Episode 19 Why Skiing Solo Could Be the Best Adventure of Your Life

Hi everyone it's Andy from Snow Camp Short with Vauter from Snow Sports Capron

No sports Capron and we are back with another podcast and in this podcast we are talking about taking a ski holiday as a solo traveler

Correct. Yeah. Okay so we're going to talk about the pros and the cons of traveling solo and give you a few ideas and we'll also we'll touch upon how a couple of our solo travelers from one of the camps have actually ended up being together for over a year now

And a baby. Oh that's two! And a marriage and a baby! So yeah, Walter did meet his current partner and mother to one of his many children on a camp, wasn't it

That is correct. Okay, so what have we got to say about this Walter? What's the benefit to being a solo traveler on a ski holiday

Well, lots of the times, you know, you've got the participants who come where one of the partners doesn't like to ski and the other one loves it

So it's an ideal, you know, opportunity or a way to go skiing with similar minded people

And, you know, because let's face it, skiing on your own can be quite boring

Yes. Also going out for dinner on your own in a ski resort

Going for a drink on your own Yeah, it can be can be quite both especially if you don't know people like I can go I can go into bar in Capron on my own

But I'll know people yeah, but if I hear a tour you're going yeah You don't know where she's no you don't know where to go you don't know what to do

Yeah, so so so what you're saying is if you have got if you've got a partner that doesn't want to ski

It doesn't mean that you can't go skiing and enjoy yourself and be with other people

who've got a similar mindset, or they're in a similar situation, is what you're saying

And to be honest, a lot of the people who come on the camps

and this isn't purely about our camps, but a lot of people who come on the camps, it's exactly their situation is

their wife doesn't ski, or their husband doesn't ski, or boyfriend or partner or whatever it be So we had one last week didn we The guy came on the ski course his wife had gone on a yoga retreat

So, not that he was a single person, they're just traveling solo

And I think a lot of people think when they see solo, they think, oh, you've got to be single

It's almost like a hookup week, which isn't necessarily, albeit, as we've just said, you managed to hookup on your last camp in Argentina

and we also had aid and monica who got it together last march on one of our camps um okay i think also

if you're if you're ski if you're going on a ski holiday as a solo traveler you also you haven't

got to worry about where you go you go where you want to go and you haven't got to please another

person so i've got a friend who would quite often come to kapran but because his wife would want

all of these different off-the-slope activities they just don't come it's limits you yeah it limits your option so again he could send hair to those to a

place with those things and come here but it stops him from taking that ski

holiday and if you are if you're traveling as a solo traveler you can choose what country you go to what resort you go to that you want to go to

you can choose whether it's got nightlife or not got nightlife it's just

it's actually way easier to go on a ski holiday on your own and it's easier to

get a single seat on a plane than it is to buy multiple plane seats yeah and it's also also not

only if you are already you know with someone or your friends also when you're really single it's

also a great opportunity for a single it's for everyone really if you want to also being a single

it's nice you don't have to hook up with someone i mean like that but it's it's a great way to to

meet new people and and really most people on these camps they are similar minded they have a

little bit you know background of like you know they want to you know get value

for their money and they're paying a little bit for service you know and and

yeah it's the same similar minded people really. One of the things that was quite

prevalent from our March camp was when you look at the the reviews that people

have left several of them have said made friends for life didn't expect to

going on a ski camp but they've made friends from all over the country from

other parts of the world that they will stay in contact with now for a long long time and some of them have even already rebooked to come back next year as a

smaller group of friends that have met from that camp great is a great way to

meet new people and friends bringing people together yeah and that's it's the

same of all these you know of all these cool courses or camps it really a great way to connect I think and I can speak about your likes of Warren Smith or your Stomps or your Snowworks

and how they facilitate bringing the people together, but we do. We do facilitate getting people talking to each other, mixing with each other

We take them out to our pro, we have our dinners. Did you just mention names

throwing them out there because I don't know how they how it works there. If everyone stays in the same hotel

if they stay in separate places, we give people a choice to stay wherever they want

really, we've got some partner hotels. And again, when it comes to a single room

you're normally paying three quarters of a double room as a single occupant

We get some very good deals on single occupancy rooms, especially on the January and March camps and a November

December camp. So you don't get ripped off and I do understand why

hotels charge three quarters of a double room price but I also see the side of the solo traveler

that why should a solo traveler have to pay more because they are a solo traveler so that's kind

of another another thing but as I think we facilitate the groups in a way that really

does promote getting to know each other yeah getting to know each other so really get high

quality instruction but also have some fun with it some banter yeah you know and what you're saying

meeting new people and making friends yeah and that's what it is really it's a it's a skiing

it's about having a little bit of banter having a drink you know and just having a bit of a laugh

and not taking a life so serious sometimes i think one of the things that i always think about with

with solo travelers is oh sorry oh sorry oh go on I've got getting abuse as well abuse yeah we

we abuse them yeah we abuse um not physically just verbally no um no one of the things that I sometimes

think about and this is kind of again is how we would handle it and I know how we do handle it but

it's it's a lot more difficult if you get injured as a solo traveler because you've then got to get

get back to the airport, get on that plane, get off that plane, get back home

You may have parked your car at the airport. And that, for me, is always a consideration

But again, I think the way we facilitate that on this side is really good

And obviously, we would be wrong not to be contacting friends and family at home

saying we sticking John on a plane and John going to land at this time Someone needs to come and collect his car and things like that That a very good point It always in the back of my mind when we got a lot of solo travelers I think

how are we gonna get this person back to Worcester, Birmingham, wherever it be, you know

And obviously everyone should have insurance and the insurance will also help facilitate that return journey. But if you've got someone with you to push

a wheelchair to carry your bag speak to people speak the language yeah that's something i always

always think about but i think we we are this side we do quite well with it because we have

had inevitably people get injured um what else have you got then on this you more than me

yeah because i push him a little bit more you just mamby pamby on the blue runs i get them down the

bumps i tell you there were some sites in the bumps today that's a different story um so what

else have we got on this then um so the travelers yeah i think you made a good point with uh if you

get injured but i think it's more like you know i think the most people are having like a partner

or friends who don't want to ski and just come and they just want to have a bit of a blast with

you know similar level people in the group and just you know yeah and that's a good time we've

actually got we've got two two sets of couples coming next january where the wife is skiing out

of one of the couples and the husband is skiing yeah it's also different levels yeah and that's

also always the same one is better than the other the other one is giving the other one a little bit

the ick yeah and uh oh you're going in a different group than me you know it's it's yeah also a lot

lot of people like that so it is definitely doable and and if you are a

solo skier or a single skier then you shouldn't be worried about joining

whether it's one of our camps or a group holiday with like-minded people because

it's a great way to go skiing you don't have to find somebody to go skiing you'll

meet people while you're there yeah i agree good stuff so is that it that's it so if you're a

solo traveler or your level is different or you know you're single come and join a camp

maybe you could end or married and with another child just like wouter found his happiness in

in Argentina. Or someone else. From Andy from SoCamp's Europe. And Walter from Snow Sports Caprune

Bye for now. See ya