New Hampshire's White Mountains

A big group of us stayed here and it was great. The prices are low but the place is great. I was in a room with two double beds, four girls sharing and we had a great time. The swimming pool is really nice, be careful to dry your hair before leaving, mine froze. The views are great, you can see Loon Mountain. It's really close to Loon Mountain and about half an hour from Bretton Woods. There's a cafe and a sports bar.

As a big group they prearranged meals for us so I can't really offer an opinion on these but the food we had was good and proper large American portions. This is a great base, we skied at two resorts, went shopping in Lincon and at Tanger Outlets, visited the cinema and took a day trip to Boston. The prices here are really good too, considering how close it is to the ski resorts. Our deal included everything but you can check out prices on the usaski website (see Loon Mountain and Bretton Woods reviews).

Bretton Woods offers a range of trails great for beginners to the experienced skier. I'd had a few lessons before arriving but this was my first real skiing experience and I loved it. I started on the nursery slopes but got pretty bored of that and was willing to give it a risk. The hardest bit for me was not the skiing but negotiating the ski lifts as I fell off several times, once you exit move quickly away as I got whacked on the backside and soon learnt. The slopes look pretty scary to start but actually they aren't that bad so long as you choose a suitable trail.

We did a group ski with a guide to start us off till we got the hang of the trails we wanted to use. There is a good chalet at the bottom for lunches and hot drinks. The final slope on our trail was the worst big, it's a really sharp decline and took me a long time to build up the courage, but once you realise there's no other way down, you just have to get over it. One of my friends had no control and couldn't stop but she happily skied here for 3 days just toppling at the end of each run.

There are loads of people about to give you a hand if you do get into trouble. It's about 3 hours drive from Boston. They offer night ski's which we took advantage of and I would definitely give it a try if you can. As a large party they organised a group pizza party in the chalet followed by a night ski for us. We didn't stay on site but there are places to stay. This is a beautiful site and offers top quality skiing.

After Bretton Woods we moved onto Loon Mountain. The terrain here seemed more aimed at people with a little ski experience and there was a younger, faster pace. We started off with a guide here too, just to get the hang of the trails and we got in the spirit with novelty ski hats. We had a team race here in a special area where you do slalom racing, and they time you and provide badges for the winners, I came second, mostly due to a lack of control rather than general skill.

We also did night tubing here which was a good change and an excellent group activity. There's a big chalet at the bottom for food which provide massive portions. Again we didn't stay on site but there are places to stay. I cannot advise on price as we did a trip that included the whole lot, but the slopes have a website, www.usaskiholiday.co.uk, so check that out for up to date prices. I think doing it this way round was good as we had built some confidence and the trails we tried at Loon Mountain were a bit more difficult.