What are you options if no one you know wants to come away with you? Maybe you are a seasoned snowboarder or a newbie, but either way this season you are ‘billy no mates.’ I have been in this position and I did not really fancy packing my snowboard and heading to the mountains to spend a few days on my own. What is the point of snowboarding if not to have some fun? As part of a crew the laughter is far harder, noisier and louder than on your own. So what can you do if you do not want to shred all alone?

There are several options:

1. Book into a singles-specific chalet: ColdFusion have chalets based in
   

   Chamonix

   Chamonix and Morzine in France, and they won the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence in May 2014. Pistepals have chalets in Morzine too.

2. Book a holiday aimed at single travellers: for those who prefer to use a company which specialises in single holidays a couple of options include h.o.f.n.a.r. based in Morzine, and Friendship Travel who have chalet/ hotels in Austria, Italy and France. For others who prefer to use a tour operator, Neilson has specific solo weeks. You can also use a travel agency such as Travel Counsellors, the only UK travel agency to receive the Queens Award for Innovation and the travel company with the highest customer satisfaction score in the world, who do all the hard graft research for you.

3. Attend a snowboarding camp or course: these are great for elevating your
   

   Cavorting campers in Morzine

   skill and learning with like-minded people. Many people attending a course do so as solos. MINT Snowboarding, based in the Portes du Soleil in France, offer freeride (from beginners to advanced), freestyle, backcountry and split boarding camps. Snowboard Coach provide freeride and freestyle camps in Andorra which is a great budget destination. Definition offer freestyle-focused camps in Mayrhofen and a snowcat backcountry trip to Macedonia. See the YouTube clip below of their last season’s trip to Austria.

Happy campers in Davos

For those who prefer to learn in a single-sex environment there are female-only camps such as Our Camp based in Morzine, with a freestyle focus, run by British pro snowboarders Gilly Seagrave, Emma Rogers and Sonia Shaw. Plus GirlieCamps which offer various snowboarding activities in Avoriaz and Les Deux Alps in France, Laax, Switzerland and Åre, Sweden. For those wishing to venture further afield Nonstop Snowboard based in Canada have a number of snowboarding options and they won the recently announced World Snow Awards for Best UK Specialist Tour Operator.

4. Meet online with fellow snow sport enthusiasts and hook up: for a more informal approach you can delve into online forums to make arrangements with those who are also looking for something similar. One place to look is GONEBoarding, in their Sno’Mates section, and another is SnowMeetup which is active in the London area. But remember to be careful as a woman travelling alone. For information about safe travel checkout Maiden Voyage, a network for women business travellers, for comprehensive safety tips.

5. Take your friends and family with you: to keep everyone happy ensure you
   

   Husky sledding in Tignes

   choose a resort with lots of other non-snow sport activities such as places with swimming pools, accessible mountain top restaurants, saunas and spas, shops, museums, markets, ice rinks and walks. You can indulge in your passion in the mornings and meet later in the day. Resorts which fit the bill include: Bansko in Bulgaria for the budget traveller, Davos and Zermat in Switzerland for those with a larger budget, Cortina in Italy for the fashion-conscious, and Chamonix in France for the hard-core shredders amongst you!

You should probably ask yourself what do you want to get out of the holiday; is it having company in the evenings, spending time with friends and family, learning or elevating your snowboarding skills, hanging with other like-minded women or something else? Whatever you do, don’t procrastinate, get it booked and get away on the snow – trust me, you won’t regret it!

Ta ta for now,

Kate.