How I skied from France to Italy in one morning — even a beginner could do it

“THIS pizza better be good,” I muttered as I clung to the pole of the drag lift, trying to shield my face from the cold wind and ignore the pain in my knees.

I’ve never been a big fan of drag lifts and this was the longest I’d ever had to endure — 1,652 metres, to be precise, equating to ten minutes of fear that I would fall off and embarrass myself.

Under the view of Mont Blanc, the French resort of La Rosière and the Italian La Thuile are both part of the San Bernardo ski areaGetty

You can pop over the border to have ‘real’ Italian pizzaSupplied

We were making our way across the mountains from the charming little French ski resort of La Rosière to Italy for lunch.

Ever since we’d told our 13-year-old son Freddie that our lift pass allowed us to ski in both countries, he’d been fixated on popping over the border to have a “real” Italian pizza.

Since learning about local tipple Bombardino — Italy’s answer to egg nog — we’d also been keen to visit the Italian side.

So once we had found our ski legs, it was au revoir France and ciao Italy.

Amazingly I didn’t fall off the drag lift, and once I’d relaxed a bit, the pain subsided and I actually enjoyed the gentle ride, taking in the mountain views.

Under the glistening gaze of Mont Blanc, La Rosière and the Italian resort of La Thuile are both part of the San Bernardo ski area.

Together they have 160km of pistes, all covered by a reasonably priced ski pass (around £230 for six days).

Brits tend to stay on the French side, either in La Rosière centre, only a 30-minute drive from Bourg-St-Maurice, or the newer, neighbouring resort of Les Eucherts.

The two are linked by a pretty path through the trees, floodlit at night, and there’s a free bus link too.

La Rosière centre is where most of the action is, although this is very much a family resort so après ski is low-key.

We ventured out on a couple of evenings — once to see a live band at Le Comptoir and another for an excellent home-cooked meal in the charming, family-owned Le Génépi.

On Thursday, just as the lifts were about to close, we joined the party crowd at L’Antigel restaurant for the late-afternoon DJ, which was fun.

The rest of our evenings were spent chilling with fellow guests in our Ski Beat-catered chalet, sharing stories of our day or playing board games.

During our three-course evening meals, our young Argentinian chalet hosts Fede and Santi kept the wine flowing and soon we were all the best of friends.

A mix of skiing abilities, we all went our separate ways after breakfast, then reconvened at the chalet for the afternoon tea, baguettes and jam and cakes.

Cheaper pizzas

By day three we’d established a family routine.

Freddie would have his ski lesson at 9.30-11.30, while Warren and I would do a few runs on the French side, then we’d collect him at the bottom of the Roche Noir chairlift and head over to Italy.

On other ski holidays we spend too long debating which lift or run to take next, but here our daily mission across the border gave us a purpose. And it was worth the effort.

The pizzas in Italy weren’t just bigger and more delicious, they were cheaper too, starting at around €10 (£8.60) each.

We shared two between three of us, and that was plenty.

Our favourite place was the laid-back Baita Le Foyer by the top of the Chalet Express chairlift, with a deck for people-watching.

Going from one country to another each day, we enjoyed the different cuisine, scenery, language and culture. It was like having two ski holidays in one.

We also found the weather can be very different on the other side of the mountain.

Generally there’s more snow in La Thuile and more sun in La Rosière, where most slopes face south.

So on sunny days it’s best to ski in the morning in La Rosière and head over to La Thuile before the snow gets slushy.

Here, two high-speed lifts, Les Suches cable car and the Bosco Express chairlift, take you quickly to midway up the mountain.

I loved going to the top of Chaz Dura, from where you take a long and winding run down through snow-capped forests.

But allow enough time to get back to La Rosière, as conditions can change quickly.

One afternoon the wind whipped up into a mini blizzard and we had quite an adventure getting back.

But once we’d crossed back, the wind was gone and it was a lovely, gentle glide back down to our chalet for our afternoon tea.

Another day’s mission complete.

You can spend evenings chilling with your fellow guests in the chaletSupplied