Christmas skiing in Zermatt

It's short notice, I know, but for a better-value family ski holiday (cheap might be asking a bit much at the present rate of exchange) try the week before Christmas – the only time of the winter when school holidays coincide with low-season prices. The snow is often good and the slopes are always empty

Prime candidates include Zermatt, where Europe's highest ski area straddles the Swiss-Italian border at the shoulder of the Matterhorn. Zermatt's winter season starts in October and it is one of the few resorts that puts more effort into the Christmas spirit than merely opening its shops. There are ski-testing weekends, special warm-up ski school weeks and attractive hotel-and-lift-pass packages.

This time last year they announced a new top-to-bottom ski race, The Infinity, to be held two days after the end of term. Top to bottom in Zermatt is not quite infinity, but it is about as close as skiing gets: an epic run of more than 20 kilometres for the 2,200m drop in altitude from the Klein Matterhorn (3,820m) to the village.

The format seemed surprisingly relaxed: no entry fee, few rules, and a family category with the generous provision that racers aged up to 12 would have their time divided by three. My son, who would be 12 years and 50 weeks on race day, saw his name on the trophy and a few short weeks later, as the strains of the last "O come let us adore him" rang out across the quad, we made our escape from school and a beeline for Switzerland, Infinity, and beyond.

"It must be difficult for you British this winter," said a man in a tight black vest, dumping our bags on a purple bearskin rug in our room at the hip new-look Hotel Post. "Would you like to order a packed lunch for tomorrow?" A packed lunch, in the mountain restaurant capital of the Alps? The full impact of the financial crisis hit home with a ghastly thud. A generation has passed since we were routinely patronised by hotel porters in this manner. I thanked him and said we would see how we got on.

After supper we attended a race briefing in a bar near the ice rink. Organiser Jürg Biner, a former Olympic freestyle skier, outlined his vision of Infinity. "It's a Chinese downhill," he said. "We all start together, and it's quite narrow up there, so no skating or pushing please." Jürg reckoned 11 minutes was the time to beat.

No pushing at the start? George hadn't heard anything so stupid since I asked him not to hit the ball at the opposing lady net player in the village mixed doubles. Was this a race, or a high altitude love-in? The Infinity sounded good to me: a brave throwback to the early days of skiing when our racing grandparents set off in a free-for-all "geschmozzle start" and came in with bloody noses and broken skis.

Then Jürg dropped his bombshell. With ''extreme weather'' forecast for the morning, the Infinity's chances were… infinitesimal. As a fallback he suggested catching an early train to Gornergrat for some fast skiing and an altitude drop of 1,150m on the 10km run back. Gornergrat was no substitute for Infinity, but on a day of freak storms when all Switzerland battened down the hatches, it gave us a thrilling kick-start to winter, on a longer run than top-to-bottom at most resorts. By the time we set off down it for the third time, our racecourse was more like a slalom than a downhill as the piste filled up with holiday skiers. Some stood aside and shook their fists at Jürg, while others put their heads down and joined in the fun.

As the weather deteriorated and chairlifts closed, we headed for our first post-Lehman Alpine lunch: two plates of carbo-loaded mountain fuel, a Coke, a glug of house wine, and no change from £50. Did someone mention a picnic?

Using the new high-speed rail link that has brought Zermatt an hour closer to Zurich, George and I took our act to the Bernese Oberland, swapping one Swiss beauty spot for another. "Arriving in Mürren is like coming home," George wrote in the diary I handed down as a punishment for beating me down the mountain in Zermatt. "Alan's hotel and Annelis's hotel are waiting there to welcome us, like smiling faces on the platform." It occurred to me that referring to a hotel not by its name but by that of its host is a sound measure of a good billet.

Alan (Ramsay, from Peebles) came to Mürren as a school leaver, banged on doors refusing to take no for an answer and worked bars until the owners of the wonderful Hotel Eiger ("Annelis's hotel") had the sense to entrust him with the job of reviving the run-down hotel next door. Alan and his wife have made The Eiger Guest House the perfect base for prime Swiss skiing on a budget.

Their upgrading campaign has reached a halfway stage where we can choose comfort with en suite for the parents and a bargain attic for the children. Alan pulls pints, waits tables, finds time to chat, keeps hot food waiting for late arrivals and stops working only if snow conditions absolutely require him to snatch an hour on the hill, where he skis in a kilt at high speed, as witnessed by an assortment of broken skis decorating the bar.

"What's for supper?" was George's first question. "Tongue," Alan said. "Unless you'd prefer rabbit." My son's opinion of The Eiger Guest House took an instant nose dive. He perked up when Alan produced pork and chips, and went stratospheric when he saw the games room – pool table, darts board, internet stations – empty and waiting for him. For George, pre-Christmas skiing means being able to yo-yo between Alan's pool table and Facebook at will.

Some Mürren regulars consider the Eigers – Hotel and Guesthouse – too inconveniently located for skiing, at the wrong end of the village for the serious business of the Schilthorn cable car. I enjoy the walk, but there is no denying that children take the pleasure out of a morning stroll, double its duration and start the family ski day on the wrong foot. George and I fell into the lazy habit of catching the train in the opposite direction for the five-minute journey to Winteregg, where an agonisingly slow chair lift gave us a back door into the ski area. This winter it has been replaced with something twice as fast and the new lift will enable us to ski across to the Schilthornbahn in no time, bypassing the village.

For a sleepy old resort like Mürren, this is seismic change. And it leaves the Eigers better placed than ever. Lifts open next Saturday, Alan's hotel on December 12, Annelis's hotel on December 16.

Getting there
Swiss (0845 601 0956; www.swiss.com) flies to Zurich from London City and Heathrow from £109 return, with no extra charge for ski equipment. Swiss Rail Passes at www.myswitzerland.com; from £75 for a transfer ticket (one return journey within Switzerland); children under 16 travel free.

Staying there
Zermatt Tourism (41 27 966 8100; www.zermatt.ch) can organise four nights’ b & b and four-day lift pass from £282 per person; many other packages including spa treatments, ski school and ski hire are also available.

Mürren Tourism (0041 33 8568686; www.muerren.ch) can organise two nights’ b & b and two-day lift pass at Eiger Guest House (www.eigerguesthouse.com) from £91; and Hotel Eiger (www.hoteleiger.com), from £170.

Further information
This season a six-day or longer lift pass for Zermatt or the Jungfrau region (Mürren, Wengen, Grindelwald) can be used for a day’s skiing in the other area, during the period of validity.

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