
Saalbach-Hinterglemm, a couple of hours from Salzburg, is often overlooked by
Brits but is a perfect place for intermediates. The resort has 200km (124
miles) of piste, with just five black runs. The runs over to the village of
Leogang offer good cruising.
Although it is an intermediate paradise by day, you need to be an après-ski
expert by night. Bauer’s Schi-Alm, at the bottom of the Kohlmais chairlift,
is the rowdiest place in Saalbach once the slopes start to clear.
Why grown men end up dancing to a track called Schnappi das kleine Krokodil
(Snappy the little Crocodile), recorded by Joy Gruttmann at the age of four,
is beyond me. Must be something to do with schnapps.
A week’s half board at the four-star Alpenhotel, Saalbach, costs from £672
with Inghams (www.inghams.co.uk),
including flights.
