It’s that time of year when you find yourself bombarded by status updates and tweets from lucky friends who are off skiing through fresh powder snow. It feels like the entire world minus you is currently in the Alps, and it’s difficult to remain sane while dreaming of deep off-piste and well-earnt lunches in open-air mountain-top restaurants under the beaming sun.

        Skiing has always played a very important role in my family – my parents met while skiing, my aunt has worked in the ski industry her entire life and I’ve worked in two ski resorts, in Chile and Italy. I even remember going skiing with my grandmother when she was in her 70s! All in all, skiing is in my blood, and I am feeling especially envious of anyone lucky enough to be over in the Alps skiing at the moment! My last trip was to Morzine, a French resort, in March 2012, in the stunning Chalet Chambertin, and my family and I are just trying to find dates for a similar trip to another Alpine resort in 2014. There is nothing better than the feeling of lactic acid in your thighs, the spray of powder snow in the air, the sight of your own tracks weaving down an otherwise unspoilt mountain side, knowing there’s a steamy jacuzzi and hot sauna waiting for you back at the chalet to soothe aching muscles, with a delicious French dinner on the cards as well.

         Although I tend to ski more in France, at my aunt’s house I came across this postcard of the ‘Haute-Route‘ in Switzerland, a 180km ski touring route between Chamonix in France and Zermatt in Switzerland which takes 7+ days. Although I haven’t yet done it, ski touring is something I’d love to try out. You ski over huge un-pisted stretches of mounatin from hut to hut, staying in a new place each night, carrying your gear in a rucksack and shunning the usual resorts and man-made lifts which make ascending the mountain such a doddle. When you go ski touring you are practically cut off from the hustle of tourism, and you are utterly surrounded by the mountains. I still find reaching the very top of a mountain and surveying the snowy landscape below an awing experience…

         We still have a good 3-4 months left of this winter season, so where are you heading skiing and where do you recommend we go this year? If you have any good recommendations for chalets then do please let me know!