It's time to ski like a local...
welcome to the
hidden mountain
We thought we'd share some inside knowledge.
Hi, thanks for coming on here. This is a place where I want to talk about why we started www.hiddenmountainski.com, and why we have a passion for trying to change the ski industry (or the way the UK accesses it) for the better. It is not a snappy advertising piece but hopefully a celebration of the diversity, weirdness and beauty of our mountainous places and their people.
Let's start with my skiing story. I missed the chance to ski as a kid. It was not till we were in our mid 30s with 2 kids that we decided to give it a go. Most of my friends were more than competent skiers and I could not imagine catching up with them. BUT I had heard that snowboarding had a much steeper learning curve, and that we could find ourselves riding the whole hill quite quickly. We chose the darker side.
"My baptism in snow was at the Hotel Tirolehof in Zell am See and comprised huge 5 course meals, arnica massages, sore muscles, painful lessons. Totally fell in love with the experience."
The following year and we go again, the kids are still too young to join us and cash is a bit tighter. We go for one of those, “stay where there is space” deals. End up in Zell am See again in a smaller hotel with a great group of people on the same deal. Our intention had been to rest, but none of that; out partying every night and somehow catching the first lift every day. Wonderful.
We then shake the world up a bit and try every type of ski holiday, mostly along with the kids. Taking over a chalet for 30 with friends, down to a small apartment in les Arcs. Basically almost all were built as a variation on the traditional model. Saturday to Saturday in a large well resourced resort. Speaking mostly English and eating alot of standard holiday style food with an alpine twist. We loved it and would still see that as the way we would spend a week every year except…
My desire for skiing was more than Jessica’s (my wife). So I organized a boys trip, with my brothers, to ski with my cousins in Norway. Harry had settled in Norway and married Greta from Oslo. They organized a trip to a small resort in the Telemark region. I was blown over by a few things. (No queues, friendliness, skill of local skiers etc) but most of all by the skiing experience. The huge playgrounds that I had been used to before were often a logistical nightmare with a group usually skiing at the pace of its slowest member or constant plans to meet up. Instead we skied, we made small groups, bumped into each other again and reformed the group in a different format. It was a more pleasant, more sociable experience and without the crowds / the queues etc we skied a lot more.
My appetite was whetted for skiing “small ski resorts”. So mixed with the wonderful trips to the usual suspects (Verbier, Les Arcs, 3 valleys etc) we started skiing some smaller resorts, and yes the benefits above did return. But something else also came to the forefront; these resorts were homes to cultural treasures. Not in all of them, but in many, there were obvious signs of a fascinating tradition that we had not found at the standard resorts.
They were also places that were part domesticated wild places, foreign places. Surrey on snow, they certainly were not. I felt more and more that some of the playgrounds that I had loved were an over-tamed facsimile of the real thing. I am a country boy, and love rural life. I also love the city, so for me the perfect combination can be found in some of the “non tourist trap” ski resorts.
As with most things worth having - there is a trade-off. Beautiful; unspoilt mountains, traditional architecture, food and lifestyles combined with less crowded slopes and less skied out snow are your reward, and the price to be paid (not financial as the prices are generally considerably lower than in the flashy resorts) might be that the resort is smaller, or the lifts slower. Maybe there is not the abundance of luxury chalets, or 15 restaurants to choose from. For me that price is one well worth paying - and I think if you decide to venture onto the Hidden Mountain, I think you will find yourself agreeing.
