The skiing was pretty good, too. Although some of the resort runs became dangerously crowded at times, there was plenty of open terrain above the tree line, with some fast reds and easy blacks (too easy, a purist might say). My main complaint was not about the flattering piste classifications, but the lifts. Although most of the hardware was modern, some lifts would frequently stop for no apparent reason.

Callum and I quickly fell into a routine of taking the first lift up at 9am and doing an hour of gentle blue runs before he started ski school. I had imagined we’d ski together in the afternoons, me laying a fatherly hand on his shoulder and teaching him how to execute a perfect turn. It didn’t work out that way, because: (a) Callum was too tired; and (b) it’s about as easy teaching your own seven-year-old to ski as it is teaching your spouse to drive. Not for-getting (c): I haven’t mastered the perfect turn myself.

Fortunately, there was an alternative to long afternoons in our hotel room playing Yahtzee and crazy eights. Thomson and its sister company, Crystal, run a supervised club called Kidzone in an apartment near the bottom of the gondola. This was staffed by Kirstie and Heather, who picked up the children from ski school, fed them cheese sandwiches and cakes, and played board games with them while their parents skied. Six half-days cost £120 during half-term this winter.

Every day, at 4.30pm, I would turn up to collect Callum from Kidzone, feeling a bit guilty that I’d enjoyed a great afternoon alone on the slopes. He would catch sight of me and his face would dissolve into tears because he didn’t want to leave. I thought the apartment, above Slim Jim’s Internet Cafe, looked a little sad, but he loved it.

On our last day, there was no school, so we skied together all morning in dazzling sunshine. Callum, who was negotiating the slopes with increasing confidence, took me to the Mickey Snow Club, an attractive Disney-themed children’s area with obstacles, bumps and banked turns. It was so good that we did it again. And again.

So how did Andorra compare with Aspen? Callum looked thoughtful. “I actually think it was better,” he said on the 5am coach ride back to the airport. I wasn’t so easily swayed, but it was certainly a whole lot cheaper. Callum is already talking about going back next year.

Thomson Holidays (0870 606 1470, www.thomson-ski.co.uk) has one week at the three-star Hotel Austria for £662pp, half-board, departing on February 13. Other operators featuring the resort include: First Choice (0870 754 3477, www.firstchoice.co.uk); Inghams (020 8780 4444, www.inghams.co.uk); Neilson (0870 333 3347, www.neilson.co.uk); and Directski.com (0800 587 0945)

Page 2: How to plan a family ski break

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How to plan a family ski break

IT’S NOT exactly child’s play. But you can make your family ski holiday relatively hassle-free, either by letting a family-ski specialist take care of everything, from flights and accommodation to nannies and ski school, or by taking your own childcare with you and booking a catered chalet in a resort that features good English-speaking tuition.

Unless you and your brood are experienced skiers, we don’t advise a DIY holiday, booking low-cost flights, transfers and accommodation independently: you simply won’t know enough about family-friendly resorts and accommodation to organise it properly.

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