Slopes drain away irritation

because I really needed to go to the bathroom (that coffee was a rookie error).

The woman in charge informed me we were actually lucky – apparently there were another 200 odd souls in the bottom car park to be brought up after us.

When we got to the topwe had to brave another queue to buy our lift passes, and I had to fight another swarm of people to get to the toilet.

The queues to the lift were in chaos, with people clambering to get on to the chairlift and get to the top two minutes faster than the person behind them. the skills to make it down the learners slope without crashing into someone).

It may have been an incredibly crowded day – partly due to it being opening day and partly due to the triple chair being closed – but everyone was in a good mood.

As soon as I was whizzing down that slope, all my irritation at the waiting and the queues drained away.

The weather was stunning, the snow base couldn’t be better and everyone there – families, beginners, hard-outs and gangsters alike – was enjoying the day.

It was great to see Mt Hutt have such a good start to the season and they coped well considering the number of people, although I think some of the club skifields may be seeing a rush this weekend as people flee from the crowds.

At the end of the day, we had to wait another hour to get a bus back down but I didn’t care. I was a bit sunburnt, a bit achy, and very tired, but I was happy.

And I bet the majority of the other hundreds of people who went skiing that day felt exactly the same.

Have you been skiing yet this year? What was your experience like?