Gosh it seems ages ago – it was only last month – but I never got the time to blog. So, just to keep you all up to date here is the gen on Andorra.

Annette, John, Toby, Liz, Elliot, Ian and I spent a week in a big but friendly bargain chalet with decent food and accommodation. There was much better and more extensive skiing than I had anticipated, and reasonable prices in the bars.

There was lots of snow when we arrived, though not new. But that was rectified a couple of nights later when about 15″ fell in the valleys; on the slopes it varied depending on aspect etc.

Lots of fresh snow on the pistes

Sadly there is no piccy of the occasion when Elliot, Ian and I decided that the red powdery run was such fun that we would turn off onto a black run which led off it. Having ploughed through the cornice-like snowdrift at the top of this we were suddenly up to our chests in powder and floundering around totally out of control- much hilarity ensued, not to mention digging. Others sensibly remained on the pistes, most of which were not pisted: the machines were on the go all day and could barely keep the “home” pistes reasonably clear.

Liz, a first-time skier, braves deep snow followed byToby, Ian and Elliot

Annette indulges in the second sport of the week - imbibing copious quantities of alcohol

Apart from the madly snowy days there was a lot of hot sun – fab!

Elliot and Ian shelter from the hot sun outside a bar on the slopes

In short, I would consider going back, particularly because there are grades to suit a mixed party – the slopes are nowhere near as challenging as, for example, Chamonix – and there is enough to keep a good skier going for a week.

Many thanks to John for organising the trip.