The lure of the cold, white slopes

The cold, white pistes seem to be quite a “warm” proposition to those who opt for a skiing holiday and YTC, which has been involved in the business for more than 40 years, reports that over half of its groups are repeat clients.

“There seems to be a very good tendency for clients to become addicted to skiing,” YTC’s Stellina Galea says.

Ms Galea recounts some “interesting” anecdotes from the slopes.

Evidently, children are the more confident of any group, at times too confident, in fact. They imagine that, once they are geared up, they can just ski down the slopes. They fail to realise that, as in any other sport, in skiing too there are steps that must be followed. That is where skiing instructor Mariano Galas comes in. He is able to transform a beginner into a... seasoned beginner within a week, though children do get to grips with their skis much faster.

Once, Ms Galea recounts, there was this boy who thought that he could literally slide down a mountain. So, instead of going down in curves he headed down as if going down a slide, with speed building up. Luckily, the piste was short and, before he knew it, he was at one with the snow, literally and no damage was done. But the members of the group took some time looking for the gear he lost on impact with the snow: skis, sunglasses, ski band, ski pass...

There was then the story of a boy who was terrified of the cold and so donned layers upon layers of warm clothes topped with a fur-lined jacket. It is, of course, cold on the mountains but he had evidently gone overboard and was so hot that when he unzipped his jacket the vapour that was released was mistaken for smoke and people in the vicinity thought he was on fire! He ended up covered in snow to cool him down!

Two parents thought they had lost their 15-year-old son when, on returning to the hotel in the afternoon, they realised he was not in bed resting as they had thought he would be. They feared the worst, thinking he could have been lost in the cold mountains. Ms Galea recalls putting together a rescue team to be sent out in search of the missing teenager, He was traced half an hour later safe and sound, sleeping in with friends of the family. A hilarious incident Mr Galea remembers was when, after a filming session for a TV feature, all set-up with helicopter, rescue dogs, ambulance and the lot, it was realised that in fact nothing had been filmed! There was only one solution: doing it all over again, which meant the group’s departure from Livigno was delayed by four hours.

Livigno is situated to the north of Italy, close to the borders of Switzerland and Austria. It is surrounded by breathtaking mountains whose climate guarantees the longest “snow-sure” winter sports season in the Italian Alps.

YTC has just published its Ski & Snowboard brochure for the 2011/12 skiing season. Besides Livigno, YTC also offers skiing holidays in Wagrain, Austria, ideal for experienced skiers with its 350 kilometres of pistes, forming one of the largest ski areas in Austria.