Rooted in tradition, the first Run was completed in January 1885 and took nearly nine weeks to build. Only the three upper banks received detailed work. The Cresta Run is still built from scratch every year using the natural contours of the valley and earth banks to provide a framework on which to pile the snow. The Run from Junction is built first, the upper banks second.

The Cresta has two starting points: Top and Junction. The current record from Top is 50.09 seconds, held by James Sunley. This means an average speed of over 53 m.p.h. ending at Finish at a speed close to 80 m.p.h. Riders from Junction begin opposite the Clubhouse, about one-third down the Run from Top. The current record from Junction, held by Johannes Badrutt, is 41.02 seconds.

Beginners start from Junction and are encouraged to go down in a time of between 65 and 75 seconds. Riders brake using the rakes on their boots and if they are out of control they are certain to go out at Shuttlecock, the most famous corner of the Run. Fallers at Shuttlecock automatically become members of the Shuttlecock Club and are entitled to wear a Shuttlecock tie.

There is only one Cresta Run; it is unique and remains one of the last truly amateur sports in the world.

7 nights Accommodation, Room Only

Return flights from either Gatwick or Manchester to Calgary Airport

Transfers

For more information or to book this bargain break go here

If only we had more holiday left!!

1. Resort choice: Firstly you need to make sure you choose the right resort as some resorts are more catered to beginners than other. Ideally you should choose somewhere with several wide nursery slopes (preferably with direct access from the village) for the first few days and wide sweeping green and blue runs for later on in the week.

2. Gear: The most common question we get asked by beginners is ‘what should I take with me?’ For your first holiday we recommend borrowing as much from friends and relatives as you can as it can work out quite expensive to fully stock your wardrobe with all of the necessary skiing essentials. As a bare minimum you’ll need to pack a ski jacket, salopettes, gloves, thin jumpers (that can be layered up depending on the weather), thermals, ski socks, sunglasses, goggles, a hat and suncream. If you do want to take the plunge and buy your own gear, but don’t want to spend a fortune the several shops now offer deals on ski gear bundles, see here for an example.

Moving on to the equipment side of things you’ll need to hire skis or snowboard, boots and a helmet. You can either do this when you arrive in resort or you can save time and money by booking equipment online beforehand.

3. Lessons: As a beginner we’d strongly recommend signing up for lessons in your first week. This will speed up your progress and make your first skiing experience more enjoyable. Don’t let any more experienced friends convince you that they can teach you as what will inevitably happen is that they’ll give you a few pointers and then get bored of the nursery slopes and leave you to your own devices! Worse still they’ll try and take you on a slope that you’re blatantly not capable of skiing and it’ll all end in tears (I’m speaking from experience on this one, and yes Liz, 7 years on I’m still really sorry that I took you down that red run!).

If you have the time it’s also a really good idea to have a few lessons on an artificial slope in the UK before you go. This will make you feel more comfortable in the gear and will make those first few hours on the snow far less daunting.

4. Ski pass: As a beginner you’re better off waiting until you get to resort before deciding what ski pass to get. In most resorts the nursery slopes are free to use and your instructor will let you know from which day you’ll need to get a pass as you progress higher up the mountain. Also many ski resorts have different levels of passes which allow you to ski different parts of the mountain area and as a beginner the pass covering the smallest area usually provides you with enough runs for your first week.

And finally, just enjoy it! Do let us know if you’re a first time skier and have any other queries, we’re always happy to help!

Richmond holidays claim their meals – three course dinner with wine, Champagne and canapé welcome, breakfast and sumptuous afternoon tea – are an experience in themselves. They also offer daily complimentary ski guiding for all levels, a lunchtime baguette service, and kids groups. There’s grace before meals and an optional Bible talk, but they also have a licensed bar and brilliant evening entertainments.

My first ever ski holiday when I was a child was an organised Church trip and although I don’t claim to be religious I’ve always thought that the prayers got me through that first week on the snow!

