Riding high

When you think of a motoring adventure, it probably involves taking a Land Rover into the bush, or planning an epic road trip through mountain passes in a Porsche.

What it doesn’t usually involve is strapping two planks of wood to your feet, sliding down a snow-covered mountain 3,000m high in Switzerland and camping in a small tent when it’s -15°C outside.

But that’s exactly what the Audi Experience Mountain Camp is all about. Oh, and driving some electric Audis.

I’ve never been skiing or snowboarding so this was going to be a first. A quick Swiss Air flight across from London, a few hours on the outstandingly efficient Travel Switzerland trains. Then a cable car up to the trendy town of Verbier.

There, I got kitted out before clomping out of the ski rental store with huge boots and skis on my shoulder. It all looks cool on the TV, but ski equipment is cumbersome.

Unlike others in the group who were going to enjoy some off-piste freeriding with the legendary snowboarder Xavier de Le Rue, I was destined for the beginner slope with my instructor Nico.

I fell over a lot and learnt that to stop you have to point the skis into each other in what is called a “pizza”. There was a lot of pizza, much to the amusement of the many toddlers I was sharing the beginners’ slope with, but eventually I was gently slaloming down the hill feeling rather proud of myself.

Then the real adventure got under way. Swapping skis for snow shoes, it was time to live on the edge, by which I mean walking along the edge of a mountain with the option of a gentle roll down the slope on one side, or a life-changing fall on the other.

There were a few nervous moments, but Nico assured me he would never put me in any danger, though I do think he revelled in the occasional moment of my abject fear.

After trudging through the snow and climbing up and down snow-covered rocks, I reached the camp. Its spectacular location that looks down on Verbier 1,000m below with mountain peaks all around.

The North Face-equipped camp is usually dropped in by helicopter, but whiteout conditions meant it couldn’t land and so the camp crew had to carry 1.6 tonnes of equipment in the cable car and along the snowy peaks on skis and snowboards.

Serious skills were called on and while they were more exhausted than me, they put on an incredible event.

The evening was spent enjoying mulled wine, hot fruit tea and a Swiss fondue. Guests huddled together in one tent as the temperature outside plummeted.

To say the camp was impressive is an understatement. There was a tent for the kitchen, a “fridge” had been dug into the snow, a toilet had been carved out of the snow — making for a genuine loo with a view. They had even created an outdoor cinema to watch a film of De Le Rue’s epic adventures.

It was a long night. Despite a thermal sleeping bag, skins and extra layers, the cold was bitter and, in the morning, there was ice on the outside of my sleeping bag. The screen on my iPhone had frozen and I had to defrost my spectacles as you would a car windscreen.

None of this mattered; in fact it just added to the experience and was quickly forgotten as I emerged from the tent to a spectacular Alpine sunrise. Breakfast above the clouds was breathtaking and as the clouds cleared there was a fantastic view of the town below and the mountains around us.

I cannot overstate what an incredible experience it was to camp in the snow-covered mountains. Cold, yes, but this was an experience of a lifetime and worth the cold and the slightly aching muscles.

Getting a grip

The free-riders again set off for some fun, while I donned my snowshoes and trudged back to the cable car station, relieved to be removing my very damp hiking shoes. If you’ve been waiting for tyres instead of skis, then it’s time to talk cars, because waiting for us in Verbier were the Audi Q6 E-tron, S6 Avant E-tron and the latest RS E-tron.

As a huge fan of station wagons who can’t wait for the end of the SUV era, I naturally started with the S6. With 370kW and instantaneous torque, this sporty executive relished the mountainous roads around Verbier. Admittedly it felt more luxury tourer in some of the narrow bits, but it’s not every day you have to deal with multiple hairpins and roads barely wide enough to fit two Minis.

What did feel even more at home on roads like that was the RS E-tron GT. It’s been a few years since I drove the sibling to the Porsche Taycan and this was the latest generation, complete with more power, more torque and an even more premium interior. I’d almost forgotten how good it is, with phenomenal grip when you need it, a playful character when you want to have fun and comfort that allows you to simply relax and enjoy the drive when you want to take in the landscape around you.

As experiences go, this one was right up there, ticking off my first skiing lesson, first snowy mountain camp and first time trekking in snow shoes. What an epic adventure it turned out to be and one I wholeheartedly recommend if you find yourself looking for something to do for a couple of days in Switzerland, though I think I still prefer wheels to skis.