Supper on the Rettenbach glacier is no picnic. Not when you are in a schneedorf, at 2,700m in the Austrian Alps on a freezing February night, hunched over tables hewn out of ice. We slurped steaming goulash and hot chocolate laced with schnapps, in the company of 20 or so fellow overnighters in the igloo - mainly Germans and Russians - plus some life-sized ice sculptures performing feats from the Kama Sutra.

“So, this is the famous Sölden nightlife,” our sons, Toby, 17, and Sebastian, 14, sniggered.

The igloo's two-person “bedrooms” were like walk-in freezers. However, they were furnished with slabs of ice covered with sheepskins and we were soon snug as hibernating marmots in our ultra-thermal hooded sleeping bags. We dozed off listening to the icewalls making creaking and cracking noises.

Earlier, we had been initiated in the craft of Inuit igloo-building, learning to cut rectangular blocks from snow that we had stamped into ice. We then laid the blocks in ascending spirals, pushing them together with blows of the frozen fist.

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Soon after dawn my wife, Hennie, and I emerged to a pink sky and stirring silence on the empty white slopes beneath soaring cathedrals of black rock. The boys were nowhere to be seen. Nor were their skis. Then a text message pinged: “hvg brekfst @ hotl skng dn woz gr8”.

They weren't kidding about the majesty of dawn skiing. We followed their tracks all the way down to the resort on the Ötz valley floor, criss-crossing the freshly groomed corduroy, swooping through smoothed gulleys and scallop-shaped bowls, then snaking into silvery forests. We didn't meet a soul all the way.

The contrast between this - the most uplifting piste skiing of our lives - and the same slopes later with lifts open and the resort in full swing was total. Or, as Hennie put it: “Like the difference between the Serengeti and Longleat.”

The chance to take part in antics like this was just one reason why we had selected Sölden for a skiing holiday with our teenagers. Another was our determination to hedge against the possibility of meagre snowfalls, by choosing some of the highest skiing in the Alps.

Charter flights from a variety of UK regional airports to Innsbruck, barely an hour by road from the Ötz valley, have made this region of sensational scenery in the Austrian Tyrol easily accessible.

Obergurgl is the Ötz valley resort best known in Britain. The advantage that neighbouring Sölden holds for intermediate and advanced skiers is that its terrain is far more extensive and varied. There is the “Big3” trio of lift-served peaks over 3,000m which the boys and I tackled on the first day. There is also two glaciers that stay open year round for summer skiing.

The Sölden ski area has 1,680m of vertical drop and 150km of pistes, as well as ungroomed couloirs and routes where we found patches of untracked powder - off piste, but safely within the secured area. And - a necessity for teenagers - there is the Gaislachkogl free ride park. “Skiing is not skiing unless you can practise jumps, grabs and fakeys,” said Sebastian. The boys spent hours at this hub of skiing and snowboarding cool in the company of other teenagers with whom they found common purpose.

In the evenings the same crew congregated in the Bergland Hotel where we were all holed up, and whose warmth of welcome and gourmet dinners surpassed all expectations. The spa and sauna had the teen brigade fleeing in embarrassment due to its mandatory nudity (completely normal in Austria). But the teens sportingly joined in the after-dinner entertainment pitched for multi-generational appeal before heading out into town in search of edgier nightlife.

What Sölden lacks is much in the way of Tyrolean charm, being strung messily along both sides of a river and main road through the valley. It was also, we found, uncomfortably crowded over the weekend, though this eased considerably midweek.

“Our goal is to attract new skiers, especially from the UK,” says Georg Aprosi, of Ötz Valley Tourism. “The schneedorf and igloo-building on the Rettenbach glacier is one thing we are proud of. Another is our 100 new snow cannon, which guarantees skiing through to the beginning of May.”

What had been the best thing about Sölden, we asked the boys as we left. “The igloo was pretty cool,” said Toby.

OTHER TEEN RESORTS

Saas Fee, Switzerland

This high-altitude, traffic-free resort in a glacier-dominated setting has a buzzy feel and plenty of off-slope activities. The contrast in atmosphere with the more formal Swiss resorts is striking. Saas Fee is especially popular with snowboarders, and also ideal for extreme sports such as ice- climbing and bobsleigh.

Inghams (020-8780 4447, www.inghams.co.uk); £545-£944 half board at the three-star Dom Hotel

Tignes, France

Tignes shares with Val d'Isère the vast Espace Killy ski area, but not the high price and “Val de Sloane Square” après ski. Instead, there is tamer nightlife and a variety of alternative activities, ranging from climbing and parapenting to ice diving.

Total Ski (01252 618333, www.skitotal.com); £459-£949 in Chalet Ushaia, including breakfast, afternoon tea and wine with dinner

Whistler, British Columbia

The teen scene in Canada's leading ski resort is worth the Atlantic crossing, according to many youngsters and their parents. Both on the slopes, and in the pedestrianised village, the atmosphere is lively but safe. Under-age drinking laws are strictly enforced. Off the snow, other attractions include “zip-lining” - plummeting into ravines harnessed to pulleys running on steel cables, “tubing” down a precipitous toboggan run, and the chance to try ice hockey.

Frontier Travel (020-8776 8709, www.frontier-ski.co.uk). £962-£1,145 for self-catering condominium at Stoney Creek Townhomes

Unless otherwise stated, prices are per person for a week, ranging from the cheapest week to the half-term peak, and include flights and transfers

NEED TO KNOW

Crystal Holidays (0871 2312256, www.crystalski.co.uk) offers a week's half board at four-star Bergland Hotel starting from £569pp (rising to £1,275pp for February 14 half term). The cost includes flights to Innsbruck from 11 UK airports. A night in the schneedorf is £75pp, including dinner. A six-day Sölden area lift pass costs £180 for adults and £127 for under-18s. Information www.austria.info, www.soelden.com

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