The ski's the limit when you're board stupid

Published Jun 10, 2004

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By Mark van Dijk

Think South African travel destinations, and you'll probably think crowded beaches or game drives in the wild outdoors. The notion of a ski resort on a snowy South African mountaintop seems like a completely foreign concept.

Think again. Since 1994, Tiffendell Ski Resort has been throwing a squishy snowball in the face of traditional South African travel ideas. Perched on the summit of Ben Mcdhui, on the slopes of the Drakensberg outside Aliwal-North, Tiffendell is the only ski resort in sub-Saharan Africa.

Although Tiffendell's ski season only lasts as long as the snow does (usually March to September), bookings need to be made well in advance. Be sure to make your reservation early in the year, even if snow is the last thing on your mind during the balmy summer months!

The route to Tiffendell is fairly simple, and after you've turned off the main road between Aliwal-North and Barkley East, the last stretch to the resort is along a tricky mountain trail.

Ideally you'd want to use a 4x4 for this last stretch, but if the road is in good nick a normal car should do the trick. The resort also offers shuttle lifts to the summit.

When we checked in at reception, we were each given a special 'blue card' with a secret code. Tiffendell operates on a buy-now, pay-when-you-leave system, so expenses are tallied up and stored on your card account, and you're only presented with the nasty shock of the full bill when you check out.

The resort has accommodation for up to 150 guests, while the ski slopes themselves cater for about 300 skiers a day. There's an on-site gear store where you can hire snowboards and skis, as well as a ski shop where you can hire snow suits or buy extra goodies like gloves and sunglasses.

Beginners' lessons on the 40m short slope are compulsory for first-timer guests, and although these lessons feel a little like learning to swim in a paddle pool, they're really for your own good.

After a few hours of rolling down the hill and extracting snowballs from my ski suit, I'd gained enough confidence (if not expertise) to take my snowboard out onto the main slope.

Although Tiffindell is best known as a ski resort, we found that snowboarding is actually regarded as the coolest activity on the slopes. That's not to say that it warms the heart of all the resort's ski instructors.

" Non, it not possible to go as much fast on snowboard as on ski," the resident French ski instructor snorted when I dared to suggest that snowboarding seemed to be the more extreme of the two alpine activities.

Nevertheless, we chose the snowboarding option, going on the notion that because snowboarding involves only one board - as opposed to two skis - it ought to be less complicated.

And if we were going to wipe out and tumble down the piste in an avalanche of ice and snow, we thought we might as well look good while we did it.

And wipe out we did: the snow on the slopes varies from firm, fresh and slippery in the mornings to loose, chunky and slippery in the afternoons. Just we started to think that ed'd mastered the slopes, we still managed to wobble on the odd icy patch and wipe out spectacularly.

The resort's on-site medic is always lurking nearby in case of serious injury, but apart from a cold bum and a bruised ego, you needn't worry too much about getting hurt. Also, the skis and snowboards are always strapped to your feet, so you don't have to worry too much about rolling down one side of the piste while your equipment flies off down the other.

Then again, part of the fun lies in comparing wipe-outs with fellow skiers at the end of the day, while you reheat your frozen backside beside the blazing fire in the resort's infamous bar.

The bar is actually the highest pub in South Africa - altitude-wise at least - towering above the nation's other watering holes at 2 720m above sea level. The fun-loving resort staff and the false sense of limitless blue card credit ensure that, for those who want it, the Tiffindell nightlife stays hot even during the coldest snowstorm.

Of course the high altitude means that hangovers take longer to clear, but when you're two thousand metres above anywhere else, these things don't cross your mind. Other things that won't cross your mind include the rat race, the office and the summer holiday on a crowded beach.

- All accommodation at Tiffindell is sold in packages, with a choice of Sunday to Thursday or Thursday to Sunday.

- For more details and booking information, go to the Tiffendell website.

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