Better than flying

Flicking through ski brochures earlier this year, I could barely contain my excitement as I picked up one from Harris Holidays offering ski long weekends in the Three Valleys - by coach. I was on the phone before you could say deep-vein thrombosis.

Friends thought I was mad. Why subject yourself to that when you can fly, they asked? Why? You might as well ask Ellen MacArthur why she doesn't hop on a 747 rather than a yacht.

Anyone with bad memories of school ski trips is probably horrified by the thought, but convenient departure times, maximising the hours on the slopes and minimising time off work, make coach travel a clever choice.

Arriving at Victoria coach station on Wednesday afternoon a few weeks later, I realised some things never change. The drivers, Keith and John, were as gruff as any I remembered from school days. "We've got tea, coffee, chocolate and beer. Everything costs 50p and we don't walk up and down," said Keith, dashing any comparisons with National Express hostesses.

Legroom was a surprise though. Even at 6ft 1in, I could stretch out comfortably and sleep. My fellow travellers weren't the bunch of students I had expected. A long weekend skiing, including accommodation, for little more than £100, was sure to attract people on tight budgets, wasn't it? But the skiers we picked up at Maidstone services and Folkestone on our way to the Channel Tunnel were well out of their teens and certainly didn't seem short of cash.

Steve Phippard, 41, a print-industry salesman from Ashford, and Keith Watson, 50, a chiropodist from Whitstable, were typical passengers. For them, it was less a matter of cost and more one of convenience. In previous seasons, they and two friends had driven to the Alps. "We were getting nervous at the thought of doing 120 miles an hour down the motorway at three in the morning again," Steve said. "It also means we get the chance to go two to three times a season without taking much time off work," Keith added.

Taking less time off work seemed the key. Coaches depart London at 5pm, so you can work on the day you leave. Thursday departures are the most popular, and you can be back in London, traffic permitting, by Monday at 8am.

The company, set up in 1923, is now run by 37-year-old Frank Harris, grandson of the founder. It was Frank who diversified the business a few years ago: "I took out a map and found where you could get to on a coach overnight," he said. The Olympic town of Albertville caught his eye.

From there it was an hour's coach ride each morning to the slopes, but it was great value. However, Frank wanted more flexibility for his guests. The company has now bought a hotel, the Verseau, in Bridesles-Bains, a quiet town linked to Mèribel by a 25-minute gondola ride, so you can set forth whenever you want.

The coach reaches the hotel at 8.30am (lift passes and ski hire are sorted out on the way). Rather than crashing out, everyone is keen to get skiing - after a full English breakfast. There's a ski-hire shop in the basement and it's possible to be suited, booted and skiing in Mèribel by 9.30am.

On the day you leave, you check out after breakfast and ski for the day. The hotel has changing rooms and five showers for a wash-and-brush-up before boarding the coach for the return.

Two overnight journeys in one long weekend might sound like hell but, for keen skiers, it's great for maximising time on the slopes. At such ridiculous prices - school ski trips didn't cost much less all those years ago - it represents great value. And as you board the coach home and watch other tour operators' coaches heading to Geneva for flights back to the UK, the temptation to flick two fingers is virtually impossible to resist.

Way to go

Mark Frary travelled to the Three Valleys with Harris Holidays (0870 442 3400; www.skiweekends.com): two-night packages (three days on the slopes) from £109pp B&B, including coach travel.

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