I’ve landed in Switzerland and unfortunately I’m three months too early to see Italy in the European Championships. So instead, I jump on train from Genève to Täsch.

The journey itself is easy and picturesque, in particular as the train works its way around Lake Genève. I can imagine that in summer, still with the snow-covered Alps in the distance, but with a greener landscape, it must be beautiful.

Täsch is the stopping point for vehicles before the ski resort of Zermatt. It’s not very exciting and the nightlife is hardly famous. In fact, the most exciting thing about the village is the cross high on the mountain, which is lit up at night. It’s an early night before my first day of skiing in nearly two years.

7th March 2008 – Day 2 – Zermatt

The train to Zermatt is quick and runs every 20 minutes. Despite my first view of the Matterhorn (I’ll call it Matterhorn, instead of Cervino since I’m on this side of the border), Zermatt doesn’t impress me at first sight. There is construction everywhere, which in itself is infuriating since the buildings are practically on top of each other already.

Nonetheless, it’s an absolute joy to actually take another train (with heating!) to 3089m and then jump off and start skiing straight away! The weather is pretty poor today and the clouds refuse to shift, but it’s fantastic to be back in the Alps.

8th March 2008 – Day 3 – Zermatt

The weather is better today, although it’s still not the clear blue sky that welcomed me on Thursday. However, the clouds don’t budge from around 2500m and it allows some great views across the mountain peaks. As the ski-lifts emerge from the clouds and the sun hits you like a burning furnace, it’s like everything below the clouds doesn’t exist anymore.

Although it’s wonderful for the train to take you from Zermatt directly to the ski-slopes, it’s bizarre that the actual ski region is seemingly so far from the resort itself. The geography of the area is such that it’s not easy to get from one ski zone to another. Worse still, is that you can’t actually ski down to the resort. It means you either have to time your runs in order to catch a train back, or you have a 2km walk home with skis on your back.

On closer inspection, Zermatt has got some stereotypical Swiss buildings. However, it’s so densely built up that it loses its attraction. I think it says everything when I realise I don’t have a single photo of the town itself.

9th March 2008 – Day 4 – Zermatt

Now that’s what skiing is all about! Today was by far the best day, with excellent weather, great skiing and by far the best mountain views I’ve ever seen in my life. I expected to see so many glorious views in Zermatt, but today surpassed anything I could have hoped for.

I’ve broken a few ‘firsts’; skiing at over 3800m, skiing on a glacier and standing at the peak of the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise at 3883m. As one person near me said, it’s like standing on top of the world. I can’t even imagine how they constructed this platform, as taking the lift through the clouds and hundreds of metres above the piercing glaciers was nerve-wrecking enough!

It’s an amazing ski down the mountain, with the Matterhorn at my side and the huge, open pistes covered in fantastic powder-covered snow. I take it all in, as tomorrow is another four hour train back to Genève for my flight home.

A last minute trip to Morzine, on the border of Switzerland and France, with a few mates was absolutely brilliant. To be able to ski across the border with endless amounts of pistes was great fun. We then had several mad evenings chucked in there too. Best of all, we’ve got some of the funniest (and maybe a little tipsy) moments captured on film – and I’m currently in the process of (my latest hobby) editing the footage to make a DVD.

Soon after that trip, Emma and I went to Venice for a long weekend over Easter. I was expecting to find it nice, but it truly is fantastic. I ate and drank like a king for all four days and we managed to see so much of the city too.

Finally, Emma went off on her own ski trip last weekend, so I decided to head to Poland. I was in Warsaw for four days, and because I stayed in a youth hostel, I met loads of other travellers; the best of the bunch were from Canada. They truly are the friendliest bunch of people in the world! They are just so happy all the time!

Anyway, I’m all “Poped out” after Warsaw – the scenes of mourning were unbelievable. That along with visits of the post-war monuments made for quite an emotional weekend. Fortunatately, come the evenings, the Poles are keen for you to try all their food and drink and party the rest of the night away!

