Taking a week away skiing or snowboarding on the majestic, snow lined mountains of Verbier, Whistler or Val Thorens might smack of endorphin releasing, physical activity but there’s a tipping point when it comes to calories burned vs calories consumed when you factor in that winter holiday institution, apres-ski.
The choice of apres-ski eateries (and drinkeries if that’s a word!) is, for many, as important as choosing the slopes themselves. But going full throttle all afternoon, should leave you with a few ‘calorific credits’ as a reward once you unclip your boots and neck a blonde beer or two right? Alas, what if you only manage a couple of hours, you might have to come off early due to a blizzard or a need for pommes-frites! It’s tricky to know where you stand. For example, a 30 yr old, 6 ft male snowboarder, weighing in at 190lbs (excluding his expensive ski apparel) who spent 4 hours on a sunny afternoon boarding in Alpe d’Huez, would burn enough calories to consume:
2 BLT SANDWICHES and…2 BISCOTTI COOKIES and…5 GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE (LOMBARD AND CIE) and…5 GLASSES OF CHARTREUSE M.O.F.
How do we know this? Well a useful little thing called the Guilt Free Apres Ski Calorie Calculator from the guys at Crystal Ski means you can work out how much your healthy exertions on the slopes translates to gluttonous exertions back in the centre-ville of the resort!
In the summer time, we work off a holiday hangover by lounging around like a delicate grizzly bear, rolling into a cold pool occasionally to avoid increasing nausea. However, for skiers and winter sports enthusiasts, that recovery process tends to involve hurtling down an alpine piste, sweating out the night before through awakening the metabolism rather than summer time lethargy…and they wouldn’t want it any other way.
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