Norvista (tel: 020-7409 7334; net: www.norvista ) has seven-night packages from £784 per person based on two sharing a self-catering apartment, including return flights.6 Salsa and skiing For a week of skiing and salsa contact Dance Holidays (tel: 01206 577000, www.danceholidays ) which has two trips to Granada in Spain from 3-10 March and 10-17 March. A bus leaves every morning for the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, so you can alternate a day’s skiing with salsa and sightseeing There’s also dancing every night in Granada’s salsa clubs. The price is £540 per person including flights, b&b accommodation in a three-star hotel in central Granada, transfers to the ski resort and two hours of salsa lessons per day.7 Safari in Canada Ski Safari (tel; 020-7740 1221; net: www.skisafari ) offers tailor-made self-drive itineraries between two or more resorts in Canada and the USA. The Okanagan valley safari takes in the three resorts of Big White, Sun Peaks and Silver Star. A 10-night trip from 4-31 January costs from £849 per person based on two sharing and including return flights and room-only accommodation in three- to four-star hotels.8 On a glacier For those who want year-round skiing but don’t want to switch hemispheres, Europe’s glaciers are the answer.

Austria has eight to choose from, including the 10,500ft Kitzsteinhorn Glacier which towers above Zell Am See. Thomson Lakes & Mountains (tel: 0870 606 1470; net: www.thomsonlakesandmountains.co.uk) has a new summer skiing and cycling package in 2001 called Up and Down in Zell Am See. You can book a morning’s summer skiing on the glacier followed by an afternoon’s cycling along the shore of Lake Zell. The price is £45 in high season and £39 in low season and includes a one-day glacier lift pass and piste map, half-a-day’s ski and boot hire and two hours’ cycle hire. Thomson has seven-night packages to Zell from £365 per person during the summer including half-board accommodation, flights and transfers.9 Cross-country in Italy The Gran Paradiso was Europe’s first National Park and is situated in the Aosta valley in the north of Italy. A wild, rugged, mountainous region, the cross-country skiing traverses rolling meadowland and valleys.

Inntravel (tel: 01653 629010; net: www.inntravel.co.uk) has seven-night trips based in the village of Cogne from £544 per person staying in the family-run Hotel Sant’Orso. Price includes half-board accommodation based on two sharing, scheduled flights and transfers.10 Parlez vous français? Caledonia Languages Abroad (tel: 0131-621 7721; tel: www.caledonialanguages.co.uk) offers French and skiing holidays in Chambery. A two-week language course staying with a French host family, on a half-board basis costs £360 or £290 for b&b only. The price includes 40 French lessons in the language school and 13 nights’ accommodation. Day trips to local ski areas cost approximately £20, including transport and ski-pass.

Or you could opt for a two-week German course in Vienna which starts at £455 per person.11 Heli-skiing in India Himachal Heli-skiing (tel: 01264 861251; net: www.himachal ) is organising skiing trips to the Indian Himalayas from 25 January to 10 April. Based in Manali in Himachal Pradesh, north-east India, this is high altitude- skiing at up to 5,000m. The helicopters are parked in the garden of the four-star Holiday Inn ready to whisk you up to the powder Skiing is in the Kulu Valley (Valley of the Gods). The cost for a week is US$5750 per person excluding international flights and stopover hotel in Delhi.12 Bargain breaks Skiing doesn’t have to cost the earth. If you can avoid peak periods, notably school holidays, you will be able to take advantage of some great offers this season and enjoy less crowded slopes. Ski Independence (tel: 0870 600 1462) has deals to some of the top resorts in France including Courcheval and Méribel after 6 January. A seven-night holiday in Courcheval starts at £90 per person based on four people sharing a studio apartment.

The price includes a Channel crossing for one vehicle by Eurotunnel or ferry and seven nights’ accommodation on a room-only basis.. Monday morning of the February half-term holiday, and there was pandemonium in the Pyrenees. Those in the know had risen with the lark to start forming an 8am queue for the gondola from Soldeu up the mountain to Espiolets. Because we had arrived at nine, we faced the best part of an hour shuffling along in unclipped boots, collapsing under piles of skis and poles. Monday morning of the February half-term holiday, and there was pandemonium in the Pyrenees.