Tr avel report AVORIAZ

becoming the skier I wanted to be.

I dreamed of finding a resort with an abundance of terrain that was both challenging enough to help me progress, but forgiving enough to keep those moments of panic at bay.

After just a day in the marvellous Avoriaz, high in the French Alps I realised I’d found it.

Purpose built in the 1960s, the resort sits at 1,800m and is part of the Portes du Soleil ski area.

Cars are banned from the town, effectively making the entire place ski in, ski out.

Of course, the horse drawn sleigh rides on arrival and departure day probably would have been a little more charming and considerably less brutal, were it not for the relentless blizzard during our stay.

Our little group included one other skier at a very similar level to myself - a level we’ll call ‘nervous intermediate.’

We also had our two advanced skiers, our snowboarder, and our two absolute beginners.

The resort had something to keep us all happy - but for the pair of us nervous intermediates, Avoriaz was quite simply Nirvana.

We were able to spend hours exploring the resort, without ever feeling like we’d run out of pistes that suited our skills.

A personal favourite was the Proclou blue run. One of 25 blues in Avoriaz alone, it seemed to go on forever and at times was as wide as a motorway.

The resort wasn’t solely responsible for my new found confidence however, credit must also go to instructor Nick Robinson, for delivering the first lesson I’ve had that didn’t end with me having a meltdown.

The co-founder of Masion Sport, an online platform which matches skiers with licenced instructors, he was also one of the first ever instructors I’ve ever had who not only listened when I explained what I was hoping to get out of the lesson, but delivered on it.

He quickly spotted that I could vastly improve my turns just by putting more weight on my downward leg.

But his most effective teaching technique was very simple. He pointed out what I was doing right.

“You have good control,” he said, after watching me gingerly edge my way down a particularly icy patch.

And with just four simple words, something clicked.

This carrot over stick approach to teaching had unleashed a level of self belief that had been sorely lacking on the slopes in the past.

For the first time, I found myself approaching runs with a giddy confidence.

Suddenly, slopes that would have stopped me in my tracks were tackled without a second thought.

And on the rare occasions I was faced with a slope that felt a little too advanced, there always seemed to be an accessible alternative which would lead me back down the mountain without a panic.

For the first time, my overriding feeling on the pistes was of excitement rather than trepidation. Thanks, Avoriaz. When it came to lunch, we liked the jovial atmosphere of Le Yeti, and the heaving plates of steak at Chez Flo.

After days spent out in blizzard like conditions, in the evening we needed to warm up with a series of cheese-heavy mountain staples, which we found in abundance at both Le Bistro and Les Intrets and their menus full of fondue and raclette.

Le Grand Cafe meanwhile, with it’s mix of traditional food and contemporary decor, served up by friendly staff, was a particular highlight. When it came to trying out ‘fat ebiking’ on the snow with Evolution 2, our group divided into two distinct camps.

For the uninitiated, these particular bikes have the big chunky