My Experience Of Skiing As A Beginner // Our 3 Day Itinerary

Last year I had my very first taste of the slopes when I was very kindly taken to Val Thorens by my old company. It is a trip they do annually, every time going somewhere new for 3-4 days in the beautiful Alps. When I’d seen pictures of ski results, they looked absolutely picturesque so I knew I would love the surroundings I’d be in.

I decided to share this post today as I’ve seen a lot more people taking this kind of trip, and it seems like the perfect time of year to share my thoughts of skiing as a complete beginner and to share my true, honest thoughts about the whole trip.

Skiing is never something I did as a child, and I’d only had one ‘taster’ session previously at the Chill Factor about 4 years ago, where I found it quite enjoyable. All through school, the ski trips they provided never really appealed, and no one in my family would ever choose snow over a week-long holiday to the sunshine as an alternative.

I was excited about the trip as it had always been talked about highly as a lot of fun, but the skiing part did make me quite anxious. Most of the company had skied before, one way or another, and many classed themselves as seasoned pros: We were also advised to do a lesson or two before we hit the slopes, but I couldn’t find the time to fit it in after work so I went into it relatively blind.

Our trip happened to fall in the midst of the ‘Beast from the East’ meaning that we’d experienced snow before we’d even left Manchester. Our flight was around 6am, but because of the amount of snow on the runway and the planes, we were delayed for almost three hours, but by the time we landed in Geneva, everyone was too tipsy to even realise!

We flew into Geneva, but crossed over to France and headed for three hours in the direction I can only describe as JESUS HOW HIGH ARE WE GOING along the narrowest and windiest roads I’ve ever been on in my life – that part of the trip was not my fave, that’s for sure. Saying that, the views were stunning, and some I’ll never forget.

We stayed at Hotel Fahrenheit 7, which was beautiful. There were log fires everywhere, a large breakfast and lunch area, two bars, outside decking with loads of seating, a sauna, a steam room and beautiful bedrooms. The first thing we needed to do was get measured for our ski gear, so we headed down to the rental room to do just that.

After we were all kitted up, we went to the supermarket to grab some bits for the room (mainly mixers) and headed back to the hotel. It was getting dark by this point, but we could see what the resort was like, and seeing everything covered in the snow seemed so magical.

As we’d been so delayed, by the time we got to the resort it was going on 6pm, and getting dark so we headed to the bar for something to drink before we were called for dinner. We were incredibly lucky that the food was all paid for, for us, and the meals we had were delicious. A few people headed to bed because of the early start the next day, but me and a couple of the girls stayed in one of the bars for a couple of hours, before turning in ourselves.

The next day we were up early for breakfast and to be split into groups based on our ability. The ones who could ski were already out and on the mountains whilst the rest of us did our best not to fall over – side note, I fell over a lot. Our hotel was situated on the side of one of the blue runs where you could ski straight out onto, but there was an easy route down which we took.

We had a lesson with around 12 of us, going through the basics, and small slopes. After a few goes, we went on a slightly bigger one, and after a while, we were left to our own devices. A lot of the time, I felt too nervous to have a go on the slopes because we were surrounded by people who were much better than us, but the views were incredible and made it all worthwhile.

If I’m being honest, I really wanted to like the skiing part, but it just wasn’t for me. As a person who likes to feel as though they’re in control, I find it hard when I feel like I’m not, and that’s exactly how skiing made me feel. I couldn’t let go and go fast down the mountains, and I kept feeling like I was going to fall – plus it didn’t help that I was taken out by someone on a snowboard!

A lot of our group absolutely loved it, but a few of us went back to the hotel to warm up with a hot chocolate, which was much more my scene. After a few hours, and a couple of mulled wines, we started getting ready for dinner before meeting the others in the bar for some drinks. The rest of the night is a complete blur if I’m honest as we were all on the Aperol Spritz – it was a holiday after all!

The next day we had the option of going back on the slopes without our instructor or chilling in the resort, so I opted for that option. After a couple of hours catching up with some of the girls, we headed out for pizza into the town. When we got back, a few people said they were going up to the Folie Douche, which, if you’ve been skiing before, you’ll know is a crazy bar where everyone dances outside and on the tables whilst being sprayed with champagne – exactly my kind of scene!

We had to take the ski lift up to the top of the mountain, which I thought I would be fine with as I’m not afraid of heights, but I kept thinking I was going to fall out! We made it to the top and I could see that the social and drinking side of skiing was the most important part to most people, myself included!

The Apres Ski was definitely the highlight of the whole trip and being snowed on, whilst partying outside in sub-zero temperatures is something I’ll never forget. Because we weren’t skiing, we had to walk down an incredibly steep slope to the bottom to get back to our hotel. I’m not sure if I’d forgotten this detail when we were heading up, or I was a little buzzed from lunch, but it was one of the scariest yet hilarious experiences of my life having to slide down the mountain on our bums, during a whiteout.

When we eventually made it to the hotel about 45 minutes later, the first thing we could think of was to head to the sauna and warm up, so we spent a couple of hours in there warming up. After dinner and drinks, a few of us stayed up in the hotel bar for a few hours, which seemed like a good idea at the time…

The last day we were split on to two flights, with one leaving really early, and mine, later in the afternoon meaning we had half a day to spend taking in the views and trying to recover from three days of solid drinking!

Although skiing definitely wasn’t for me, I would go back to one of the resorts in a heartbeat because it was one of the most breathtaking places I’ve been to in my life, and seeing it in the sunshine was amazing. There is also loads to do including bowling, tobogganing and husky rides if you don’t want to hit the slopes.

If you’re considering a skiing holiday as a beginner, I would suggest going for a couple of lessons beforehand to get to grips with the basics, as the instructors will assume you have already done that. I also managed to borrow most of the clothing I needed from friends and family which made it much cheaper than buying or renting whilst you are there.

Ski resorts are notoriously expensive for food and drink too, so where possible, buy things from the supermarket to make at your hotel if you have a kitchen, or try and opt for set menus. As an example, a burger in our hotel was €22, and a gin and tonic was around €12. If you are flying to Geneva, take advantage of the non-EU deals on alcohol in the airport as this saved us loads of money on bottles of spirits.

The ski trip is something I will never forget and I made some incredible memories with close friends which I’ll always cherish and I was very lucky to be taken by my old company as it can be a pricey holiday. If you are heading to the slopes this year, enjoy and be safe!

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