My eco-conscious skiing odyssey in the French Alps

You can take it easy on the slopes of Tignes. But if you have a yearning to go higher, further and faster, this beautiful eco-friendly resort is hard to beat

‘You should be very proud,” said Chemmy Alcott, as my face smacked into thick snow for the third time and my goggles began to steam up with the exertion of constantly righting myself. “You’re one of the first 100 people to come through here this season. You’re flattening the trail, making it easier for everyone else.”

Alcott, a one-time Olympic downhill ninja and now the effervescent co-host of the BBC’s Ski Sunday, had swung us into the Hidden Valley, one of her secret showstoppers in the Tignes area, after delivering a warning. “This is off-piste,” she said, suddenly serious. “So you do this at your own risk.”