Jamma, The Weekend Skier

Hi, I'm James, but friends call me Jamma. I'm the man behind The Weekend Skier and I'm from London.

 

I've only been skiing properly since 2018/19 season when I went on a ski season in St.Anton, Austria. Before then I did around a weeks' worth across a few times in Serbia. Half my family is Serbian, so we would visit a lot over summers and winters. My very first memory skiing was at this tiny hill, sometime pre 2010s. Mum got us a lesson with the only instructor who could speak broken English there. By the end of the day I was throwing myself on this one 'off-piste' part of the hill, exactly where the instructor told me to go. Was it stupid? Yes. Was it fun? Incredibly so. Of course I fell over, but I didn't care. The adrenaline and sense of exploration I felt from just that one moment got my fascinated with skiing.

 

After my season an annual ski trip became the norm. A load of us from season all meet together for a big 'family' ski one week a year. This expanded to other friends, and now we usually have 24+ of us out there every year. It's the biggest vibe, but skiing one week a year just isn't enough for me.

 

Out of the blue one year me and my mum decided to treat my brother and take him skiing for his birthday, but we needed to do it on the cheap. He's a December baby, so I looked into Jan flights, where to go and what would be best for a weekend, as that's all we could afford. We got booked up for the first weekend of Jan, 2 days skiing in the South of France, flying into Nice. Great trip minus mum picking up an ACL injury. At the end of the trip, I looked at the cost and was amazed by how cheap it was, and further amazed by the feeling of this whole trip. It was exciting condensing everything down and none of us got holiday blues as we weren't away for a week.

 

A year later I decided to try this weekend skiing thing out again, once again taking my brother out and once again over a weekend. Except this time I decided to record it all and slap it online. I've always been hands on with cameras & editing, so that came natural to me. I spent the season capturing my trips, skiing more with friends and spending a lot less than I was expecting too. It was great, so I've carried on and here we are now, midway through my second season as The Weekend Skier!

 

St.Anton. No arguments. It's expensive, but everything about that place is amazing. Pistes, off-piste, the park, apres, huge ski area, pretty town, great food, cool bars. Literally everything you want in a resort is there and it's done well.

 

Jan 2025. £304 total ski cost for 3 days skiing in Aprica, Italy. That included an evening night skiing. Such good value.

 

Something stupid and/or hilarious happens pretty much on every trip. The most recent memory is one of my mates not realising the hob in our accommodation had a glass cover over it. He turned the hob on and about 2 minutes later this huge BANG echo's through the accoms. The glass shattered everywhere. All of us stood there in disbelief. It's one of them moments where at the time you know you shouldn't laugh, but you just can't help but roll about crying with laughter. Nobody hurt luckily, just the ego of my friend.

 

There's so many tips, but overall the biggest one is to be open to going anywhere. The best deals always start with the flights. If you look at somewhere specific you're already missing out on all the deals on offer. Be open minded with the airport you fly into and then you'll find yourself exploring resorts you wouldn't even think of going to. Also worth noting that if you're going for a weekend you don't need a huge resort. Aprica was 50km and that was more than enough. I honestly think a 25/30k resort is enough for a weekend.

 

Peace. Freedom. Adrenaline. Memories. Friends. So many things to be honest. I well up sometimes (wet I know) thinking about the countless memories I’ve already created and the many more I’ve yet to make. The world pauses when you’re out in the mountains. Suddenly all that matters is how hard you gonna send it and what sh*t you wanna chat on the lift.

 

I'm not one to plan too far ahead. I just want to keep skiing with my mates, get to see the world and enjoy every moment made and given. I've been very lucky to be able to do all these trips, so at the moment I'm appreciating life for what it is. Look too far ahead and you overlook what you have right now.