I’m swinging gently in a blue cloth hammock, tired muscles snugly supported, heart rate slowing and breathing calming down. I’m at the end of the first day of a mountain fitness retreat in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier, which has me powder skiing, ski-touring, high-intensity interval training at altitude, then a strength-and-recovery session in the gym followed by a final hour of aerial yoga. And it’s only day one.
I’m doing a two-day fitness boost with Mountain Beach Fitness Retreats, and luckily, day two isn’t quite so intense. Mountain Beach was set up three years ago by personal trainer Emma Bodkin and ski instructor Lottie Pridham, initially to offer summer retreats in Verbier — before expanding into winter retreats. The weekends are allocated throughout the season for skiers keen on boosting their fitness, dipping their toes into ski-touring (skiing without using ski lifts) or just having some fun in the mountains.
But that depends on your own idea of fun. While I love ski-touring, HIIT training, guided stretching and yoga, doing all four in one day is knackering and I am now fully engaged in the aforementioned hammock relaxation.
The day began at 8:45am at the Arctic Café opposite Verbier’s Medran lift. It’s mid-December — an ideal time to visit Verbier because conditions are fantastic but with short queues for lifts and restaurants. There are fabulous smoothies and brunches on offer but I order a mocha to give me a caffeine and sugar boost before we set off skiing.
Emma and mountain guide Will have devised a bespoke plan for me (suffering with cold) and fellow attendees David, Andrea and Tony, all in their 30s and Verbier regulars new to ski-touring.
“As with personal training, we tailor the day’s activities to the group following a pre-arrival consultation, and in the mountains we’re guided by weather,” explains Emma as we head up the lift and snap into our bindings. It’s a blue-sky day and Verbier got more than a metre of snow a few days before, so conditions couldn’t be better for a bit of powder skiing. Often Emma or Lottie have clients ski-touring straight out of the start gate, but “it would be criminal not to enjoy the powder”, Emma says, clipping into her own splitboard and rubbing her hands together with glee at the sight before us.
To warm up, Will takes a run down to La Chaux and then up in the chairlift before dipping into a little bowl of powder to get in a few practice turns. We ski down to 1,963m to the hamlet of Les Shlérondes, where we strip off a few layers, put skins on our skis and prepare for the climb back up to La Chaux at 2,260m.
“Lottie and I started the company because we both believe passionately that the mountains are such a healing, healthy place to train,” says Emma, who worked as a personal trainer in London before moving to Verbier five years ago.
Emma explains to me that the (heavily loaded) timetable has been designed so that each session complements the next; beginning with endurance (ski touring), flexibility, HIIT at altitude, then strength and core in the studio.
“We aim to work the body functionally to create a lean, strong being that is fit for purpose and injury-free,” says Emma.
We have a few hours off for lunch and I’ve enjoyed the ski-touring so much that I keep my skins on and opt for a further climb up to my lunch spot, the Cabane du Mont-Fort at 2,457m, where I’m grateful for homemade lasagne and chocolate brownies — taking Emma rather too literally on her advice to “eat anything, including carbs and protein”.
It’s an over-indulgence I regret when, an hour later, I’m doing star jumps and sprint training on the cat-track beneath Ruinettes. But the view is so amazing that it helps me to forget the pain, even as Emma orders me onto a yoga mat for 20 press-ups. It’s damn hard working out at altitude but the benefits are so much greater than your workout at sea level in the UK.
The snow came down on day two, and so after a morning’s ski touring we headed to Verbier’s yoga and fitness studio, Wholey Cow, for an indoor circuits session followed by Ashtanga yoga. If I was weary after day one, day two killed me. I certainly didn’t feel fit for purpose as I headed home to the UK on Monday morning — but several days later I was fighting fit, feeling thoroughly rejuvenated and stronger for my training at altitude.
Details
A two-day retreat with Mountain Beach Fitness Retreats (mountainbeachfitnessretreats.com) costs CHF550 (£428). One-way fares on Swiss start from £67 (swiss.com). myswitzerland.com.
