Amber Sherlock shares her exciting ski trip experience at Club Med Valmorel, France, where she met Australian Olympic champions Lydia Lassila, David Morris, and Laura Peel. Against the stunning French Alps, they enjoyed off-piste adventures and pristine powder snow alongside Club Med’s warm hospitality, altogether creating an unforgettable vacation.
Waiting to jump on the Gondola, we looked like a bunch of friends super excited to hit the slopes at Club Med Valmorel with a base elevation of 1460 meters.
It was late season, the sun was shining, the air was cool and the mountains spectacular. But on closer inspection, the insignia of Australia was proudly emblazoned on at least two of the ski jackets and a familiarity that would hint at the group’s athletic pedigree.
Meet Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila, Olympic silver medallist David Morris and two-time World Champion, Laura Peel, all aerial skiers who have represented Australia at the very highest level.
Oh, and let’s not forget Lydia’s pint-sized prodigy, 12-year-old Kai, who carves up the slopes like he was born with skis on. Also joining us are Laura’s partner Remi Belanger (who competed for Canada in aerial skiing and is now coaching the Canadian team) and me. I have always considered myself to be a competent skier but standing at that Gondola I did have a moment of “what on earth have I gotten myself into?!”
Club Med has an ongoing partnership with the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia providing athletes access to their dozens of mountain resorts, to support them with international training and recovery. Post-competition, some lucky athletes also get to enjoy holidays across Club Med’s extensive global reach.
And this is where I find myself. Lydia and David are enjoying a couple of days of free skiing while Laura is taking a quick break from competition, having secured a World Cup gold medal at Le Relais in Canada in January and continuing on to win Gold in Almaty in Kazakhstan.
I was planning on taking my first run very easily, to warm up and find my ski legs again. I would soon find out that “taking it easy” wasn’t in anyone’s vocabulary and I was here for it.
Launching down the first chute, it was clear that this was going to be an off-piste adventure. Having read mixed reviews about the European winter, I was delighted to find huge areas of untracked snow and ankle-deep powder.
For the next few days, we skied kilometer after kilometer down the slopes of the picturesque French Alps. While I was only supposed to spend a few hours with the Olympians, it quickly stretched from the first lifts to the last lifts, as they graciously invited me to stick around.
While I could keep up on the downhill, I was happy to take on the role of photographer and support crew when we inevitably stopped and scoped out some jumps to backflip off.
After the last lifts turned and the sun dipped below the peaks, we would return to the cozy Club Med lounge for some après entertainment and food, swapping tales about the best run of the day, the epic wipeouts, the gravity-defying jumps and the funniest adventures.
A few highlights included watching Lydia, Laura and David launch themselves off jumps again and again with little fear and amazing acrobatic skills (after all, they are world champions!). Lydia and I also found ourselves stuck in a valley to nowhere in a white-out for an hour after chasing some epic powder, having to traverse over a few shrubs to blindly find our way back.
Flying down a ski cross course chasing Laura and David would also be up there, as would taking on a chute that would rival a Warren Miller film, which saw me furiously googling my travel insurance to make sure I was covered!
The days whipped past in a blur of chairlift rides and some of the most adventurous skiing I had ever embarked on. Before I knew it, I was scheduled to depart on a 10am bus back to Geneva Airport. So, I woke up early, skipped breakfast and did two quick laps of the mountain before jumping on the transfer. Everyone thought I was completely mad, but I thought it was a great idea (until six hours into the flight when my legs started seizing up!).
I may have only skied a few days at Club Med Valmorel, but it must be one of my all-time skiing highlights. I had forgotten how breathtaking the European Alps are, and Club Med was an easy and stress-free way to navigate unfamiliar terrain, language and the complexities of a ski holiday.
It has positioned itself as a family-friendly but high-end holiday provider in some of the best ski resorts in the world.
As we gear up to watch the Olympics in France, I know it will be in the blink of an eye that our focus will turn to Milano Cortina 2026. Laura, we will be cheering you on, along with all our Australian Winter Olympians, from the Italian sidelines. Go Aussies!
Australian Hospitality Alumni Network Vietnam 