Chemmy Alcott’s top five ski spots

I’ve also learnt to enjoy other snow sports, such as cross-country and, particularly, snowboarding, which I absolutely love.

I’ve probably skied more over the past 18 months than ever before. When you’re a racer, it’s all about a couple of quick runs, then recovery, analysis, that sort of thing. Now I’m skiing from the first to the last lift, and loving it. I’m making up for lost time. Here are five ski spots where I’ll definitely be spending plenty of time in the coming years.

St Anton, Austria
The first time I went there was for the world championships, yonks ago. I remember coming up the lift and seeing a James Bond-style gondola stretching from one peak to another, and it opened up to a huge bowl of off-piste skiing. I thought it looked like the most heavenly playground ever.

It’s quite an extreme environment — the skiing, the eating, the après-ski. Everything is done hardcore in St Anton. Austrians are the barmiest about skiing of all the Europeans, and have a dedication that surpasses all others. There’s a really steep run that I particularly love, with views of a waterfall. St Anton itself is pretty — really well laid-out and all pedestrianised. Best apres-ski Krazy Kanguruh is a couple of hundred metres up the hill. Someone is always wearing a ridiculous outfit — a stupid onesie or something — and it’s great fun. The “KK” is owned by the double world slalom champion Mario Matt, who retired this year (krazykanguruh.com).

Verbier’s pretty wooden chalets (Christophe Boisvieux)

Flaine, France
Flaine is close to my heart, as it is where I started skiing — my family have a tiny apartment there. I’ve been skiing here for 31 years. I know what I’m going to get, I know who I’m going to bump into, and it never fails to entertain. Built in the 1960s and 1970s, it’s not exactly a pretty place, but the skiing is good and it’s accessible. You fly into Geneva and, an hour later, you’re up the mountain. There are no cars in the village, you can walk onto the pistes and you know you’ll be on the first lift in the morning, because there’s no reason not to be.

Flaine is a bowl, so it gets really good snow, and there’s a run called Gersthat’s one of my favouritein the world. On a powder day, you feel like you’re heli-skiing, as there are so many types of terrain on the way down. It’s got this dodgy old Poma [drag] lift, which is all part of the enjoyment — it takes quite a long time to get back up.

Best apres-ski
The Flying Dutchman, in La Forêt, is not particularly fancy, but it’s where everyone tends to go. You always head home with something orange, like flowers or a hat (flaine.info).

Verbier, Switzerland
If I could ski at only one more resort in my lifetime, this would be it. I just keep finding more and more treats there. I first used to go to take part in the High Five by Carlsberg event, which is at the end of the ski season, and sees amateurs and pros racing against one another in various disciplines. It was the one night out I had a year.

The town is beautiful — all lovely wooden chalets, and very quaint. It’s unlike the rest of the ski world, where hotels tend to be modern and monochrome. It’s upmarket, though, with a W hotel, and Richard Branson has a chalet. I’ve not met him, but I’ve hung out with James Blunt. He’s a regular: so much so that they named a chairlift after him, because that’s where he used to kiss girls.

Best apres-ski
Given the affluence, you’d think it would be quite refined, and the clubs certainly are. But the Mont Fort has a great pub environment. It’s ski-in, there’s an outdoor space, and it’s always quite messy. Every year, I spend a night working behind the bar for a laugh (pubmontfort.com).

Duty bound: St Anton’s liveliest bar takes its après-ski very seriously indeed

Valle Nevado, Chile
If you really can’t wait until the following winter in Europe, this is a great option for some off-season downhill. Valle Nevado is east of Santiago, and you can see the city lights down below from the mountain.

It’s kind of ugly architecturally — there are only a few hotels perched up there, and they’ve got all these old lifts imported from Europe, which are never used — but you don’t go for the hotels or the “scene”. You go for the skiing. There’s so much of it, and almost never any queues. The sunsets there are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. The other advantage of this area is that you’re pretty close to the coast, so you can ski and surf in the same day — which is my idea of perfection.

Best apres-ski
Not much to speak of, really. The big hotels all have pools, and sometimes there are DJs performing around them, but that’s about it. As I say, the ideal place just to concentrate on your turns.

Iceland
Iceland is the perfect antidote to the super-resorts of the Alps. There are no pistes to speak of, so you’re either ski touring or heli-skiing — often in places where nobody else has before. It’s beautiful, with these white, luminous mountains falling away to the deep blue of the ocean. From the top, it really does look as if you could ski into the water. The colours are so vibrant because each brings out the other.

There’s a little bit of hardcore terrain, chutes and so forth, but mostly it’s medium and not foreboding. For a medium or advanced skier, the place is a gem. But beware — the weather can change in the blink of an eye and it’s vital that you have a local guide. I went with Viking Heliskiing (vikingheliskiing. com), who were so knowledgeable about the area, and understood exactly how to prepare us for that. For more information, check out visiticeland.com.

Best apres-ski
Viking’s own lodge is set on natural springs, so they’ve drilled down and have 47C water coming up straight into hot tubs. That was my après-ski.

Chemmy Alcott was talking to Duncan Craig

Chemmy Alcott (Hansi Heckmair)

Chemmy solves your ski dilemmas

1 I’m at the top of the slope and I’ve bottled it. What should I do?
Focus on one turn at a time, instead of looking at the bottom of the mountain. Just breaking it down can really help. If it’s still not happening, you could always take your skis off, walk up (never down) and take the chairlift back down. It’s shameful, though.

2 My thighs are starting to ache after only a couple of blue runs. Am I allowed to rest?
Resting is for the chairlift. In fact, there’s a huge amount of resting time in skiing. If it’s the start of your holiday, you may not want to go hell for leather, then ache for the rest of it. In my book, though, you get more for your money by skiing more – so do your pre-holiday exercises.

3 There’s one more hour until the ski lifts close and I’m offered a second schnapps. Do I accept?
It depends on the conditions. If it’s mushy and at the end of the season, you’re not going to miss out. Some people ski better if they have a little tipple – but you need to know your limits.

4 I overdid the après-ski the night before. Can I lie in?
No, no and no. There’s a lot to be said for après-ski. I get it now. You’ve worked hard, you’re on your holidays, so go out and have fun by all means. But you have to get up. Waste the best snow of the day and you’ll regret it. Instead, ski in the morning and sleep it off with an afternoon siesta.

5 How should I fall?
You always fall as if you’re a jelly. The worst thing you can do, which is what 99% of us do, is brace yourself. That’s when accidents happen. I’ve had eight concussions in my career, which are the nastiest crashes to watch, and I never hurt anything because I was a jelly. Nothing was tense.