Just got back from three days in La Thuile (thanks Aosta Valley and Crystal for that one), to write a story for the Evening Standard. I don’t think I have seen the Alps this bare at this time of year since 2003, and the heliboarding trip we were supposed to do was canned because of bad light.

Still a good trip though, and managed to catch up with Ed Leigh for a day and a night – pretty rare these days seeing as he lives in NZ and is usually busy filming Ski Sunday when he is in Europe. Here he is with Graham Bell, meeting their stoked public.

Also got to spend some time with my friends Polly, who organised the trip, Henry and Dan from Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard Magazine, Sam Haddad from Cooler magazine and Chloe Scott from Metro.

With the snow bad and heliboarding cancelled, it meant that the primary focus for me on this trip (as it usually is) was the ridiculous food that we were dished up three times a day.

On trips such as this, you basically get to eat like Good King Hal on Christmas Day, thanks to the resort or company that is hosting making it their personal mission to ensure you’re suffering from early-stage gout by the time you hobble off the plane at Gatwick.

The courses and booze usually comes thick and fast, and most hacks have a half-horrified/half-fascinated relationship with the sheer scale of gluttony on offer. I’ve heard the phrase ‘no calories on a press trip’ more than once.

These days I’ve developed the weird habit of photographing each of the courses for posterity, so here are some of the culinary highlights of this last trip. I’ve been on beans on toast since I got back.