Ice picks at the ready - Let's get climbing
If the closest your lips have been to ice is in a G&T, it's probably time you got off your bar stool... Ice climbing is fast growing in popularity - there's even an ice wall in London's Covent Garden! - and Grand Hotel Kronenhof, Pontresina is making it easy for you to get started by offering an ice-climbing package for beginners and families this winter.
Ice climbing dates to 1908 with the invention of crampons (toothed claws that fit onto the bottom of boots), which enabled climbers to gain traction on slippery ice, essential when rock climbers reached high altitudes and had to negotiate icy sections of the mountain peaks. Today, however, it's a sport in its own right, with adrenaline junkies spending hours (or days) with their faces flat against the side of a glacier or frozen waterfall, living with the constant fear of falling into a crevasse, getting frostbite or being hit by an avalanche...
But don't let that put you off: the ice climbing classes in Pontresina takes place on a frozen waterfall in the heart of the village, where there's no chance of any of the aforementioned dangers! Furthermore, a plethora of tools and protective gear mean that ice climbing can be safe and is accessible to almost everyone - though it helps to have a degree of cardiovascular fitness and a good strength-to-weight ratio.
Interested? Grand Hotel Kronenhof's ice climbing trial course package includes three nights' accommodation, sumptuous breakfast buffet and half-board menu daily in the Grand Restaurant, an ice-climbing course at the mountaineering school in Pontresina, a personal training session in the Kronenhof Spa, a 20-minute relaxing Alpine Wild Herb Bath and a 50-minute Kronenhof herbal stamp massage (to help you recover from the ice-climbing experience!), as well as unlimited access to the Kronenhof Spa and a Fit & Fun sports programme that changes daily. The hotel is offering this exclusive package on the following dates only: from 12 to 15 January 2014, from 26 to 29 January 2014 and from 16 to 19 March 2014; the cost starts from CHF1060 (approx £720) per person sharing a double room.
However, the ice-climbing course for families is being offered from 12 January to 6 February 2014 and from 5 March to 5 April 2014, for two adults and two children. The family ice-climbing package includes 3 nights' accommodation, sumptuous breakfast buffet and half-board menu daily in the Grand Restaurant, an ice-climbing course at the mountaineering school in Pontresina for the whole family, a 20-minute hydrojet massage bath for the parents, a 25-minute sports massage for the parents, a private horse-drawn coach ride to Val Roseg for the whole family, ice skating on the hotel's ice rink and unlimited access to the Kronenhof Spa as well as a Fit & Fun sports programme that changes daily.
The family ice-climbing package, which is for four people sharing two rooms, costs from CHF3490 (approx £2370). For more details on both packages and to book, visit the Grand Hotel Kronenhof website kronenhof.com.
