The Journey - Saturday 25th February 2010

Four hours from setting off from Gatwick at an ungodly hour (when the only things awake were sparrows and even they were questioning being up at this time) the PAC were on the transfer coach once more heading for the glistening snowy worlds that form the Ski Welt Wilder Kaiser Brixental, the largest interconnected ski area in Austria.

I again had broken my personal rule (might as well give this personal rule)…

Serre Chevalier (prounounced Sair cheval-ee-ay) offers the kind of ambience that you would look for on a summer holiday – a sort of Provence in the snow, with lots of small, family run hotels and restaurants in old stone buildings (although immediately I was struck by the insensitive modern developments along the main road. Luc Alphand, world champion 1995-97, is probably the area's most famous son - so famous he has his own beer and his own run (and who amongst us…

The buzz of my first year's performance (or lack of - if you've read my Marilleva Blog then you'll know what I'm talking about) on the snow was still fresh in my mind (or perhaps the line from Shakespeare's Henry V "But he'll remember with advantages what feats he did that day" is more applicable). I readily agreed to joining a small core of the people I met in 1990 in returning to Italy for more skiing exploits. This time we'd be based in Folgarida, a small…

I've rarely returned to the same ski resort, preferring, in the metaphorical sense, to add more notches on my skis. However, in June 2008 whilst searching for my group's next trip I came across such a good ski package for the Hotel Postwirt in Söll, that I was compelled to ignore my personal rule and head for Söll once again. I will confess that I was interested to see the resort again as I had greatly enjoyed my trip in 2005 and I had warm memories of the resort.





My…