From zero to black run hero!

prepared to rock-hard ice for racing, World Cup skiers consider it to be among the most demanding downhill courses on the planet.

Even when not prepared for racing, the run – which drops nearly 1,000m back down into town from Bellevarde, at 2,850m – reverts to a steep and usually icy black run that always demands respect. Concentration and razor-sharp ski edges are essential. Any mistake can result in a painful slide of 50m or more.

It was an undeniably hard challenge, so to give Oscar the very best chance of success, we decided on three hours of private tuition for six mornings, with afternoons to practise his technique. We called upon the services of top qualified British instructor Ken Smith, who runs Progression ski school in Val d’Isère, and has been teaching for 20 years.

“Everyone around here tells me this can’t be done,” he said, “but I believe it can – provided the circumstances are right.”

Factors in Oscar’s favour included Val d’Isère’s new beginners’ area, with three easy-to-use covered magiccarpet lifts at the top of the Solaise area, and the clear, sunny weather. Oscar is in good physical shape and, at 21, had youth on his side. He’s also self-confident, hopelessly fearless and had a pressing romantic motivation.

To make sure Oscar couldn’t use painful feet and dodgy skis as an excuse for failure, he was fitted out with skis and boots at Snowberry, a shop run by Scotsman Jock Dun and his wife Susan, who have been fitting gear for 25 years.

“The fit needs to be a combination of comfort and efficiency,” Jock told Oscar, as he measured him up. “Foot and ski need to work as one. Very simply, if your brain tells your foot to change direction, you want your ski to move at exactly the same time. If your feet and boots aren’t working precisely together, this isn’t going to happen.

“All the big-name manufacturers make good boots, but each tends to have a bias towards a particular shape of foot. Once we have all the measurements we’ll know which brand will suit you best.

“In beginner skis there’s not such a variation, but we want skis that are soft and will flex properly in proportion to your build. Once you’ve got a couple of days under your belt and are picking up a bit of speed, we can change them for a stiffer, maybe slightly longer pair.”

Out on the snow, Oscar finally got his skis (Salomon X-Drive Focus) the right way round with a little help from Izzi – “the curly bit goes at the front” – and shuffled off on the flat near the bottom of the Solaise gondola looking like a newborn calf, with Ken making encouraging noises. Izzi and I left them to it and they took the gondola up to the nursery slopes.

Impressively, by lunchtime on the first day, they were off the magic carpets and beginner area and on to a green run served by a chairlift. “I was pretty freaked out by the chair to begin with,” Oscar reported. “But after the getting-on part, it was great. Watching the skiers below was fascinating and although my stomach turned a bit taking in the sheer height, I loved it. I could get used to flying up a mountain on a moving sofa.” This is where I would expect to find a beginner on day four!

Ken told me, “I like to push on quickly, concentrating on the shape of the turn and then there’s no time to develop bad habits. Oscar’s plucky and he’s listening. He’s allowing the skis to do the work and not fighting the mountain.”

Izzi took him for a couple of runs in the afternoon, after the lesson, and was suitably amazed too: “He was actually doing linked turns.”

But by the end of the day Oscar was clearly exhausted. “I wasn’t prepared for how tiring this would be,” he whimpered. “It’s the combination of the physical and the mental elements – my muscles are aching, but I also feel mentally worn out. Trying to remember the technique while your body’s energy feels totally depleted is hard work.” Unsympathetically, I told him the third day is the most demanding.

On the next day, Ken worked on Oscar’s body shape, had him carving

bottom, Oscar gets kitted out