12th March 2005 – Morzine

So another adventure begins. This time I start quite organised. I’m in the very small City Airport very early, sipping a cappuccino and I’ve already got my pad and pen.

I’ve been told I’m not allowed to take a photo of the two English guards with massive machine guns I’m also asked to remove items from my luggage as they are suspicious of the contents. However, after a second x-ray, I’m ready to fly and so is my bag.

The airport is small, but the landing strip is right next to a stretch of water. It looks bizarre knowing I’m so close to home and planes are landing every second looking like they are heading for the Thames.

I’m now in Switzerland; I think this is the 20th country I’ve been to in my life. Mind you, it’s lucky I’m here in one piece as the turbulence when landing was the worst I’ve ever experienced I’m not looking forward too much to the flight to Geneve.

The airport is new and clean but after five minutes I’m bored. I don’t mind waiting for flights but it’s a shame the other guys are in Milan and Paris whilst I’m here in Zurich! It’s very cloudy but there’s quite a lot of snow around which is really getting me in the mood for tomorrow’s skiing!

The wait is helped by chatting with a couple of people. One Swedish girl lives in London and another guy is Israeli but lives in Vienna.

The next flights is a little better, although still no food. However, a bigger problem is when I meet Sy in Geneve. Tom and Stick’s flight has been cancelled…

They’ve managed to get on the next flight which arrives five hours later!

Sy and I go for pizza and beer after our failed attempt to call the bus driver to let him know of the delay.

Two hours later, we’ve arrived in the chalet. It’s much better than I expected, with living room, kitchen, two double bedrooms and bathroom. We’ve arranged for another driver to pick up Stick and Tom later in the evening.

There’s a further panic at 10.50 when we find that their second flight was delayed by nearly an hour and the driver isn’t there!

We think of alternate options (hotel in Geneve, 300 euro taxi to Morzine) but just a short while later the driver turns up.

The guys arrive after 1am and soon we’re all asleep.

13th March 2005 – Morzine

I wake at 7 and after getting ready I make my way to the ski hire centre. It’s a 15 minute walk, but on my way I do some food shopping from the “Shopi” supermarket.

Back home the guys are up and 30 mins later we head for the slopes.

The weather is outstanding, clear skies and strong sunshine makes the mountains look incredible. The pistes are great too and our 14 resort pass gives us over 650km of slopes from which to choose!

Sy is still learning how to snowboard, so we leave him to improve and head towards Switzerland. Tom and Stick show no fear and are pleased to go very fast. This is great, but on the first day it’s very hard on the legs. By one o’clock we find a restaurant at 2200m and I dig into some spaghetti whilst the boys have some chips and sandwich.

I stupidly have a beer and it’s not long later when we get back to the slopes that I start feeling a little dehydrated. It’s also not too long before Stick and Tom go the wrong way and I lose them.

This gives me a chance to head back to Morzine and explore some of the routes we’ve yet to do. The best view was in Avoriaz, whilst the best run was back in France through a tree-filled, deep powdered stretch.

My legs are starting to give so I sit down for a rest. By complete chance, about 10 minutes later Stick and Tom fly by. I hail them to stop and we’re back together for a final few goes.

We get the camera out and take some great footage of speeding down the pistes with some funny incidents including and near miss with a female learner and another collision narrowly missed by Tom with another snowboarder. We try a few jumps but I’m not ready for it and I think Tom and Stick are too worried about their bones at the moment.

We finish at around five and pop to the supermarket on the way back.

A hamburger and 2 beers later, I’m shattered. The others are still drinking beers and they want to go out.

It’s nearly 9 and I’m showered and ready for bed. The guys are on their way to find a bard and the hope of a strip club later in the night.

14th March 2005 – Morzine

The guys are really tired. Sounds like they had a poor night waiting hours for the naked dancers only for them never to arrive.

