Anyone not enjoy skiing?

[LuciferRising]

On a ski holiday. 4 days in. Lessons and then afternoons free. Had lessons before we left. Feel like I am just about tolerating it. First holiday.

Everyone you talk to seems to be passionate about it.

By the end of your first week, you'll be able to navigate yourself down most blues (greens too if you are in France). You'll progress faster with private tuition, too.

Fair enough. I'm not going to though - it's too bloody expensive! I'm more of an Airbnb / camping holidayer. If I were going to spend skiing-holiday-level money, I'd want to be spending it on going to a fab location, staying in lovely accommodation and eating fabulous food, not hiring equipment and payinv for tuition in an activity I might not even enjoy! I like the sound of the general vibe of skiing holidays though!

Nope can't stand the idea. DS1 fell in love with skiing on the school ski trip and luckily his mates all really love it too so he goes with them now!

So last day today. Having felt more confident yesterday and happy with parallel I should have stopped while I was winning. Been out for 2 hours and have ditched it. Too many people. Felt panicky, couldn't even stop in snow plough to begin with. Managed to pick up a bit but not great and hated it. Had in my mind, last day so convinced my luck would run out and I'd get an injury. Honestly thought I'd cry and I never cry. It's stressful.

Plus too many mid 30s or 40 something men who think they are gods gift. The queues for the chair lift one of them pushed my daughter out of the way to get the lift. Not sure I like the culture and I think mountains are far more beautiful in the summer.

Having a shower and going to edit my manuscript of my first novel!

No doubt in a weeks time I'll think it was amazing and book up again, like I do with 24 hour relay races which I vow never to do again.

The status attached to it by the Brits is genuinely baffling. There are so many people in Europe who are comparatively poor but use their skis as a healthy way to get from A to B just like you would ride a cycle. Tourism is always welcome (especially at those prices!) but it does look a bit silly to local people.

@LuciferRising glad you survived! At least you gave it a good go. DH has sheepishly admitted after 5 ski holidays that it's just not for him, I'm only moderately competent because I learned as a teen and young adult.

It also sounds as if you are in one of the more boisterous and busy resorts. I got a nasty back injury on a Blue slope at Samoens because of a stupidly fast French man skiing into me. I suspect you'll not be going again OP, but nice resorts I've found that have nice easy Blues and aren't as busy are Montgenevre and Le Grand Bornand and La Clusaz.

I personally would hate the classic beach holiday - in fact I did. But I don't think that those who do enjoy it are crazy, just that they are different to me! I "should" like mountain biking as I like skiing and hiking and it's a good summer option for exploring (and uses the same lift infrastructure as skiing) but I don't. I do like horse riding which I logically shouldn't (control freak).

Every one is different, and I suspect my children will want to try the beach holiday abroad thing that they won't get with us.

To be fair, skiing doesn't have to be insanely expensive. I think people have the impression it is because it's almost like a status symbol to say you're going skiing. People automatically assume you have money (just like if you say you own a horse). But actually it's very possible to ski on a budget.

Skiing in the Alps during school holidays is very expensive, unless you drive and self-cater and don't require ski school. But the Alps are not the only place to ski and the big resorts are not the only ones available. We went skiing in Aviemore during February half term, which is the most expensive time of the year to go, but if I didn't have to pay a fortune for 1:1 lessons, I could have easily done the weeks' trip for under £1500, inclusive of accommodation, train travel, ski rental, lift passes and food. Andorra, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland are some of the other places that are much cheaper.

If you go outside of the school holidays, it's possible to ski cheap-ish even in the big resorts in the Alps.

I am going to look at those resorts. DD11 has picked it up amazingly fast.

@LuciferRising if you don't fancy going for a full week, this company is good for short breaks www.skiweekender.com/

Montgenevre is brilliant and very good snow usually due to how high it is! Love it there and the prices are reasonable because Italians won't pay French prices! 😂

Le Grand Bonand is very quiet skied there since uni very French and some cold lifts but is amazing outside of holiday times you can get runs to yourself some days most Brits have never heard of it!

This isn’t the same thing as downhill skiing. many local people in ski regions make their living from ski tourism and many are employed as instructors/pisteurs/in restaurants/hotels and other associated infrastructure. Cross country/Nordic skiing is also popular in many places that have suitable terrain.

If you're with experienced skiers you are quite possibly in a resort that suits them ;) getting the right resort for beginners is essential and can make a huge difference.

My top tips are:

Italy, definitely not anywhere in France that you have heard of before/ is famous,
Ski-in/ out or as near as dammit
Resort predominantly served by gondolas or cable cars, or special slow beginner chairlifts, few drag lifts.
Lowish altitude (altho this is personal and maybe not this year... Altitude makes some people very grumpy, un-co-ordinated and just a bit miserable, fitness has nothing to do with it, it's genetic)
Somewhere very scenic and with plenty to do off the slopes, including an amazing spa and lift served winter hikes
Private lessons.

