The excitement is building. February half-term is almost upon us and for thousands of British families that means the start of their annual ski holiday. They’re scanning webcams to check on the snowfall, rooting in the back of their drawers for ski socks and — most of all — buzzing at the thought of getting back on the slopes.
Among them is the family of Chris Morgan. He is ex-army with tours of Afghanistan under his belt, as well as a successful winter ascent of Mont Blanc. He’s now based in London and works as a project manager. “Our two sons are especially excited,” he tells me. “The eldest has just finished his GCSE mocks. He desperately needs the fresh mountain air, as well as some exercise and a break from his screens.”
Where are they heading? “Bulgaria,” Morgan says. “It’s the first time for us. We wanted a change of scene — and to rein in the price of the holiday.” They’re not alone. This winter the ski specialist tour operator Crystal reports 25 per cent growth in bookings to this traditionally affordable ski destination, with packages still available for February half term. And it’s not the only “fringe” country that’s on the up — right now Norway is even more in vogue. A combination of the weakening krone currency and an increase in the number of flight options from the UK is helping to stoke demand there. So too the promise of somewhere calm, cute and low-key.
Drei Zinnen is on the northern edge of the Italian Dolomites
TSCHURTSCHENTHALER CHRISTIAN
This season Crystal increased its roster of Norwegian resorts to eight and has reported mushrooming demand — up 115 per cent year on year. Its February half-term programme is now sold out, although there is still availability in March. In the small resort of Gausta, self-catering packages start from £546pp including flights, based on four sharing, with accommodation in apartments only a couple of minutes’ walk from the slopes.
It’s not hard to understand why demand for these B-list destinations is growing. Ski holidays have always been a big-ticket expense. It’s not just that flights and accommodation jump in peak holiday weeks; lift passes, ski hire and lessons will significantly boost the final cost. In recent years prices have (for the most part) risen inexorably — and this winter we seem to have reached a tipping point.
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“Increasingly, our customers fall into one of two categories: those for whom money seems to be no object and those that are having to cut their cloth,” says Nick Edwards of Snowfinders, a travel agency and tailor-made tour operator.
And no wonder, given the data. In its latest Ski Report, Post Office Travel Money combined typical prices for six days’ ski hire, lift pass, tuition and lunches to produce a league table of in-resort costs — and revealed that in the past 11 years these had doubled almost everywhere. In Val d’Isère, France, the total had risen from £503.66 to £1,141.63, and in Mayrhofen, Austria, from £421.12 to £871.97. In Bansko, Bulgaria, it doubled too, but from a lower base — its total now stands at £572.95, or half the price of Val d’Isère.
Ski resorts like Bansko are smaller than their French counterparts
ALAMY
However, this doesn’t mean that skiers in Bulgaria will be having a holiday only half as good as their counterparts in the French resort. Yes, its ski areas are much smaller than those at the mega-resorts of the Alps — and you’ll need to be up early to dodge the peak-season morning lift queues in some places — but if you pay close attention to the piste maps, pick a resort that suits your ability and book plenty of lessons (so you don’t get bored skiing the same pistes), you’ll have a blast.
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I did this in Borovets last year. There I discovered a surprisingly steep and feisty handful of pistes and had two blissful days in the company of Krasi the Carver (my instructor, Krasimir Vasilev of the Samokov ski school) and a group of capable Brits. Krasi is one of the steadiest, most indefatigable instructors I’ve skied with. On and on he goes, never breaking his rhythm, however steep the slope. Trying to follow his smooth, sharp-edged turns down the mountain for a couple of days made me a steadier and braver skier too.
You don’t need to rough it either. At the time of writing there are still February half-term Bulgarian packages left with Crystal (crystalski.co.uk) and Heidi (heidi.com). They start at about £1,000pp half-board — cheaper than a self-catering trip to a big-name French resort in the same week.
Sean Newsom skiing in Borovets
Bulgaria and Norway aren’t the only destinations enjoying a B-list bounce. Snowfinders is experiencing a surge in demand for Andorra in the Pyrenees, while Heidi reports that Zakopane in Poland “has seen huge growth since we started offering it this season”. Thanks to increased flights to the Scandinavian Mountains airport in Sweden, bookings with SkiScandinavia have jumped for Stoten, which is 20 minutes’ drive from the arrivals lounge.
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In the Alps, many lesser-known Italian resorts — including Bardonecchia, high-altitude Passo Tonale and spirited little La Thuile — offer good value, as do the undiscovered resorts of East Tyrol, Austria.
And for those set on France, chic but affordable ski chalets can still be found thanks to the growing OVO Network of properties in less famous resorts. For example, a week’s self-catering at its swanky, ski-in, ski-out Chalet Mussol in St Nicolas de Véroce in March starts at £285pp. Perhaps it’s no surprise then that bookings across its portfolio are up 44 per cent year on year.
OVO Network has a range of affordable chalets across France
We’re also learning how to look fabulous for less, thanks to ski-clothing rental companies such as EcoSki. “I wanted to help to reduce the unnecessary footprint that ski clothing had,” says its founder, Rachael Westbrook. “But I didn’t want customers looking — and feeling — threadbare and dreary. So our stock includes both hard-working technical clothing and pieces that are pure glam.” Among its outfits this year is a shimmering gold Cortina puffer jacket with black Holly salopettes from Protest that can be rented for £81 a week; to buy it would be £290.
There’s one other significant benefit of affordable skiing, as James Gambrill, chief operating officer of the Ski Club of Great Britain, has discovered since he started holidaying in Drei Zinnen. On the northern edge of the Italian Dolomites, the resort was forged in 2014 from the union of three smaller ski areas — and is almost unknown in the UK. But as word spread among his friends about how much more affordable it was over half-term than its A-list competitors, the size of his group ballooned. This year it’s 50 strong. His family holiday has become a social event.
Does he miss holidaying in resorts such as Val d’Isère? “Genuinely not,” Gambrill says. “I will, after all, be skiing on good snow, with beautiful scenery, great food and a load of friends. Why would I be looking over my shoulder at somewhere else?”
His kids will be loving it too. “We’ve got about 20 children and teenagers coming on the trip this year,” he says. “That’s enough to have a pretty good snowball fight.”
Have you skied in Bulgaria – or are you planning to? Let us know in the comments
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