Hitting the slopes at Chel Ski London #IsSkiForMe

I’ve never been on a skiing holiday before, the idea of skiing kind of scares me a bit, I have terrible balance and would probably fall over a lot. Saying that, I’m always jealous of people’s skiing holiday photos – staying in cosy chalets and being surrounded by beautiful snowy mountains really appeals to me. So when Talented Talkers invited me to a Club Med bloggers event learning to ski at an indoor centre in London, I thought I’d give it a go. The bloggers invited ranged from people who had never skied before to those who hadn’t been skiing for years.

Chel-Ski

Upon arriving at Chel-Ski we were taken upstairs to the alpine bar for a mocktail, it’s important not to drink before skiing as if you do have accidents whilst drunk then this can invalidate your travel insurance. After our mocktails we were taken back downstairs to put on our ski boots. Chel-Ski has two slopes with three people to one slope, with some instructors to help. The slope was mechanical so once turned on you can either be pulled backwards to the top or slide down the slope towards the bar.

We started off at the bottom of the slope holding onto a metal bar. The instructor then turns the slope on and the slope pulls you backwards. The first time he did this we all hilariously started trying to walk back down with our skis on, they immediately turned the slope off. The instructors explained how to position our skis and we had a few attempts being near the bar. Being close to the bar made me feel safer as I knew I had something to grab onto. The instructors then said we were ready to go to the top of the slope. They turned the slope on and we were all slowly pulled back to the top of the slope. Once at the top I was pretty nervous, but the instructors were very reassuring and even held my hand for a bit to help pull me down the slope. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be and I enjoyed a lot of it.

The one thing I found confusing was the positioning of the skis, the instructors did explain this well but I have terrible coordination and ended up being pulled backwards when I wanted to ski down the slope. The other thing I didn’t expect was how much hard work it would be, my calves were already hurting after 10 minutes. I couldn’t stay on the slopes for very long as my legs hurt too much. However, I did enjoy this lesson despite being pretty nervous, I think it’s a great way to learn before you commit to going on a skiing holiday. Also, a few of the bloggers said it’s a lot easier skiing on the snow than the slopes here which is great as I found the mechanical slopes a bit confusing.

After our session we got a bit of time to watch the other bloggers skiing and some of them were very impressive. There were a few falls but everyone was fine and they said it didn’t hurt much.

Apres Ski

My favourite part was definitely apres ski, this is the main reason I’d love to go skiing. Getting cosy in the warm, drinking a few cocktails and enjoying some fondue sounds like my kinda holiday.

We all headed upstairs to the alpine lodge for some drinks, food and to play some board games. I tried some Tartiflette, a French dish with creamy potato, onions, cheese and bacon – it was so delicious and comforting. Throughout the evening we drank a lot of Prosecco and feasted on chocolate fondue with marshmallows and strawberries. I also got the chance to check out Club Med’s resorts through their virtual reality headsets and their skiing holidays look incredible!

I’d highly recommend trying indoor skiing, it’s a great way to give it a go and see if you like it. Even if you aren’t great or feel nervous the first time, you can always come back for some more lessons.

Chet-Ski location

4 Sotheron Place, London SW6 2EJ

You can read Club Med’s post about the event here.

Have any of you been skiing before?

*Thanks to Club Med & Talented Talkers for organising such a fab event, the photos are all from Fordtography*