Ski your way out of the recession

Having discovered that there's nothing like a trip to England to empty the old bank account, The Intrepid Rosbif landed back in Haute Savoie keen to ski but utterly bereft of euros. As you probably appreciate, unless you're into long sweaty walks and very short descents, this is not a good combination. So the search was immediately on for the cheapest place to ski - et voilà, the little known resort of Montpiton, nestled in the hills at 1000 or so metres not far from the Glières area, famed for allied and resistance collaboration during WW2.

I say resort, but that's pushing it a tad. But hat's off to the volunteers who look after the lift and the two runs which (snow permitting) provide all the ingredients for a recession-bashing day on the white stuff. So how cheap is cheap? Well, you can't really argue with....wait for it......3 euros a day for kids and 5 for adults.

However, the whole thing reminds me a little of an old joke my Uncle Arthur used to tell about Derby County (my team and yes even through loyalty-testing times like these). The joke was "I phoned Derby County ground and said 'Is the match on today?' and they said 'Yes' so I said 'What time's kick off?' and they replied 'What time can you get here?'

With thanks to 'Le Dauphiné Libéré' for the tip.