Alternative activities in resort, from skidoos to donkeys

So on the grounds that you can’t spend all your off-duty time drinking and carousing, I thought I’d have a look at a few ski-alternative activities.

First up, the Big Air Bag at the Bas des Pistes. This isn’t really an alternative to skiing or boarding, involving (as it does) skis and/or boards. But it’s at the bottom of he hill out of the wind, and it makes a change from cruising the pistes. Essentially it involves going off a big kicker, attempting the aerial acrobatics of your choice, and landing unscathed on a big balloon. Great for perfecting that backflip before you try it off the slopestyle where you can really mess yourself up if you get it wrong. Yes JC, I’m looking at you.

Also at the Bas des Pistes just behind the Jandri you have an unparalleled opportunity to find out what it’s like to be caught in an avalanche. Not that our pisteurs have failed to secure the beginner slopes, I hasten to add. No, this experience can be had in the saftey, if not necessarily comfort, of the avalanche simulator. I confess to never having tried it myself because those simulator things make me feel sick , which probably isn’t how you’d feel in an avalanche at all.

Round the corner at the ice rink, two afternoons/evenings a week are dedicated to the ice gliders, basically dodgem cars on ice. When I worked for schools' tour operators we used to do this every week as an evening entertainment and it went down a storm with both kids and teachers.

Out the back of the rink you’ll find the motoneige hut, where you can sign up for a skidoo trip up to Cretes and beyond. I can personally recommend skidooing, having done it at Les Saisies in the Savoie many moons ago. My top tip – work out how the heated handle grip things work before you start out. You can combine your trip with an evening meal of the inevitable (and delicious) tartiflette as well if you like – see the people at the hut for details.

Leaving all these chilly activities behind, remember that your lift pass includes the Venosc telecabin, which takes you down into the Veneon valley and the old village of Venosc. Have a stroll round the village, walk along the river or take a guided tour of the donkey farm. I say donkey – Didier also has horses, mules, llamas and a brace of genuine yaks, ordered from a catalogue and imported from Tibet. No, I had no idea you could mail-order yaks either. Apparently the yaks themselves are quite cheap, but the transport costs a fortune.

Finally, if you really want a lazy afternoon, take a turn round resort in a horse drawn cart. The cart doubles as Santa’s sleigh over Christmas, but the horse is always recognisably the same horse. Presumably he drew the line at fake antlers and a red nose. And who can blame him?