Skiing Holiday in March 2022

This winter marked the first Tennis Club ski trip to France, which is hoped will become an annual event, organised by club member Chris Horne.

I was lucky enough to be able to go, along with 8 other DFTC club members. We spent a week in Tignes enjoying the skiing, beautiful sunshine and of course, the après-ski! We stayed in a catered chalet, for just our group, which had wonderful views and was near the centre and the ski lifts. The food was absolutely amazing! On the chalet staff night off, we went to a restaurant in town and had fondue.

We were a mixed group of skiing ability ranging from complete beginners to intermediates and experts, and so we all went to the ski lifts together in the mornings and then joined our respective ski schools. After three hours of school we all met at the bottom of the lifts for a beer and some lunch and then skied or just après-ed in the afternoon, meeting back at the chalet for afternoon tea of freshly made cake and coffee, and of course, a beer. In the evenings we had canapes and prosecco followed by dinner and then sat around the log burner with wine playing games. We had such a laugh.

The skiing was superb, with a wide range of runs for different abilities, with the real experts among us covering 30 miles a day. There were lots of hilarious falls, and aces covered in snow, but luckily no injuries. We skied in different groups on different days with the more expert skiers helping the novices. We were incredibly fortunate with the weather - we had beautiful sunshine every single day and the views from the top were stunning. In addition to the skiing three members of our group thought they were Eddie the Eagle and went for a ski bungee jump off a platform - it looked like something out of the Olympics and was both amazing and terrifying to watch. They absolutely loved it, and the rest of us went along to support them, perched on the side of a red run with a large drop…..eeeek!

Other members tried out the ice diving, in dry suits, diving into a small hole in the ice on the lake to see the sun and light as it appears through the ice from the pitch black. It was an amazing experience although an acquired taste I am told.

There are so many fabulous memories from the trip. For me what stood out most was the wonderful cohesive and inclusive group dynamic and laughter, even though the only thing we had in common was the love of playing tennis.

We all did everything all together most of the time. Such a friendly atmosphere with such lovely people and I, for one, cannot wait until next year!

Rachel

Member of Downend & Frenchay Tennis Club

(Not only are there new friends to make to play tennis with, but a fabulous range of other social opportunities to get involved in!)