Getting ski trip deja vu? Here’s how to spice up your next one
Before you click “confirm booking” on your next ski holiday, consider some of these left field alternatives, writes Roger Cox
It may seem like an odd time of year to be thinking about snowsports, but statistically speaking we’re now entering the sharp end of ski trip booking season. According to a survey from the Mountain Trade Network, some 41 per cent of UK travellers who took a ski trip in the winter of 2024/25 booked more than six months before departure, and a further 29 per cent booked between three and six months in advance. Given that January, February and March are by far the most popular months to go skiing, and given that recent trends show people booking earlier each year, that means that not far off half of this winter’s ski holidays may already have been booked by the time you read this, and around three-quarters should be in the bag by Christmas.
That’s not a reason to be put off though. Sure, peak season accommodation options at popular resorts may already be starting to get a bit thin on the ground, but who says you have to ski at popular resorts? According to the MTN survey, Brits tend to be fairly unadventurous when it comes to choosing a ski destination: 51 per cent prefer a package deal to independent travel, and the most important factor when choosing a destination is “size of ski area”, with bigger seen as better. The overall picture, then, is of the majority of UK skiers and snowboarders being herded into the same large, well-known resorts, year after year. Nothing wrong with that – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Then again, there’s a whole world of ski destinations out there just waiting to be explored. So before you click “confirm booking” on that package deal to the same well-known, snow-sure resort you visited last year (and probably the year before that too), here are a few less obvious options to consider.
Look for snow at sea level The ski resorts in Iceland face many of the same challenges as ski resorts here in Scotland, from short midwinter days to – ahem – occasionally inclement weather. However, they also offer a snow-sliding experience that’s about as different to what’s on offer in the big resorts of the Alps and the Rockies as it’s possible to get. Want to ski right down to sea level? Hlíðarfjall, just outside the fjord-side settlement of Akureyri in northern Iceland, can certainly give you that. Keen to see the northern lights? At 66.5 degrees north, on a clear night, with little in the way of light pollution, you’d have to fancy your chances. Want to ease your aches and pains with a dip in a geothermal pool? The Forest Lagoon just outside Akureyri must surely be one of the most dramatic places on earth for a relaxing open-air soak.
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Try an urban ski safari Say “British Columbia” to most skiers and snowboarders and their first thought will more than likely be “Whistler”. It’s not hard to see why. With 8,171 skiable acres it’s the biggest ski area in North America, and with an annual average snowfall sitting pretty at 11.6 metres you’d be extremely unlucky not to get at least a day or two of semi-excellent conditions during a week-long stay. There’s no law that says that a ski trip to BC must always include a visit to one of the province’s big, signature resorts though, and there’s a strong city-break ski option hiding in plain sight. Sitting just north of Vancouver, a half-hour shuttle bus ride from the city centre, Grouse Mountain may only have 212 skiable acres, but its annual snowfall record 9.7m is none too shabby for a hill about the same size as Ben Nevis. The views across the city are immense, too, and if you time it right you can watch the sun set, ski under the floodlights for a while and then get back into town in time for some of the best sushi available anywhere outside Japan.
Mix in some ancient ruins OK, we’re a very long way from yer typical package deal to the Alps here Toto, but that’s fine, because what the little Turkish resort of Sarikamis may lack in terms of high-speed lift infrastructure and high-end dining options, it more than makes up for with piste-side tree-skiing potential, modestly-priced lift passes and a reputation for dry, powdery snow. Lying 60km from the city of Kars in Eastern Anatolia, where you’ll find the nearest airport, it also gives you the option of a side-visit to the historic Castle of Kars, destroyed and rebuilt too many times to mention over the last thousand-odd years, and the ruins of the medieval Armenian city of Ani.
Take a gamble By no means one of Italy’s most celebrated ski areas, Sella Nevea is a small, sleepy, out-of-the-way resort in the Julian Alps, close to the border with Slovenia, with a modest 10.5km of pistes served by a gondola, a chairlift and four surface lifts. As not-so-subtly hinted at by its name, however, which means “snowy saddle”, it often punches above its weight in terms of snowfall. Due to a quirky local climate, the annual totals can vary wildly (and be warned: there have been some lean years of late), but in the winter of 2023-24 the resort had some 5.12 metres to play with. Sella Nevea’s other secret superpower is its significant and largely untapped off-piste potential; for in-the-know powder hounds, the lifts and pistes on the map only really exist to make it easier to commute from one jaw-dropping descent to the next. Ordinarily Sella Nevea is linked to the Slovenian resort of Kanin, but its cross-border neighbour is currently closed while an ambitious upgrade programme takes place, so this season it should be even sleepier than usual. Could be worth rolling the dice...
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