Eat, Après, Love

BY WILLIAM GEE

As the last chairlifts prematurely grind to a halt around the world, our fondue-dipping, powder-racing, vin-chaud-sipping antics have been put on hold indefinitely. Worlds away from a simpler time, where ancient Scandinavian farmers travelled for convenience on fashioned logs, skiing in the modern age is enjoyed by many - even if they aren’t (anachronistically) whistling ABBA on their way to tend to their sheep. However, this is not to say that recreational skiing was simply invented by Courchevel - far from it - these ancient Scandinavians grew to love sliding on slabs of wood over fresh powder so much that they worshipped “Ullr” - the god of skiing, although nowadays skiers are more inclined to worship “Moncler”.

“Where fresh truffles reign king over fresh tracks and red wine is more attractive than a red slope”

Despite its wholesome origins, the distressingly low ratio of skis propped up outside restaurants compared with the number of “skiers” at lunch, alluded to a horrifying notion: to go skiing is not to ski. It is the notion that the famed après-ski - where fresh truffles reign king over fresh tracks and red wine is more attractive than a red slope - trumps the ski itself

The very concept of après-ski baffles me - the concept of making the after event into the main event is a paradox to rival The Bootstrap (or the ski boot if you will) - one would not make such an ordeal about “après beach” or “après museum-on-a-city-break-in-Copenhagen”. Even in other sports, such commitment to the hours surrounding the activity is unparalleled, unless you count some squash and a stretch as après football. Beyond being paradoxical by nature - the ruddy glow of rude health is replaced with the reddish glow of a champagne-fuelled, fur clad afternoon -  après-ski has the ability to bring out the paradoxes in all of us: Brits (you know, the personal space obsessed ones who always complain about the cold) are seen fighting for outdoor communal tables in sub-zero temperatures. What does this say about us? When we escape to the slopes, do we escape the now? Just as, for many of us, the highlight of going out is reclaiming our PJs at the end of the night, can we really justify our constant preoccupation with the après in life. When we look to our next ski season, I for one hope that we take the time to appreciate the maintenant and not just the après.