Ski trip was last resort

Aug 15 2008 By Hannah Stephenson

Girls have fun in the Alps after being forced to head off alone

You've booked a family ski trip and one of your children is taken ill the night before departure. What do you do?

You could cancel, claim the insurance and wait for next year. Or you could all go and risk your child becoming worse in a cold, foreign country. No thanks.

In our case, my husband drew the short straw and stayed at home to look after our son while I took our eight-year-old daughter, Grace, on the slopes.

So it was to become a girls' holiday with a difference. She would go to ski school in the morning, join the children's club and eat with her fellow junior skiers at teatime, as planned.

I would, well, ski on my own, dine on my own, sit in the bar on my own. Suddenly it wasn't sounding too great.

It got me thinking about whether a ski holiday is suitable for lone parents and whether you can truly enjoy the slopes alone while your children are off at ski school or busy with new friends.

I shouldn't have worried. We had chosen Alpe d'Huez, a family resort in the central French Alps, one of the five areas forming the Grandes Rousses massif, with links to Auris-en-Oisans, Oz-en-Oisans, Vaujany and Villard Reculas.

Setting for the famous final climb of the Tour de France in summer, it's a ski paradise in winter.

With 249km of piste and 84 ski lifts, it's one of France's largest alpine resorts, also known as 'L'ile au Soleil' (Island of the Sun) as it boasts an average of 300 sunny days a year.

It's perfect for families, thanks to the plethora of easy blue and green runs which you can take from the main meeting point at the foot of the slopes in Alpe d'Huez, served by the main cable car and a number of button lifts.

For thrill seekers it is also home to the 16km Sarenne, the longest black run in Europe, and the infamous tunnel where you come out on to a frighteningly steep mogul slope.

If you're into glacier skiing you can go to Pic Blanc at 3,330 metres and ski down a series of blacks, but I wasn't brave enough for that.

We went during the Easter school holidays and found plenty of snow. There are enough runs to serve the busy ski schools, leisure skiers and boarders without feeling you're constantly on top of each other.

My daughter was booked into the morning Whizz Kids club, run by Crystal, in which child carers drop off and pick up your kid from ski school, take them back to the hotel for lunch and play with them until you pick them up in the afternoon.

Kids arrived here in brightly-coloured ski suits, their crash helmets carefully clipped under their chins, oversized ski goggles placed on bewildered faces.

Iwent for several private lessons, having been to ski school for years and reached a plateau in my ability. My instructor whisked me away to some red runs leading to the picturesque village of Oz-en-Oisans, at 1,350 metres.

Much of the route is tree-lined and a complete contrast to the wide slopes leading to the cable car at Alpe d'Huez.

In a private lesson you can enjoy the beautiful region rather than focusing on following the snake of a bunch of learners on a crowded slope.

It wasn't long before people realised I was just with my daughter and one couple kindly asked if I would like to ski with them the following day. We ended up skiing with them for much of the week.

If you don't have that luck, there are days when the reps become ski and boarding escorts on free mountain tours for assorted abilities, if you can't stand the thought of spending the day alone.

But there are other options in Alpe d'Huez if you don't want to ski all afternoon. We swam in the open air pool (free entry with full ski pass).

From the bucket lift you can see the pool steaming, surrounded by banks of snow, against a beautiful backdrop of snow-capped mountains.

Next year I hope the boys will be able to join us, but if not, the girls will just have to go it alone again. Shame!

Travel facts...

Hannah Stephenson travelled to Alpe d'Huez as a guest of Crystal Ski which offers a week at the Club Hotel Les Cimes in Alpe d'Huez from £449 per adult, with limited free child places also available.

Direct flights from 12 UK regional airports available at supplements from £10.

Crystal early booking offers include: Free six-day lift pass for adults departing on Mar 14/15 and 21/22 2009 to all chalets in the brochure and six selected European hotels (book your tickets by October 29, 2008). Crystal reservations at 0871 231 2256

Introduce a friend to skiing and get £100 off (book by Oct 15).

Eurostar offer: £40 reduction per person on low season departure dates.