SKI SALUTATIONS
Sophie Mead joined the Ski Club’s first ski and yoga wellness week to discover why combining the two sports is the perfect kickstart to your year
Chamonix has made a name for itself as a place of extremes. It’s for the daring and the adrenaline junkies, all drawn here by its legendary hardcore terrain and big off-piste descents.
But it can also be a place of relaxation. You could come here simply to sit and take in the views – the mountains here look otherworldly, as if giants were given carving tools and set to work creating a masterpiece of towering columns and spires, the jewel of which is the mighty Mont Blanc.
Equally as relaxing, you could wallow in the resort’s new luxury spa, QC Terme, go on a gentle snowshoe, or take a local yoga class. It’s all here.
It was this last element that interested me, but I happen to like skiing too – so I’ve joined the Ski Club’s new Yoga Wellness Week which, brilliantly, combines the two sports and promises to be the perfect antidote to two weeks of Christmas excess.
‘Wellness’ is a bit of a buzzword at the moment, and it seems everyone is constantly trying to transform into their best selves. One sure-fire way to do that is to do more skiing. Like all sports, skiing releases the happy chemicals, endorphins, and that buzz will be even stronger than jogging or swimming because – for most of us – quality time on the mountain is rare. It takes a lot of planning and organisation to get you and all of your equipment to the Alps, standing at the top of a red run on a bluebird day. But when that moment comes, the elation and the surge of wellbeing it brings is priceless.
“Later in the evening we gather in the yoga studio with its floor-to-ceiling windows framing mountain views... Mariza breaks us in gently for our first session of the week”
The relaxation of the wellness week sets in before I have even arrived in the resort. I’m used to a lengthy transfer, but having arrived in Geneva and hopped on the transfer bus, we are pulling into Chamonix just an hour and a half later. I’d heard a lot about Chamonix’s striking beauty, but nothing has prepared me for the real deal. Arriving at sunset, we enter the valley to see the tips of the mountains tinged in light, like red hot pokers arranged in a Mordor-like amphitheatre around the villages.
We pull up to Chalet Boreal in Le Praz, a small picturesque village on the outskirts of Chamonix, and are given a warm welcome from hosts Audrey and Marcus who have been running chalets in the area for four years. The open plan wood-panelled kitchen/living room is spacious, with sink-into sofas adorned with faux animal skins set around a roaring fireplace. The chalet has three floors with six bedrooms sleeping up to 10 guests, plus an extra living room that will double as a yoga studio throughout the week.
On arrival, Audrey explains how the menu will work during the week and her enthusiasm is infectious. Each day there will be a featured grain at breakfast with various cereal options and homemade bircher muesli. There will also be a different daily tea infusion to help the group relax and power up. Upon returning from the slopes, we will have homemade flapjacks, and dinners will be a selection of lean meats and fresh veggies.
That night our instructor, Fay Mackman, comes to meet us and explains how the week will run. The theme is ‘all-mountain development’, so we will be tackling a mixture of on- and off-piste and everything in between.
Chamonix hasn’t seen snow for two weeks so there won’t be fresh powder for now, but there is a solid base across the expansive ski area. It’s game on.
Yoga sessions mean that soon you’ll be a healthy, toned yogi, ready to take on whatever the ski season throws at you PHOTOS Lorenzo Belfrond, Sophie Mead
BANANAS AND LEMONS
Day one and we’re ready for action. We head over to the Flégère lift and do a few runs to get our ski legs back. Then it’s straight into instruction, practising C-shape turns. Often skiers only put effort into initiating their turns, but Fay explains the importance of completing the whole turn, moving us on to one-legged drills to emphasise the importance of keeping our weight downhill. The beauty of skiing in early January is that the slopes are empty, so we have plenty of space.
Later in the evening we gather in the yoga studio with its floor-to-ceiling windows framing mountain views. Our yoga instructor, Mariza Smith, breaks us in gently for our first session of the week. She’s been teaching in Chamonix for five years and also teachers instructors, so she is truly the yoga queen. She guides us through a series of core-strengthening stretches with soothing direction that enables us to follow the rhythm easily.
After the session, Mariza explains the importance of stretching after yoga: “If you don’t do yoga after skiing you survive, it just hurts more. Yoga helps to ease the pains away. Instead of stiffening up when you get home, you’re softening out and going into your evening with that softness so the muscles are counter-posed, doing the opposite of what they were doing all day.”
Re-fuelling is just as important, and after our yoga session it’s dinner time, where we feast on confit duck and roasted vegetables, followed by pear sorbet.
