Estate Living Magazine Connection - Issue 43 July 2019 | Page 64

L I V E
S M A R T
S’NOW IS THE
WINTER OF OUR
DISCONTENT
Wherever in South Africa you live, it’s probably freezing, so you’ll be thinking of escaping to somewhere warm –
possibly with turquoise water, waving palm trees and snow-white sand. But then, come summer, you may head
north to go skiing. It just shows how out of touch we can be with the seasons. But we don’t have to be.
Take a winter holiday, and go skiing now (or snowboarding, or
sledding), or just build a politically correct snow-hominin.
Local is lekker
It’s surprising how few South Africans know that we have a world-
class ski resort right here in Mzansi. Tiffindell, South Africa’s first –
and so far only – all-year Alpine resort guarantees snow for the three
winter months of June, July and August.
If you’re a seasoned skier, and you have consistently turned your nose
up at the very thought of skiing in South Africa because of prejudice,
think again. Tiffindell was voted number 19 in CNN Travel’s ‘World’s
100 best ski runs’ in 2014. As well as the beginner and intermediate
slopes, the top section of the run is classed as a black slope, which
means it’s pretty darn challenging. Since 2014, Tiffindell has hosted
FIS (International Ski Federation) competitions and, in 2016, there
were competitors from 20 different countries (many in the northern
hemisphere).
And what you save in airfares, visas and paying in euros or US dollars
can go a long way to making a ski holiday easy on the pocket. That
means you can stay longer, go more often, or just be more indulgent
and buy better equipment.
Baby steps
Unlike many countries in the northern hemisphere where kids learn
to ski soon after they learn to walk, South Africa does not have a
ski culture, so the concept of flinging yourself down a slippery,
slidey, icy slope for the first time at the age of 30, 40, 50 or 60 can
be downright terrifying. But that’s why you invest in a course of
lessons when you arrive. Tiffindell’s Ski Academy is run by three-time
Olympic skier and South African National Ski Coach, Alex Heath, but
it does also cater for mere mortals who’ve never even seen snow.
Most beginners on a three- or four-day package manage to become
comfortable on the beginner slopes, and quite a number who start
skiing at the beginning of a seven-day package end up tackling the
red (somewhat more challenging) slope. Everyone is different but