A little bit of history...

We've been providing chalet holidays for over 25 years, and whilst I'm sure our MD thinks that feels like a lifetime… skiing was around well before our Managing Director, Andy Sturt was even born. The idea of travelling across snow on skis did of course origionate to be useful and practical rather than attractive. But skiing has certainly evolved over the years, the sport now encourages over 900,000 Brits to travel abroad to enjoy their annual ski holiday.

600 BC: Skiing, or travelling over snow on skis, has a history of almost five millennia. History suggests skiing may have been practised as early as 600 BC in Daxing'anling, in what is now China.

1767: The first recorded organized skiing exercises and races are from military use of skis in Norwegian and Swedish infantries.

1741: Early skiers used one long pole or spear. The first depiction of a skier with two ski poles dates to 1741.

1800s: Originally purely utilitarian, skiing became a popular recreational activity and sport in the mid-1800s, being practised around the world, and providing crucial economic support to purpose-built ski resorts and communities.

1843: The first public skiing competition ("betting race") was held in Tromsø, Norway in March 1843. It was also the first skiing competition reported in a newspaper.

1862: The first public ski jumping competition was held at Trysil, Norway, January 1862. Judges awarded points for style, elegance and smoothness.

1868: Mountain resorts became commercially viable when city-dwellers could reach them in winter by train.

1879: The first recorded use of the word slalom.

1910: The first rope tow introduced for recreational skiing

1924: Formation of the International Ski Federation, and the first Winter Olympics.

1936: The first chair lift is introduced at Sun Valley, Idaho

1955: The then world's leading ski boot company, Henke, introduced boots with buckles. It was not widely-adopted until the early 1960s, when Lange used them on their new plastic ski boots.

1959: Ed Scott introduced the large-diameter, tapered shaft, lightweight aluminium ski pole 1984: Salomon introduced the rear-entry boot.

1992: Mogul skiing and Freestyle skiing was added to the 1992 Winter Olympics.

1995: The Twin-tip ski was introduced by Line.

2003: Dakota Lodge & Chalet Nebraska in Morzine are the first to be built from the ground up by Andy Sturt.

2009: A campaign for the inclusion of women's ski jumping leads to its inclusion in the 2014 Winter Olympics (go girls!)

2015/16: VIP SKI will provide unforgettable chalet holidays for over 10,500 guests in the French, Austrian and Swiss Alps. So, if you're already planning your ski holiday for next winter, look no further, we're taking bookings now.