Ski like a Goddess with courses designed especially for women
Building your ski confidence and raising your ski level has never been so much fun!
Last week I embarked on a solo adventure to Châtel, France, to enrol on a ski trip made for a Goddess.
The whole process of sorting out all my holiday arrangements, including everything covid related, was straight forward. In terms of my holiday, Ski Goddess sorted EVERYTHING out for me.
The only thing I had to worry about was booking my flights and getting on that plane! In terms of Covid travel, I had to take a LFT 24hours prior to flying, which I ordered through ExpressTest. I recorded my negative test through my BA App, completed a passenger locater form; and that was it. On my return I needed to purchase a LTF kit (which included a code I needed to pop into my check-in app before returning home), which I had to take two days after I landed back into the UK. In regards to pre-goddess mindset, Katie (chief Goddess) sent me a link to various online videos she had created which would prep our bodies and minds for the fore-coming trip ahead.
A glass of wine down and feeling relaxed after a short plane journey, I arrived in Geneva airport. I collected my bags then went to track down my fellow Ski Goddess that I had spoke to the previous evening via WhatsApp. It didn’t take me long to locate them all, and soon enough our transfer driver had arrived and led us to the car park where we then set off for our Luxury Chalet in the heart of Châtel.
ROOM OPTIONS
I was happy to share a room (which I did with the most lovely Welsh lady named Helen!). Prior to the holiday you are asked your room sharing/single occupancy preference. Rooms are then allocated based on this. All the other ladies on our particular ski holiday opted for their own rooms. I actually really enjoyed the company of sharing. Our room was sectioned off so we still had our own space, and we worked out the best times for shower use between us. I loved mine and Helen’s evening chats about our days. They added to my all round positive Ski Goddess experience!
‘What a brilliant first day!’. I had embarked on a journey that had such a different start mentally compared to what I’ve been used to on my once yearly family ski holiday trips. We all boarded our minibus to the slopes and shared some of our similar confidence struggles, which was somewhat comforting. At the top of our first lift, we all gathered as a team and did a very informal relaxed breathing exercise. This is something I have never done before but was certainly welcomed as a more settling start to my ski morning! We then set off to ski down the first slope and at the bottom were placed into groups and introduced to our group instructors who would be shadowing us for the duration of the week.
Our group placings were decided prior to hitting the slopes after many conversations with Katie (Chief Goddess) over phone and email about our skiing ability and experience. Of course, if at any point we felt misplaced, there was always an opportunity to switch groups.
I was in a group along with 4 other Ski Goddesses and we were led by our incredible instructor Eilidh.
The first day we focused a lot on the technical side of skiing – cutting into the slopes, understanding weight distribution with some skiing drills. All things we knew, but obviously didn’t action enough when skiing.
In the past if I eventually got down a slope, I was happy. Now, I was enjoying the journey. Today I sweated. Never before on a ski holiday have I complained about wearing too many layers! I’m the person with the heated gloves who can’t feel her toes! But today – it happened. I took a layer off. Progression in my skiing ability was being made.
We ended the day with a glass of bubbles in the hot tub, a sauna, and a three-course meal put together by our very talented chalet chef Lou. What a day. A quick call to my little darlings at home (and a bedtime day recap with my roommate Helen!) and I was ready for bed and excited for day two of becoming an official Ski Goddess.
THE SKI GODDESS EXPERIENCE
Day two: Drill day. Bringing to the slope what we had learnt from the previous day. We also lunched at a traditional ‘Christmas meets Valentine’s day’ quirky and cosy restaurant run by the very famous, in her own right, Madame Babeth. The food here was insane! Totally delicious and followed by my first ever Génépi shot!! We de-briefed after every day to check in with how we were feeling and watched videos of the day to try and visualise where we could make improvements on our overall skiing technique.
Day three: We skied to Switzerland (and we didn’t even need to take our passports!). Exploring the mountains and the wonderful landscape was a definite highlight of my trip. What I enjoyed most from having Eilidh instruct us all week was that not only did she offer advice and technical assistance at all times on the slopes, but she was essentially also our tour guide! She skied us to the most incredible spots with the most breathtaking views and was always at hand to suggest which routes we should take so we would arrive at the favourite lunching spots (which she would book ahead of time so we knew we were guaranteed a table!).
On day three we indulged in the best meal of the week in our chalet thus far (in my opinion) of roasted duck, followed by the most incredible sticky toffee pudding. A dip in the hot tub and a relaxing stint in the sauna became routine, and the lovely Esther (a fellow ski goddess) also led a Yoga session this particular evening before said routine activities to stretch out our bodies.
The rest of the week I pushed myself more, but never over did myself, so I always ended on a high. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of every one of my fellow Ski Goddesses. There were 13 of us on this particular week and we were split into three groups. We very much varied in age. The eldest member of our pack was Grace at 75 years young (Grace you absolute legend!), all the way down to myself at 34.
My whole Ski Goddess journey was totally empowering. My confidence has grown, as well as my overall skiing ability. I have returned home in the knowledge that I will be able to tackle any slope my children decide to take me down on our next ski trip away, and I won’t be having panic attacks at the top of the slope or removing my skis and being an overly dramatic drama queen!
On the last day of our trip, we were met by Lou our chalet Goddess on the slopes with a surprise, and all 13 goddesses and our instructors skied a slope together in celebration of completing our courses and officially becoming a fully-fledged Ski Goddess (we even received a pair of Ski Goddess official pants I shall be sporting under my skiing attire on my next trip away!).
I think I can safely say that I will be a returning Goddess (along with a lot of other returning goddesses who have returned 4-5 times since their first Goddess experience!). I would love to return next year with the same amazing group of women – it’s been spoken about between the group, so watch this space!
Katie and her team of hand-selected instructors are experts in identifying how women and men operate differently, mentally and physically. Katie has deigned her Ski Goddess courses completely around the knowledge of this and not only does this leave you empowered after your visit, but also eager to return!
Ski Goddess courses maximum progress with zero pressure.
The team organise everything for you. All you have to worry about are your flights. Private transfers, luxury accommodation, glorious food, great quality ski hire, lift passes, time schedules, transport to perfect slopes for learning, off snow learning sessions, hot tub, sauna, yoga and building a fun atmosphere of camaraderie… what are you waiting for?
Whether you love to ski but your friends are not as keen on skiing as you are, or your lacking in confidence and need some extra tuition in a fun and relaxed environment – Ski Goddess has the right course designed just for you!
Get in touch with Katie today: www.skigoddess.co.uk
