Useless

I took to the slopes for the first time in the glorious Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, and was left wondering why I’d waited so long to try skiing – but one piece of advice was useless

When I excitedly told friends I was off to Austria to ski for the very first time, nearly 30 years into my life, the seasoned skiers among them looked a little nervous. “It’s definitely easier to learn when you’re younger,” they warned me.

So I immediately did what any late millennial would do, and took to TikTok in the hope of becoming a pro skier without ever having set foot on the slopes. In the weeks leading up to the trip, I spent every spare minute watching ski instructors share their tips for beginners, before practising the techniques – static – in my living room.

However, it all began to feel very real when we arrived in Saalbach-Hinterglemm in the heart of the Austrian Alps, where the Alpine Ski World Championships were held back in February

We checked in to the uber-modern Wiesergut, a ski in, ski out hotel built on the site of a 14th-century manor, which looks like something straight out of Architectural Digest.

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My spacious bedroom exuded understated urban chic, with a soaring double-height ceiling, floor-to-ceiling windows and a sophisticated mix of natural materials like wood, stone and linen. Luxurious Aesop toiletries lined the bathroom shelves and, to my delight, there was even a Dyson Airwrap for fixing up soggy helmet hair. The room also came with its own fireplace and a hot tub.

I couldn’t get my skiwear on fast enough but, once dressed, I took one look in the mirror and felt like an imposter. Staring back at me was the definition of “all the gear, no idea”. Luckily, there was another newbie in the group and the pair of us headed out for a lesson on the baby slopes, just a stone’s throw away from Weisergut.

I quickly discovered that my TikTok ski lessons had taught me next to nothing, but soon got to grips with finding my balance, turning and slowing down – very important in order to avoid any Paltrow-esque ski crashes.

After two hours of “pizza and French frying” our way down the baby slopes, we’d certainly worked up an appetite, and 1,500 metres up Reiterkogel mountain, Wieseralm provided the perfect location to refuel. A sister to the Weisergut, the mountain restaurant offers alpine classics such as Kaiserschmarrn, cheese dumplings and Viennese schnitzel. We were treated to a host of other decadent delights including truffle carbonara, buttery mash, fillet steak and king prawns.

Each time we thought we were done, the servers brought out another course, each as impressive as the last, and they made sure our wine glasses were never empty. Forget skiing backdown the mountain – we could have just rolled down.

Some 30km away, nestled in the beautiful Leoganger mountain range, sits Priesteregg, a five-star eco resort with its own picturesque mountain village.

Sixteen charming chalets are dotted on a steep hillside, each adorned with scarlet geraniums in the window boxes, wooden deckchairs softened with sheepskin throws, flickering candles and log fires waiting to be lit.

Smiling girls in floral dirndls welcomed me with a hot coffee before I headed to the Priesteregg BAD (spa) for wellness treatments.

I went for a swim in the Himmelbecken, an outdoor infinity pool that offers a magnificent view of the Hochkönig mountain, before taking part in a yoga class on the terrace over looking it. The yoga instructor then took us through an incredible guided breathing session using the Wim Hof method in preparation for a cold plunge at the Naturbecken pool.

To my surprise, I enjoyed every second of the dip, and barely noticed the cold even as I climbed out into the rain. I don’t know if this was the effect of the breathwork, or if the breathtaking scenery simply offered the perfect distraction from the discomfort.

I’ve never slept more soundly than I did in my bedroom at the chalet. Situated on a high plateau facing the mountains, the chalets offer stunning views, including a glimpse of the nearby luminescent man-made glacial lake.

It’s hard to imagine a more indulgent start to the day than the Priesteregg breakfast, served in your chalet. You wake to the soft sounds of quiet preparation, and when you step into the living space, it has all been laid out – candles lit, coffee brewing and the table laden with platters of local ham and cheese, fresh fruit, yoghurt and still-warm breads and pastries. All that’s left for you to do is cook the eggs and bacon, if you fancy it.

The nearby town of Leogang is worth exploring, including Mama Thresl – Priesteregg’s cooler, more casual sister hotel – which provides easy access to the gondola for those wanting to ski or snowboard. But given Priesteregg’s panoramic mountain views, one-of-a-kind wellness area, incredible on-site cuisine and warm Austrian hospitality, it’s a wonder anyone would leave.

How to book

Rooms at Priesteregg Premium Eco Resort (priesteregg.at/en)start from £296 B&B per person, per night in a Berg MountainChalet (based on two sharing).

Rooms at Wiesergut (wiesergut.com) start from £332B&B per room, per night in a Manor Suite Bliss.

Rooms at MamaThresl (mama-thresl.com) start from £170B&B per room, for two people in a Wooden style double room.

Team principal Frederic Vasseur injected some perspective into Hamilton’s situation.

“For sure when you are seven-times world champion, your team-mate is in pole position and you are out in Q2, it’s a tough situation,” Vasseur said.

On the race result, Vasseur pointed out that Ferrari had gambled on a one-stop strategy starting on the hard tyre on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult, and it “didn’t work”.

“I can understand the frustration from Lewis,” he said, “but this is normal, and he will come back.”

Vasseur, who was instrumental in persuading Hamilton to leave Mercedes to join Ferrari for this season, pointed out that the results in Hungary made his driver’s weekend look worse than it was.

Yes, Hamilton had been 0.247 seconds slower than Leclerc when he was knocked out of qualifying after the second session. But Leclerc himself had found it hard to progress, and Hamilton had been just 0.155secs adrift of his team-mate in the first session.

The past two races have seen a stall in the positive momentum Hamilton had been building after a difficult start to his Ferrari career.

Since Miami in early May, there has been little to choose between the two drivers in qualifying, and Hamilton out-qualified Leclerc in three of the four races before Belgium, a week before Hungary.

Two errors of different kinds in the qualifying sessions for the sprint and grand prix at Spa made Hamilton look uncompetitive when he was anything but.

Hamilton was a match for Leclerc on pace in Belgium, but an off followed by a spin caused by a combination of factors relating to a new braking material saw him out in the first session in sprint qualifying. And the same thing happened when he misjudged the exit of the 180mph+ swerves at Eau Rouge and went slightly outside track limits in qualifying for the grand prix.

Even with the problems in Belgium and Hungary, and the need to adapt to a new car of very different characteristics at the start of the season, Hamilton’s average qualifying deficit to Leclerc is 0.146 seconds this year.

That’s not what Hamilton would expect of himself, but it should be viewed in the context that Ferrari – and many others in F1 – regard Leclerc as the fastest driver over a single lap in the world.

Hamilton’s critics point to his struggles against George Russell in his final season at Mercedes last year.

The 40-year-old has found the ground-effect cars introduced into F1 in 2022 do not fit his late-braking style as well as the previous generation of cars. And it does remain a mystery that he has not been able to adapt as well as would have been expected, or apparently as well as other drivers.

But Vasseur rejected any idea that he might be worried about Hamilton’s situation.

“He’s demanding,” Vasseur said, “but I think it’s also why he’s seven-times world champion, that he’s demanding with the team, with the car, with the engineers, with the mechanics, with myself also. But first of all he’s very demanding with himself.”