There is one word that sums up what is special about skiing in Austria and, most unfortunately, it is untranslatable. That word is "gemutlichkeit". It sums up the sense of fun, friendliness and frivolity you will encounter when skiing in Austrian.

The Austrian Alps have a great sense of skiing tradition. It was in St Anton, for example, that the world's first ski school was founded at the beginning of the last century and also in St Anton that the first Arlberg Kandahar downhill races were held in the 1920s. (Already then, a British skier called Arnold Lunn was helping to organise them, which just goes to show how far back the winter sports links between our countries go.)

When you have a ski lesson in Austria, it is more than likely that your instructor's father will also have been a ski instructor and his father before him.

But for all their sense of tradition, Austrian ski resorts today - particularly the higher, more westerly ones in which Ski Solutions specialise, now have very modern lift infrastructures and snow making systems.

Together the warmth of the welcome, the quality of the skiing and the energy of the apres-ski make an irresistible combination.