The ski slopes of Crans Montana

Keep Your Momentum Up

Who would have thought that a festival targeted at keen, intermediate and advanced skiers who work for some of the very top institutions in the City of London, based in the glitzy resort of Crans Montana in Switzerland, would be a winner? Add in a dose of highly competitive ski races, amazing location, après ski parties that make most others redundant, then throw in some ex ski racers and sporty celebs and a Financial Times business forum too (sounding boring?) and you’d wonder who might actually turn up…..

…well, you would if you were clueless.

What a format.

Now, if you’re not a member of a world class financial or tech business in the City of London, you might start at least start thinking that the type of people attending such an event might not exactly be your cup of tea. That thought might have been seeded just slightly in my subconscious before I travelled to Crans Montana to attend the Momentum Festival and the City Ski Championships – and yes, my opinion of ‘city boys’ (and girls of course) is now irreversibly damaged.

I now like them very much indeed. Well, certainly the ones I danced with on Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon…and evenings, which would be all 250+ of them.

This is the brainchild of Amin Momin, owner of Momentum Ski, a tour operator and organiser of this once a year celebration of skiing in its entirety. The element of competition certainly got me buzzing as over two days we participated in a team dual slalom event and an individual Giant Slalom run on the World Championship Piste National Course.

Olympic ski racer Graham Bell was the forerunner – the fact that his time was beaten by several entrants into the race shows the level of quality that turns up to participate.

Graham Bell out of the gate at City ski

Graham Bell to set the pace and powers out of the start gate.

It was a bit of fun as you’d expect from some of the world’s most successful business leaders.

Obviously it wasn’t, but the après ski parties were kicking off on a perfect sunny Friday afternoon with the band 29 Fingers. They really knew how to get everyone in the mood for a party after a tough days ski racing.

Apres ski at City Ski

Apres ski crazyness with 29 Fingers.

What a band, or was it the cocktails? No, it was definitely the band, the weather, the people, the place….and of course the cocktails.

We stayed in the five star Hotel Crans Ambassador – let’s just say it was and leave it at that. No let’s not…..it was really really nice.

Crans Ambassador hotel terrace

The terrace at the Crans Ambassador hotel.

The big race day was on us and I was entered along with other media participates like Olympic athlete Colin Jackson. Over 130 people were lined up to tackle the giant slalom course and lots of them were dressed in lycra. I wasn’t scared of them, providing they didn’t get too close.

Two runs completed and it was time to party again, although I did take the chance to explore the ski area more widely that afternoon and headed up to the top lift station of Plain Morte at 3,000 meters.

The view of the southern Swiss Alps from here is second to none as you get a perfect view from Mt Blanc, across to the Matterhorn and further on towards Eastern Switzerland.

The south facing slopes of Crans Montana offer long runs that suit intermediate to advanced skiers – they get lots of sun, which is fantastic during the earlier part of the season but can cause a faster melt down in the sprint. The snow was soft, but there was plenty to ski on.

The Financial Times business forum amazingly drew a good crowd in-between all the parties and the final gala dinner was a spectacular affair with prize giving for the race (I won the media award by the way) and entertainment from the Rick Parfitt Jnr Band which kept us up way past my bed time.

If you work in the City of London and like skiing then I’d suggest you apply now – if you don’t work in the City of London and like skiing then I suggest you start by getting a job there as soon as possible.

The 2015 Momentum Ski Festival will take place on the 12th-15th March 2015.