Over the following few days we’re blessed with sun. We take a trip over to neighbouring Saint Gervais, where Fay films our technique to highlight where we need adjust our style. We spend a day honing our skills following one-on-one feedback, and I make a huge improvement. I’ve been skiing with my weight too far up the mountain, but with a few adjustments (and fruit analogies), I make a dramatic change. We are taught to make our body more like a C-shaped banana, and to imagine squeezing a lemon in between our ribs and hips. It may not sound technical, but it works a treat and I notice a fundamental change in my skiing. I spend the rest of the day putting my new ski technique into practice and get used to a new normal.
To ensure we’re kept on our toes, Fay makes sure we are taken off-piste too, tackling plenty of moguls (some people loved this more than others). On day three we head to the village of Le Tour, where carving drills and rolling our toes are the order of the day. We make use of the wide open, empty pistes and take in the stunning scenery of the Chamonix Valley, lapping the Belle Place through the trees. After lunch we swap terrain and head off-piste to play in some natural halfpipes and gullies, attempting to lift the back of our skis in the air as we pop off the sides. X-Games 2020, here we come!
Courmayeur’s pistes prove the ideal spot to put newly-honed legs to good use
RESTED AND REJUVENATED
Day four takes us on an adventure through the Mont Blanc tunnel – 12 minutes zooming through the bowels of the mountain from one country to the next. Just half an hour’s drive from Chamonix, through the famous 11.61km-long tunnel is the Italian resort of Courmayeur.
The resort has a name for being a destination for wealthy visitors, and the Italian flair is evident as we are greeted in the car park by an immense Armani ski clothing billboard advert. The resort is compact but brilliant, with plenty of wide blue and red slopes and stunning views down the valley.
The resort is busiest at weekends so the pistes are deserted for us on a Thursday, except for a few instructors setting up gates for race training. With the place to ourselves, we put our newly learned carving skills into action and lap the picturesque tree-lined slopes, focusing on rolling our feet to push into the carve and alternating between short and long turns.
We follow winding forest trails before stopping to sample some of Italy’s finest cuisine. You can’t argue with homemade carbonara or tagliatelle alla funghi for lunch (we are having a cheat day!).
Courmayeur’s crown is the dominating view of Mont Blanc from the Italian side, which looms over the whole resort. From the slopes, you can see the 4,810m monster almost from ground to peak, including the iconic devil’s seat and spiky Dente del Gigante or ‘giant’s tooth’ rock. Cruising Courmayeur’s slopes with these dazzling views of Mont Blanc at every turn, it’s easy to see why this is Fay’s favourite resort.
After a full day of Italian sun, pasta and slope bashing, we bundle into the van and head home, ready for more yoga. As well as the standard sun salutations, today’s session entails some fantastic new poses, including the interestingly named ‘cosmic egg’ and ‘firewood’, to stretch out the quads and strengthen the core.
Our last day is spent back in Grand Montets, putting into practice all the skills we have learned during the week. A dusting of fresh snow brings us a new challenge, which is spotting all the little bumps hidden underneath what appears to be a smooth piste.
We spend some time exploring the huge Lavancher bowl and hunt some pockets of fresh powder, much needed in the area, ticking off each element of the all-mountain skiing we have been training for.
As the trip draws to a close, I can honestly say I feel rested, restored and energised – a different person to the one who arrived here. In one week I’ve transformed from a festively plump little turkey into a healthy, toned yogi, ready to take on whatever 2020 has to throw at me.
FACTFILE
Keep an eye out for the dates of the 2021 Yoga Wellness Week with Freshtracks. Read more about other Freshtracks holidays to Chamonix and Courmayeur throughout the season, from Technique Top Up trips to Off-Piste Adventure weeks.
The ultimate skiing antidote
Mariza Smith on why post-ski yoga is just what the doctor ordered…When we spend a day in the mountains, we are often driven in part by adrenaline, the ‘up’ energy that keeps us razor-sharp, making good decisions turn after turn, which keeps us pushing our limits. Physically, we are often braced for impact, shoulders hunched, arms and core stiff. Yoga is the ultimate antidote to all of these states of being. Practicing yoga after a day on the mountain allows us to unwind, to soften tight shoulders, lengthen overworked quadriceps and hamstrings, and relax the all-important core. When we soften into our belly and let the stomach rise and fall with each inhale/exhale, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system – the part of the body that controls rest, release and relaxation. It’s a bit like hitting the body’s reset button so that in can reboot to its new and improved operating system. If we can find a way to fully switch off and let the muscles find softness, often through attention to the breath, the body gets a chance to deeply recharge. The result? Longer days in the mountains with less fatigue, reduced recovery time, stronger muscles and greater core stability. Find out more at my yoga people