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I could feel my panicked heartbeat as
I stood at the edge of the almost
vertical drop
Clockwise from top left: Afriski’s main slope,
the perfect place to find your feet. The lodge
is always a cosy place to stay. There’s plenty
of fun for the kids too. Welcome to Lesotho!
The best place to stop after working up an
appetite in the snow. Snowboard action.
Situated in the Maluti Mountains at
3 222 metres above sea level, Afriski
is the highest ski resort in Africa and
temperatures drop to as low as minus
eleven degrees Celsius. The valley’s
frequent snowfall and steep gradients
have drawn skiers to these slopes
since 1929, but it was only in 2002 that
it became an official resort. Dubbed
the “Switzerland of the South”, this
snow playground is located between
Johannesburg and Durban, making it easy
for South Africans of all abilities to hit the
slopes. Ski season is from June to August,
when snowfall is high, but a backup
snowmaking machine ensures that there’s
always snow in winter. There are a variety
of slopes to choose from, including a
snowboarding course, the one-kilometre
black slope for experienced skiers,
the intermediate red slope and a blue
beginner’s course, which is where I
found myself on day one with a group
of fellow rookies.
A Slovakian ski instructor welcomed
us to the bunny slope and showed us
the basics of “pizza slicing” (the term
used for controlling speed), meandering,
360-degree turns and walking sideways up
a slope with skis on. Following a course
dotted with beacons, I glided back and
forth on a flat surface of hardened snow.
From there, we graduated to a gentle
gradient on which we put pizza slicing and
sideways walking into action.
On day two I felt confident enough to
catch the lift to the halfway point of the
intermediate slope. Like bungee jumping
MAKE MEMORIES FOR LIFE // 43