The day starts like yesterday with me getting everyone up. We’re soon out on the other side of the mountains towards Les Gents and the snow is fantastic again. The weather is a little cloudy and because o that it feels much colder.

We’re getting a little more adventurous with speed and jumps and because of that, we lose Sy again quite quickly.

Not quite so many video clips of stunts although we did have a great hour in a bar near the bottom of Morzine, jumping from the edge of a snowy hill edgy.

In the evening, we discover that Tom eats an absurd amount of crisps and Stick hasn’t washed his hair for four years.

This time I do decide to go out for drinks and they take me to a couple of bars. The Jolly Good Bar is good for darts and another is good for pool but around 12ish we head back.

15th March 2005 – Morzine

I feel pretty good this morning despite quite a few drinks. Once again I’m the one who goes to the supermarket to buy food. It wakes me up well and I find the footy score too.

The guys get read reasonably quickly and we’re out again. My body is shattered and I struggle as my legs just feel like they are giving away. We’re back on the Swiss side and unfortunately it’s just too hot. The snow is starting to melt which is really slowing things down as well as being harder on the legs.

Another spaghetti lunch and a few more stunts in the boards park and we’re back home.

I tidy the place because it’s an absolute pigsty – it’s obvious that these guys still live at home. I’m also onto the beers and have five before we leave.

Unlike yesterday, I actually win some games of darts and a few euros too. We then head further away from the chalet and actually find the main part of Morzine. There’s an Indian restaurant which was very tasty (although even the mild dish was too hot for me) and then Dixie bar which shows the footy and has loads of younger people. We chat to a few girls who have been here for months but soon we’re tired so we head off. Plus, the bottle of white I had in the restaurant has gone straight to my head and I really need to sleep!

16th March 2005 – Morzine

I had a lot of water before going to sleep, so I feel ok. We have practically nothing for breakfast and this time catch the 10.30 bus to the bottom of the slope. We’re not hung-over, but we’re all feeling very tired and lazy.

We’re expecting the slopes to be bad again, but it seems a cold night has hardened what was warmed yesterday.

What is weird is that my confidence gained in the last few days seems to have vanished; I’m going much slower, particularly because my legs are shattered and I can feel them struggling on every turn.

It’s omelettes for lunch, with an absurd amount of chips. Tick orders chips alone for about the fourth day in a row. Along with his packets of noodles he’s brought from England for his dinners and the 10 cigarettes per day, as well as his hygiene � it’s a wonder he’s not always ill.

We split up after lunch and Tom and I make it back to the same bar on the slope. Soon, Sy arrives and we dig into three large beers.

We play an amazing trick on the other people in the bar, pretending Sy has fallen off a cliff edge. From sitting, it really looks like a big drop so Sy pretends to trip whilst I film. There’s a scream from a woman and about five people rush to the edge. It’s only when people notice Tom and me in hysterics that they realise it’s a joke.

We head our way down to the bottom and go home, with another stop for supermarket essentials.

Stick is at home and after some showers all around, we start on the beers again.

We’re in the Jolly Good Bar before too long and all determined to know Stick out straight away as it’s funny to see him lose.

After a few beers, Sy, Tom and I are on our way to being drunk. It’s midnight and Stick decides he’s had enough. He steals a (much needed) roll of toilet paper and head home.

Not for us! We head to a rather posh restaurant! It’s so late but they are still happy to serve us. Sy has pasta but Tom and I go for steaks (they refused to serve me the three course meal).

They are absolutely delicious, but unfortunately the three Leffes we order don’t go down so easily. Tom is off his face and provides us with some drunken video footage whilst we head back home.

17th March 2005 – Morzine

It’s St. Paddy’s day and we feel pretty horrendous. Despite Tom’s wake-up call at 9.05 (everything has to be at 05), we’re not out until 11.30ish. Stick isn’t happy as he could have had more sleep but Sy and I are grateful. We’re so tired and just need a chill out.

