Details: accommodation ranges from the grand — if a little old-fashioned — Hotel Ferienart (£965pp, half-board, with Inghams: 020 8780 4444, www.inghams.co.uk) to comfortable self-catering apartments from Erna Low (0870 750 6820, www.ernalow.co.uk), which start from £175pp, including ferry crossing. The young at heart should target the Hotel Dom (£514pp, half-board, with Inghams), whose bar comes complete with its own fountain. Other operators include Crystal (0870 160 6040, www.crystalholidays.co.uk).
TELLURIDE, COLORADO
Butch Cassidy robbed his first bank in Telluride, and the town still looks like the set of a western movie. These days, however, it’s a sophisticated little place, part counterculture refuge, part playground of the rich and famous. Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger both have holiday homes here, but you’ll also find book stores, picture galleries and, best of all, the Steaming Bean coffee house — the kind of hip little hang-out you’d be lucky to find in many cities, let alone a mountain town 2,700 metres up in the middle of nowhere.
At that elevation, mild altitude sickness can be a problem on your first day, but once you’ve settled in, you’ll quickly fall in love with this place. The mountain scenery is unrivalled in America, the locals chatty and unhurried, and the skiing spectacular, especially as you crash into town from a summit called Giuseppe’s, down one of the steepest and most sustained slopes on the continent. Beginners are well served here too, and only mileage-hungry intermediates might be left dissatisfied. But with dog- sledding excursions on the menu, as well as spa treatments at the award-winning Wyndham Peaks Resort (00 1 970 728 2590, www.thepeaksresort.com) — not forgetting all those lost mornings you’re going to have at the Steaming Bean — who cares?
Details: the New Sheridan is one of the nicest places to stay in town, right in the thick of things on Main Street: £924pp, B&B, with Ski Independence (0870 555 0555, www.ski-i.com). Other operators include Ski Safari (01273 223680, www.skisafari.com) and Ski All America (0870 167 6676, www.skiallamerica.com).
VAUJANY AND LA VILLETTE, FRANCE
You reach Vaujany first, winding up the road that leads from the reservoir at Allemond. It’s a handsome village, made suddenly wealthy by the local hydroelectric scheme in the valley below, and now home to its own 160-person cable car, as well as a state-of-the-art swimming pool. It’s half a mile or so further on, however, that things get really rustic. La Villette is even smaller than its neighbour, and in the middle of the day you’re as likely to find chickens on the road as skiers. Which is more important here, skiing or farming? With the smell of the nearest midden in your nostrils, you can’t be sure.
Not that the skiing is bad. Vaujany is different from the other destinations mentioned here in that it shares its skiing with a larger resort: Alpe d’Huez, perched on a high plateau on the other side of the mountain. There’s more than enough room for everyone, however, and some of the best skiing is back down towards the two villages, on runs that nobody else bothers with. The pick of them is the Champagne Run, a 2,230-metre, upper- intermediate-level descent that ranks among the classics.
Details: Ski Peak (01428 608070, www.skipeak.com) has the best selection of accommodation in both Vaujany and La Villette, offering everything from high-quality self-catering apartments to one of the best-value chalets in the Alps — the Saskia, home to the abundantly talented chef Marcus Cull (sleeps 20; £790pp, chalet-board). Other operators include Peak Retreats (0870 770 0408, www.peakretreats.co.uk) and Erna Low (0870 750 6820, www.ernalow.co.uk).
RED MOUNTAIN, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Red Mountain is one of those resorts that’s perennially tipped as the next big thing in skiing. It’s no surprise, really: rising above Rossland, one of BC’s most urbane and attractive small towns, it’s home to a huge variety of terrain and a nerves-of-steel spirit: more members of the Canadian ski team have come from here than any other resort.
And yet, somehow, it’s never made it to the big time. Probably because of its limited size, and the long drive from either Vancouver or Calgary. But whatever the reason, most of the locals are delighted with the result. They don’t want too many visitors cluttering up their beautifully groomed trails and stomach-in-your-mouth steeps. This is small-town skiing at its best — no lift queues, low prices (a 2hr lesson costs just £23, including lift pass) and a sense that everybody knows everyone else. Why go and spoil things by getting famous?
Details: the best way to see the place is on a ski safari that takes in several resorts on a 10-day or two-week trip. Frontier Ski (020 8776 8709, www.frontier-ski.co.uk) can put together a 10-day trip, with five nights in Fernie and five nights in Red Mountain, for £1,397pp, including car hire. The resort is also offered by Ski Safari (01273 223680, www.skisafari.com).
ALPBACH, AUSTRIA
It’s been famous among a certain breed of Brits for years — members of the military for the most part, whose regimental ski teams have been training here since the late 1950s, but Alpbach has never caught on with the rest of us. It remains one of the most unspoilt — and prettiest — villages in the Alps. Admittedly, the place can get a little congested at weekends, when half of Munich comes pouring into the Tyrol in search of its adrenaline hit. But, even so, you’ll still see the old men of the village each Sunday morning, decked out in their finest, marching solemnly to church. Once the weekenders have gone, life settles back to a very easy-going pace.
Up on the mountain, it’s a similar story. You’ll need your wits about you on Saturdays and Sundays when all those Bavarian executives are out, burning off their frustration. For the rest of the week, however, it’s bliss, with long, quiet, top-to-bottom cruising runs that will suit intermediates best.
Details: the pick of the hotels are the four-star Böglerhof (£643pp, half-board, with Inghams: 020 8780 4444, www.inghams.co.uk), which dates from the 15th century, and the simpler Hotel Post (£567pp, half-board with Made to Measure: 01243 533333, www.mtmhols.co.uk), which has an excellent restaurant.