For full details of all the packages on offer check out their website…

Resort choice

1.Make sure you’re aware of the ability levels of those you’re going with. If you’ve got beginners you’ll need to make sure you go to a resort that has a good number of blues and greens and similiarly if you’ve got lots of experts (or people who think they’re experts!) in the group you’ll need to make sure the resort you pick has enough challenging runs to keep them occupied for the week.

2. Check whether anyone has a fear of cable cars! In some of the smaller resorts the only way up to the pistes is via a cable car, and if, like us, one person in your group wont step foot inside a cable car then they’re going to have a pretty miserable week. We also have a friend that won’t use chair lifts, although that is a pretty extreme case and I don’t imagine there are many people out there like him, and so it’s important we pick a resort that has a few drag lifts on the lower slopes to keep him happy.

Accommodation

3. Be aware of your budget… Make sure you have a rough idea of how much people are prepared to pay for the holiday. This will make it a lot easier when you start searching for holidays and will heavily influence what kind of accommodation you can stay in.

4. Check the room layouts. If you’re a group of 4 couples then 2 rooms with 2 sets of bunk beds in each probably isn’t going to work! Also if you choose to go self catering and stay in an apartment then just check whether all the beds are in bedrooms or if 2 unlucky people will be expected to sleep in the lounge.

5. Location, location, location! If you’re the kind of group that like your apres-ski then your friends will probably be less than impressed if they arrive at the accommodation you’ve chosen only to find it’s half an hours walk from the nearest bar! Before you book it’s really worth checking exactly where the accommodation is located in resort so that there are no suprises when you arrive.

Booking

4. Think carefully about whether you want to book everything independently or through a holiday company. Booking your travel and accomodation independently can save you a few pounds but it can also heap a whole load of stress onto the person coordinating the holiday.  If you book through a holiday company they’ll do a lot of the hard work for you – this is especially useful if you have some people that want to travel by car, some that want to fly and some that want to go by train! Also, if you book independently more often than not one person will have to fork out for the travel/accommodation up front, resulting in days spent chasing up your friends trying to get them to pay you back, whereas if you use a good holiday company they will let each person phone up individually to pay their share.

5. Check out the group discounts. Many companies offer discounts for big groups and some of these can lead to big savings.  For example Crystal are currently offering up to 1 free place for every 5 people, and you can either choose to take the free place yourself as a nice reward for being the one that’s planned the holiday or you can share the savings out across the group so that you all benefit (I’d recommend the second option if you want to stay friends with the people you’re going with!)

When you’re there

6. Walkie-talkies! With the astronomic prices that companies charge to use your mobile abroad it’s a great idea to take walkie-talkies with you. You also get the added bonus of spending hours choosing call-names for everyone!

Being a lesser known resort has lots of advantages, no queues, cheaper lift passes, deserted slopes and hardly any Brits! For those of you that want to go out partying every night it’s probably not the place to go but if you want great skiing without the crowds in a friendly resort then you should really give it a go.

We went with Crystal and stayed at the Chalet Vannoir, a lovely catered chalet about 5 minutes walk from the slopes and the bars.

Give it a month or two and everything will be a buzz again, with discounts a plenty no doubt. Last year there were some great bargains to be had for those that just held off for a little longer. So, our current advice…… just wait a bit longer, watch this space and we’ll let you know when the bargains start a coming!

Along the way we’ve discovered many a site that will help you find a suitable resort and then another site to help you book accommodation and maybe a few forum posts to find out about the restaurants and nightlife. We aim to bring everything into one place.

I don’t know about you, but when booking my ski holidays I can get extremely particular about the following:

1. Distance to the piste from accommodation, and I need this precisely, not in marketing speak, i.e. a 2 minute walk is really a 5 minute hike up a steep hill.
2. The nearest bar / restaurant, when you find out a short stroll to the night life actually means above the biggest night club in town.
3. The standard of accommodation, most hotel review sites are not skiing focussed, I want to know about the ski lockers, the quality of chalet staff and the breakfast!

And that’s just a brief list. We hope that this site will help you sort out all of these issues in one swoop. Just watch this space. In the meantime you can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/skiconcierge.

Best Wishes from

your new Ski-Concierge team

p.s. we’re looking for the most elaborate marketing speak you’ve seen. Just reply with your suggestions.