Which isn’t what Sy gets, as he remembers the half block of wax he needs to remove from his board.

Once we’re on the slopes, we head for Switzerland again. I was bad yesterday but today I’m awful. I’m also so sunburnt that it’s really a hard ski. We soon find a large bar/restaurant and settle down. Sy and Tom have a chicken dish of the day. I have pasta carbonara (delicious even with the mushrooms) and Stock has his usual enormous plate of chips.

Sy and I are happy to sit there whilst Tom and Stick go out for more rides. They are soon back though and we all decide to head to higher ground.

That we do, on a ski lift that takes us over the remains of about ten avalanches. We’re much higher and it really feels it. The air is thin and it makes me feels more tired than I already am. I decide to head back to the chalet.

It takes a long time even though I take the most direct route. I’m kilometres away and practically flatline the while way. Back at home (after a couple of pain au chocolates) I go to bed. It’s five o’clock and one by one the guys get back.

They leave me to sleep before suddenly announcing at 9.30 that they’re off out.

Again I feel awful! I think I slept too long but force myself to go out. I’m glad I do as a Guinness in the Jolly Good Bar and a couple of games of darts certainly does the trick.

We then spend about an hour looking for a decent restaurant (most are fully booked) before settling for one closer to the night-lit ski slope.

Onion soups all around (bar Stick) followed by lasagnes for Sy and T, steak for me (it’s awful) and pizza for Stick.

We eat, pay and go home. I’m so tired so I hit the sack.

18th March 2005 – Morzine

I wake at 07.30 but the others aren’t keen on doing the same. The plan is to be on the slopes at 09.00 so I catch up on my journal with a plate of pasta (!) and a cup of tea.

The others finally get up at 8.15 and we start getting ready.

We follow Sy’s idea to get to this off piste area which turns out to be perfect. We build a massive jump and literally launch ourselves off.

Tom and Stick are quite good at jumping, Tom even managing to land a forward flip. Sy has never jumped before but by the end of the day he is very good. I can’t do it to save my life, so I just go steadily faster, creating more and more stupid falls.

We save the best till last though, stripping to underwear and landing bottom first down the slope.

For the first time in the holiday, we all ski until they close the lifts. It’s great and it puts us into the mood for another night out.

We start earlier at 19.00 and find a restaurant with onion soup and pizza for me, fondue for Sy and Tom and pizza for Stick.

With the bottles of red, we’re starting to get drunk and we head to Dixie’s again.

It starts very silly as Tom and Stick play a coin trick on me. They don’t tell me Stick is involved so I don’t know whether it’s Stick or Sy who is helping him , This last at least an hour, by which time Tom has Sy convinced he’s helping him with the magic! I’m totally confused and Tom keeps insisting it’s Sy who in turn gets very angry that he’s being blamed for something he didn’t do. I don’t know who to believe, but finally Tom and Stick tell all once Sy is ready to go berserk!

At that point, the camcorder comes out and Tom and Sy have a dance off. It’s incredibly funny and loads of people in the pub are cheering along.

As the hours pass, Tom gets more and more tired, so he disappears.

Stick, Sy and I head to a club, haggle the entrance fee from 10euro to 2euro and then watch Sy do more (awful) dancing inside. We’re falling asleep so we head back.

Tom isn’t there and only a bit later we find him on the floor above, asleep on the stairs. We leave him and go to bed.

The next thing we know is Tom has left the building, climbed to our first floor balcony and ripped down the shutters. He then goes crazy and breaks a few things. I get a boot thrown at my head before I fall asleep.

19th March 2005 – Morzine

We all wake feeling pretty rough. Tom accepts blame for his antics (apparently he went off to another club before coming home) and soon the chalet owner arrives to arrange lifts to the airport and for his money.

I’m now in Geneve airport. Tom and Stick may have missed their flights (I heard their names on the tanoy system) and I’m about to get to Zurich on the way back home.