Yoshimasa Wada descended the Matterhorn in 1985 and local residents said he was the first to achieve the exploit from the summit of the 14,688-foot peak. A helicopter dropped Wada, a 31-year-old professional skier from Sapporo, Japan on the mountaintop and he skied about 984 feet down the sheer north face supported by ropes (ropes? that’s cheating) secured by two Swiss mountain guides. At the Solvay hut refuge, Wada discarded the ropes and weaved and slid in wide turns down the mountain's east face to another refuge, the Hoernli hut, at the base about 3,600 feet below the summit. Witnesses said that he paused several times (probably to make tea) and that the descent took him about 4 1/2 hours. (Four and a Half hours? really! I could have a good sleep in that time). Strictly speaking not skiing as we know it but he did come down on skis and he didn’t take them off.

In 1989 Andre Anzevui attempted the first descent of the North Face of the Matterhorn and was successful, also taking the lazy mans approach by being delivered to the top by helicopter. (What’s a matter with these people, have they no sense of adventure?).

In 2011 Matthias Giraud a Frenchman, known to the world and his mates as Super Frenchie could only be bothered to ski the first few metres down from the summit then attempted to base jump. (honestly! why bother?). He says he did a front flip over the ridge but less generous souls say he tripped, he covered his fall very gracefully but it could have ended in a trip to hospital or worse. (I once pushed a wobbly supermarket trolley around Sainsbury’s, much more hazardous, I would have thought).

Enough of the Swiss molehill and on to a proper mountain all 8,850m of it, yes, the Everest. Slovenian ski instructor Davo Karnicar skied down Mount Everest with a webcam on his helmet. Presumably he left the beginners in the class at base camp on the nursery slopes while he attempted to kill himself. Davo obviously paid attention in ski school because he lived to tell the tale. Karnicar, who had already lost two fingers to frostbite on a previous aborted attempt, climbed the last stage to the summit at night to avoid bad weather, (what a wuss). He arrived exhausted at base camp five hours after departing from the summit, having made the first complete ski decent of Mount Everest. "At 12.40 I got down to Base Camp, glad that it was all over. I'd been on the go for 15 hours, I felt drained and couldn't sleep. It was as if I was light years from this world. I couldn't even manage to feel happy" (Miserable sod!). Not content with Everest, Karnicar has also skied down Mont Blanc, the Eiger, Annapurna and the afore mentioned molehill in Switzerland, the Matterhorn.

Here at SkiBoutique we don’t encourage stunts like the above but feel free if the urge strikes. We do, however, kill you with kindness and suffocate you in luxury. It’s hard work but we love it. We’ll leave the easy stuff to Super Frenchie, Davo, Andre and Yoshimasa.