My favourite ever place to take beginners is the pocol/ lacedel area of Cortina d'ampezzo, staying at one of the very few b n b's up in that part of town. Or staying up on the plateau at Alpe Di Siusi.

But it may just be you aren't feeling the love, which is totally fine. It is an expensive faff and you have to love it to persevere as an adult beginner.

Me. I don't mind the sunshine and relaxation and reading books in front of a fire part though.

Arrived home yesterday. Is it normal to feel like everything is swaying as if you are on a boat? I'm struggling to concentrate on work. Short of breath too!

I went three times when I was younger and even had effectively private lessons in the third holiday as there were only two of us in a group. At the end of the third holiday I was able to do wide red runs.

Still didn't like it. I don't like the cold, ice and snow, I don't like heights, I don't like ski-lifts, I don't like wearing layers of clothing and still being cold, I don't particularly even like mountains. I like looking at them from the bottom and have zero desire to go up them and when I do I feel like I'm going to be stranded and not able to get down again.

I was terrified every day and it was so mentally exhausting. I do like the resorts, food, and going out in the evening. But I'd much sooner go to the Alps in summer and walk some little foothills, nothing sleep or narrow with big drops!

I hope DH will take DDs sometime but I don't even particularly want to go with them and do other activities there because of the cold weather and snow, and because of how exhausted, ill and needing another holiday I felt every time I went before when I was much younger. They might go next year and I'll go somewhere warm with my mum.

Er no that doesn't sound normal at all. Hope you didn't pick up a bug whilst there.

I was ill with flu-like symptoms for a week or two after ski-ing (particularly the first time) and just exhausted. Was very fit every time I went. I think it's the fear, altitude (and alcohol!) just wrecks me.

There is a world of difference between being able to “get down” a red run and feeling confident and consistent skiing down it in all conditions though. At three weeks in you are pretty much still a beginner and it’s not surprising to feel like this, learning as an adult. That said, it’s not for everyone and there is nothing at all wrong with not doing something that makes you unhappy. I very nearly gave up about this point having had two years out after another baby. I’m so glad that I pushed on through because it gives me so much happiness. But everyone is different right!
@LuciferRising you don’t sound well TBH, hope you feel better soon! Good luck next time.

Oh yes, I just meant to show that I progressed quite quickly with a small group lesson and had tried it enough to decide it wasn't for me- if I didn't take to it in my early 20s I'm probably unlikely to now at 47. I've thought about it a lot recently and even if I somehow became a really competent skier and could go to more exclusive places and quieter runs at slightly less brass monkeys times of the year I still wouldn't really want to go and would always rather have a warm weather holiday, or an active holiday in temperate weather conditions. Snow and ice just makes me want to hibernate.

I've also climbed several Munros (well walked, on the easiest route and only ones with no narrow ridges, big drops or steep descents) and have paraglided off a mountain. I still get vertigo when there is a chance I might fall (it sometimes happens on staircases and escalators), not when I've gone up tall buildings to the top - I can look down as it's safe and more of a thrill then. So the fear isn't going anywhere. In fact I think it's too rational to be a phobia, it's just a little disproportionate sometimes.

DH LOVES skiing. I went with him and a group of friends and absolute hated it. I did a group lesson, and I've never been so cold in my life - it was miserable. I also found the ski boots agonizingly painful and when I complained in the shop and to the instructor, I just got told they were supposed to be uncomfortable. I ended up losing a toe nail and then not being able to walk properly for weeks.

Couple that with being yelled at and poked in the stomach with a ski pole by a ski instructor and having a massive panic attack on the bunny hill and I am never EVER trying again. It was such a disaster that DH got a refund from the ski school.

I went on another ski trip where I didn't ski (was 6 months pregnant) and was absolutely bored out of my tree because there was fuck all to do in the bonkers expensive ski town, it was still bloody freezing outside and then when everyone else did come back from the slopes all they wanted to talk about was skiing.

Yes ski boots are awful. I ended up with some that were too small the first time too. French people never seem to believe that women can actually have size 40/41 feet, IME. Having your own must make a difference.

That sounds horrendous! Did he deliberately poke you in the stomach?! And they should definitely have given you bigger boots. Uncomfortable is one thing, but they shouldn't be painful.

But I think being cold on the slopes is a bit unusual. Once you start skiing, you usually get very warm very quickly. In fact, it's usually too hot. Even in windy Aviemore I was warm once I was actually skiing (and I ski very slowly on the easy runs).

Where did you go skiing? I struggle with the altitude at the higher resorts we go to eg Tignes. Difficulty sleeping, crazy dreams etc. It is, apparently, possible to have a readjustment to regular altitude afterwards. But most resorts aren't high enough. Those over 2000metres maybe.

I had that too white water rafting in France in the summer @Catspyjamas17 ! My head is freakishly large I admit that. But I thought size 7 feet given I'm 5'9" wasn't particularly large. The instructor laughed and said something about me having big feet to match my head!!