Girls on tour
Tuesday March 2, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

So, what do girls get up to on a weekend break in a ski resort without their husbands and boyfriends? Morwen Williams reports from Chamonix, a resort with gentle skiing and quiet nightlife.

'If I tell you my main preparation was buying limes for the gin and tonics, then you'll understand the level I'm coming from.

More leg wax than ski wax.

We were converging on Chamonix from several corners of the UK.

One of us came on a flight from Leeds and had a stag party dressed in gold lame on her plane. Another from City airport had a man die (yes, die) next to her on the flight to Geneva.

The girls do like to compete for outrageous stories.

Chamonix is one of the weekend ski capitals of Europe - great for cheap flights to Geneva, and only an hour transfer.

And it's got a not-insignificant night life.

We arrived on Friday afternoon - just too late for a quick run, but time to get all the important things organised -sourcing the best croissant shop, organising the bathroom rota.

Oh, and ski hire.

We'd pre-booked on the web that worked remarkably smoothly. We all had the "Lady" skis, which some of the girls had not tried before, but were impressed with the lightness and carve-ability.

And lovely colours, which the nice man seemed to match to our jackets.

So we were all set for the slopes the next day. A debate about start times, and then a quick dinner and bed.

Well, that was the plan....

Several hours later and we were still fighting over access to plugs for driers and straightners and space at the mirror. It wasn't going to be a quick meal and early night.

"Cinq gin tonics s'il vous plait" seemed to be a recurring shout across to our waitress as the meal wore on. We were an oasis of females in a restaurant mainly populated by men - most of whom were glowing from not having used the right factor sun cream that day.

We were being quiet and demur, not attracting any attention, or so we thought.

But when a ski bum wandered over to pass the time of day, well, things took another turn......."

We'll bring you Part Two later in the week.

Sweet and innocent or ready for a night out?