How to slope off for 24 hours

The idea was clearly insane: a day trip to a ski resort in the Alps. How could you possibly get any decent skiing? And who would be mad enough to want to do it? Airtours invited us along to Courchevel for the day to find out.

A spare Airtours plane, which would otherwise be standing idle on the Tarmac, would fly us to Grenoble and a coach would take us on to the resort. With a 7am departure, we were told we should be on the slopes by noon, and could ski until the lifts closed. Three hours' apr?s-ski in the bar and an 8.15pm bus pick-up would have us on the 11.30pm plane home and back in Gatwick by midnight.

For me, that meant a 4.20am taxi to Victoria for the Gatwick Express for what would be a surreal, 21 1/2-hour day. It didn't seem a very stylish start to a special trip - particularly when cabin crew confessed that no one had packed cutlery, so we had to eat our omelette, beans and sausage with our fingers. After a transfer of more than two hours, a bus dumped us, dishevelled and short of sleep, in Courchevel. Perhaps not the best way to arrive in "Paris-en-montagne" - a resort that boasts its own airstrip for small private planes, as well as small herds of fur coats and lots of highly strung small dogs, many of them carried by scary men who look like retired baddies from James Bond movies.

As for the skiing, the area is huge, part of the Three Valleys - with 600km of piste it's the largest connected ski area in the world. Difficult to cover in a week; all we managed in an afternoon was a taster, though a thrilling and unforgettable one. (I would have settled for a much smaller ski area, if that meant a shorter transfer time, and more time on skis.) "There's more kudos with telling friends about skiing Courchevel for the day than actually doing it," said David Bufton from Oxfordshire, here with two friends from Watlington. And why did they book? "We came because it's a stupid thing to do." (They had decided to come last New Year's Eve.) "We paid £100 [discounted from £159] and it's been a damn good day out, good value for money."

In fact, nearly everyone I spoke to had come on some mad impulse. Like "Patrick" and "Alice", two civil servants from Pimlico having an extramarital affair: "We saw an ad in the paper and thought, 'Sod it, let's do it'," and persuaded two beginner friends, Dean and Carolle, to come along. "It's a good way to try out skiing without committing yourself to a week," said Carolle. Worth it at £89 each, they agreed, though they wouldn't have paid the full whack.

Some paid even less, like Sarah McGrath from Bristol, who bid for the trip at an internet auction, paying £64 on impulse; her boyfriend was supposed to come, "but he cancelled at 10.30 last night because he went back to his wife - she kept threatening to top herself". Sarah came anyway, and spent the day skiing with two other beginners, Sue Scott and Odette Scutt from Ipswich, who had decided to come when they were drunk together. All three thought the day was "absolutely brilliant".

Others came because it was their only chance to ski all winter - like Nick Overton from Upminster. He came with four Essex friends who reckoned it was worth doing again, if they could get it at the same price; between £69 and £89. Moira Campbell and Luca Martelli from Northants got it for £68 through holidaybargains.com on the internet - they'd just had a baby and reckoned this was the easiest way to get some skiing.

After three hours in the bar, it was time to head back for the long drive to Grenoble and the 80-minute flight - and a free 75cl champagne bottle as a "sorry" for the lack of cutlery at breakfast. The whole plane seemed fast asleep; and at Gatwick, everyone looked shattered. I was surprised no one admitted intending to throw a sickie at work; I certainly felt wrecked the next day after such a long day and two nights without much sleep.

Some, I guess, were in for less sleep than others. I'd spotted Simon at Grenoble, tall, with a big grin on his face. He'd come because "I got off with a bloke at the Vauxhall Tavern on Sunday and he invited me along" - even though the party was already 16-strong. Surely, I ventured, a manic day's skiing in the Alps doesn't leave much time for romance? "There's still tonight, isn't there?" said Simon. Sure enough, the last I saw of anyone in the group was outside Victoria station - Simon climbing into a black cab, and he wasn't on his own.

Way To Go

James Bedding's trip: 4.20am taxi pickup, 5am Gatwick Express depart Victoria (5.15 would have been OK); 5.35 arrive Gatwick, 7.05 takeoff (scheduled 6.55), 9.15 arrive Grenoble, 9.40 transfer depart Grenoble, 12.20pm arrive Courchevel, 12.45 equipment hire collected, ready to ski; 2pm mountain snack, 5pm change in bar at foot of mountain, eat, drink; 8.15 transfer depart Courchevel, 10.45 transfer arrive Grenoble, 11.30 takeoff; 11.50 land Gatwick, 12.25am clear customs, 12.35 Gatwick Express, 1.15 arrive Victoria; 1.45 arrive home