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If you're a beginner skier, you've never had a chance like this to jet over to
those shiny white slopes and break a leg. Read on for the lowdown on getting high
on white powder for less. |
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 Figure
skiing is going to cost you an arm, an ankle and possibly a broken leg from debt
collectors who come looking when you can't afford what sliding down some packed
ice costs you?
If you're going as part of Fresher's Week 2001, a beginners programme running
from 20-27 January and organised by the Association
of Snowsport Countries, you could a week of plowing face-first into soft
fuzzy white stuff for under £400 – quite an achievement when this sort of
thing can easily cost upwards of £4000 a week for those who really know how to
blow their dosh.
The ASC is running Freshers'
Week to encourage young people to strap some fibreglass planks to their
feet, buckle on some wapping great ski boots and strain the odd ankle slipping
down the slopes into that après ski life.
You see, these loveable chaps at the ASC figure that, just like a cocaine addiction, once you've had one sniff of fluffy white powder you'll be hooked on the buzz for life.
The deal runs something like this: a bargain return airfare, all your equipment supplied, your accommodation (in a chalet room with two singles; you'll have to have a ski buddy to make the most of the offer as the deal is only open to doubles), and a seven-day ski pass.
Then the only thing left to do is pack your bags and wait for 20 January to roll around.
The trick ASC has cottoned onto for ensuring that only beginners take advantage of the offer is the lift pass: it'll only take you to the piddly little novice slopes.
Which means sliding down a beginners run, happily annoying
other skiers with two planks of carbon locked firmly to their feet as
well, has never been cheaper: to give you an idea of the costs, for a week in
Chamonix
at the foot of the Mont-Blanc we were quoted a staggeringly cheap £352, for which
you get:
• a single room at Chamonix Mont-Blanc
• all flight and bus transfers to the mountain
• a one-week ski pass
• all equipment
We did the sums on a normal week of skiing at Chamonix, and it came out at closer to £2000.
When last we checked, destinations on offer included Lake Louise at breathtaking Banff, Canada (Canada is around £500 for a week away); Chamonix, in the French Alps, and; St Wolfgang in upper Austria (a long way from the recent Kaprun funicular tragedy).
So if you want to check out a world-class skiing destination at prices that won't make you break into fits of laughter, think about freshening up with the ASC's offer.
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