Cross Country Skiing in Val Thorens

I hired the equipment from Twinner in St Martin who were really helpful and friendly [you can pick up equipment in most ski shire shops]. The boots are not the most attractive, neither is there a requirement to wear lycra! Do not be tempted to wear your usual kit that you use for alpine skiing, as this is much more physical and we were all de-layering after the first five minutes. The skis are really nice and light and with a set of poles in hand we were off.

The meeting point was by Plan d’eau in Les Menuires where there is a great cross country skiing circuit. Our instructor Sam Gerrett arrived with all his usual enthusiasm to greet the group of five newbie and eager cross country skiers.

The first thing to tackle was actually clipping into the skis, which is relatively easy once all the snow is cleared from the boots and just requires precision to clip in the front of the boot. After a quick bit of lunge practice we approached the tracks ready to start.

We were attempting ‘classic’ cross country skiing which involves following the 'scalextric track' as Sam calls it (not sure that’s the official terminology) around the circuit. You may have seen another sort that is ‘skating’ outside of the circuit that requires a different type of skis to the ones we had which have a slight grip on the bottom to stop you from sliding backwards.

We started initially just getting to grips with the skiing motion which involves a lunge kind of walk with your heels free to move up and down on the skis. Not being a skier I found the poles a pain at first, always entangling mine with my neighbour. After a while though, it seemed to come together a bit more as we all relaxed in to it and we all seemed to make great progress in the two hour lesson.

Once we had mastered the basics it was time to move onto descending down hill - uh-oh! With your skis inside the tracks you just have to got with it and keep the position. It sounded much scarier that it actually was, as you do not pick up a lot of speed. During the two hours we managed to cover the whole circuit with small pauses for instruction from Sam.

It was a great laugh and was good to have a natter whilst trying to get to grips with something new. I am certainly hooked now, as it takes place with beautiful surroundings in the great outdoors and is fantastic exercise - apparently cross country skiers are some of the fittest in the world!

You do not need a lift pass and anyone can access the tracks, of which there are 28km to go at in the Belleville valley. It's a great choice if you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the piste and is always a good one to keep in mind when there are lift closures for wind or avalanche risk.

I had considered just hiring the kit and giving it a go myself before this opportunity arose and was very thankful I had not gone with this option! I would recommend a lesson as whilst it is not the most complicated sport you certainly need some guidance from one of the experts.

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