Snow trend in St Moritz

It Moritz has always been the glitziest, most glamorous of ski destinations. It's the St Tropez of the Alps: the same high-society Euro crowd, but with everyone slathered in furs instead of tanning oil.

I was excited by the prospect of a long weekend there, a chance to socialise with friends who were staying in town, do some serious shopping and a little skiing.

I stayed at the elegant and old-fashioned Kempinski Grand Hôtel des Bains - the lobby has had a contemporary overhaul but the dining room is all gilt and starched white tablecloths and the service is impeccable. Not having skied for years, I didn't arrive in the manner of so many of my fellow guests, with sleighfuls of matching Louis Vuitton and Goyard luggage. Instead, I made a beeline for the local Ralph Lauren (well, what shops did you expect?) to restock my winter wardrobe - ski kit, gloves, hat, cashmere and cords for après-ski - before I was ready to join the social whirl.

Tragically, I soon learned that the Polo on Snow, the highlight of the winter season and my secret reason for making this pilgrimage into the mountains (have you seen professional polo players in the flesh? Oh my word), had been cancelled, along with the black-tie gala night. A milder than usual winter meant that the St Moritz lake hadn't frozen hard enough to bear the strain of thundering hooves, dashing riders and designer-clad crowds. I was distraught. This would not be the weekend I would finally get to meet the devastatingly handsome Argentinian player Nacho Figueras - or wear my new Ralph Lauren velvet tuxedo - after all.

But that's nature for you; like fashion, it's fickle. I made up my mind to enjoy the weekend regardless, starting with cocktails and dinner at the Cà d'Oro hotel restaurant, which recently won a Michelin star (who doesn't want to eat lobster at 2,000m?). The next morning I hit the slopes. The hotel arranged everything for me: boots, skis, helmet, ski pass and an instructor, Pascal, tall and blond, as per my request. In four hours of ascending and descending some of the most beautiful slopes in Switzerland we never took the same chairlift twice. I couldn't stop breathlessly admiring the panoramic views, but Pascal was more interested in lunch. Did I want sushi, wood-fired pizza, cheese fondue, caviar and vodka? You can have everything on these slopes. He was disappointed when I opted for just a hot chocolate at the Piz Nair Chalet.

Back at the hotel, my legs shaking from the exercise, I hit the spa to try out the five different types of sauna and take a swim. I was reinvigorated with a hot stone massage and a glass of Mauritius water from the natural spring that rises under the spa, which is high in iron and good for the digestion. I completed my recovery with dinner at La Padella in the neighbouring village of Samedan: spectacularly tender Angus steak (the local butchers massage the meat until it's as soft as butter) and chocolate fondant (Swiss chocolate, obviously). We ended the evening with Kamikaze cocktails and dancing at the Dracula Club, the Boujis of the Alps.

I couldn't leave St Moritz without paying a visit to the famous Cresta Run Club, where brave (or crazy) people throw themselves down the infamous Cresta ice run on a tray at a terrifying speed - dressed, for reasons no one could explain to me, in tweed plus fours and woollen stockings. It's a men-only members' club, but this man wanted nothing to do with it, classic British tailoring or not, and ran away to have lunch at the glamorous Kulm Hotel, and do a little more shopping. I visited Ebneter & Biel for hand-embroidered linens, Maison Rita to buy tiny lederhosen for my three-year-old goddaughter, and Metzgerei Plinio in Samedan for local sausages and delicious cakes.

Before heaving my now bulging suitcases into the car to head home, I took a horse-drawn carriage to the cosy restaurant Lej da Staz (which serves the best polenta in the valley), ostensibly for lunch but really to show off the rest of my new wardrobe: tweed trousers, purple cashmere jumper and a sleeveless quilted jacket. We passed the frozen lake where the Polo on Snow should have happened and I made a quiet promise to return next year for more fun. Just so long as St Moritz doesn't get any hotter.

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The Kempinski Grand Hôtel des Bains has a three-night St Moritz Ski Special Offer, including two-day ski passes, on a half-board basis, from CHF2,202 for two people sharing a Resort double room (kempinski.com/stmoritz). For more information on St Moritz and Engadin, visit engadin.stmoritz.ch