I feel like I'm on top of the world. Look down one side, I see France, the other, Switzerland.
I'm balanced on a summit between two countries, two ways down, each to a different nation.
It's not the top of the world, of course, but it might as well be.
And I'm drinking hot chocolate.
It's ever so slightly surreal, but that's often how skiing can feel.
Most of the time, I'm in an office, the windows looking out onto walls.
On this day, I'm on an Alpine mountain in the ski resort of Avoriaz called Pointe Des Mossettes, 2277 metres high, more than double the height of Snowdon.
The cloud has closed around us, making us feel even more isolated. Fortunately, there's a warm and welcoming cafe - The Cookie Cafe - to take away some of the trepidation at suddenly being so high with just a pair of skis beneath your feet and a piste map to get you lower once more.
But as well as being a little scary, it's also exhilarating, which pretty much sums up skiing, unless you're utterly fearless.
Refreshed, our courage levels ever so slightly higher, my wife and I set out on the blue ski route down from the summit.
Ski routes are classified green, blue, red and black, with the latter the hardest. We tend to stick to blue, although I have tried the occasional red.
This particular blue leads us to another that will take us, if we wish, down to Les Crosets in Switzerland, so we follow it down.
We arrive at lunchtime and traipse in our clunky ski boots into a little wooden hut where we eat and refresh ourselves.
Then it’s back up the chair lift and a mosey route down the other side of the mountain back into France.
A few more lifts and skis down and we come to a halt practically at the door of our accommodation for this holiday. In fact, one of the routes down sees you arrive quite literally at the door, or the hot tub to be precise.
We are guests of Chilly Powder, who like to do things a little differently
Owners, Francesca and Paul Eyre, have, in fact, been doing things a little differently right from the start.
They were one of the first chalet companies in the Alps, and say they were the first to offer a crèche and ski school all on site.
That's a big help if you're a family. Having to think about everything separately - accommodation, ski school, equipment hire etc - can be one of the hassles of planning a ski holiday.
Getting there was pretty easy. We flew from Bristol with Easyjet, landing at Geneva Airport with just an 90 minutes or so transfer time.
The flight was simple to arrange, check-in was super quick and easy and the journey super relaxing, just what you need at the start of a holiday.
Take a look at our video for a great flying hack
Once at Chilly Powder, they can do everything for you. And with the crèche, you can also leave the kids there so you can get some quality adult time on some of the more testing slopes.
Whenever we passed the crèche all we could see were happy, smiling faces. It seemed like they knew how to look after children well, even the most clingy of youngsters who soon seemed to forget their parents were elsewhere.
The ethos of Chilly Powder is friendly throughout and relaxed.
There's no stuffiness here, no standing on ceremony. While the service is akin to a top hotel, you also feel like you're staying in someone's home, just with very attentive hosts.
If you want to wander around in your dressing gown you can, and no-one will blink an eyelid.
Our room was large with plenty of space for kids. We had a lovely view of the mountains and everything was clean, luxurious and comfortable.
The chalet has a lounge and dining area, a separate area upstairs with a pool table, books, games and big comfy sofas with lovely views down the valley, and a little alpine bar.
In the middle of the lounge is a large open fire, lovely to snuggle up next to after a long day on the slopes of the Portes du Soleil region.
When you return from those slopes, the chalet will have a gorgeous afternoon tea waiting for you, with different little cakes and savouries every day, for all dietary requirements.
After, you can take a dip in the hot tub outside. It's a cheeky little dash through the cold of the afternoon, before plunging into the warmth of the bubbles, snowy mountains framing you.
There's also a sauna in the chalet, to offer a dryer heat.
Then, after a freshen up, dinner is served, and what a dinner!
They have five chefs at Chilly Powder, and they will also cook for you in your own chalet if you're not in the main building.
Dinner starts with drinks from the bar and some gorgeous nibbles served by the very professional and friendly waiting staff.
Then it's three courses of some of the best food you've ever eaten, all prepared by the chalet chefs.
A cheese board completes the evening and I must admit to stuffing myself just a little too much there - the cheeses on offer were just so mouth-wateringly gorgeous.
It's all communal dining at Chilly Powder, and you can meet some great people with a shared passion for the slopes.
Fortunately for us, we also got to dine with the vineyard owner, Paul Boyer, who supplied Chilly Powder with the very wines we drank during our stay. As well as being a thoroughly interesting person, he also made sure there was always another full bottle of wine on our table ready to be savoured.
His vineyard is run on sustainable principles, which is also the ethos of Chilly Powder as a whole. They compost, recycle, use green cleaning products where possible, and they also have a meat free Monday.
I don't think the flavour of that food or wine will ever quite fade from the memory - I can still taste it now!
And after all that, you still have a hearty breakfast to look forward to in the morning, with different options each day.
As for the rest of your day, Chilly Powder can also help serve that up as well.
There are massages and other treatments on offer in a cosy yurt, great for aching limbs after a day on the slopes.
My wife enjoyed an aromatherapy massage which involved various essential oils and wanted to go straight back again the next day for a repeat.
And if your skiing is a little rusty or you want to brush up on your technique, they can help arrange some instruction, like we had with Avoriaz Alpine Ski School.
The school’s instructor Mark gave myself and my wife some first class individual tuition which went a long way to ironing out some common errors we were both making. He also showed us some of the best slopes to hone our new-found knowledge on and that kind of help can be priceless when you’re unfamiliar with a resort.
Chilly Powder can also arrange special experiences, like the snow-shoeing we decided to try.
It was provided by Jean-Luc of Indiana Adventures, who took us up into the mountains and on a trek through deep snow. Jean-Luc had a great sense of humour, but was also attentive to his guests and thoroughly knowledgeable of the landscape and its wildlife.
He was determined we would catch a glimpse of a goat native to these parts called the chamois, and we did, despite them being very shy creatures.
It was a fantastic way of seeing the Alps from a different perspective, without ski slopes, chair lifts and the other trappings of civilisation. You really felt like an Alpine explorer, seeing nature raw, rather than carved to their liking by humans.
Before and after our excursion, we explored the town of Morzine, one of the other main ski resorts around here. It boasts a large number of restaurants and cafes serving some delicious Alpine food. We had a glorious cheese fondue in one of them, but book in advance as they all get very busy, especially at the height of the season.
You can go anywhere on holiday and come back with some great memories.
But your memories on a ski holiday - you’ll be talking about for years, decades even, because it’s just such a totally different experience.
And whether you’re a raw beginner or a savvy professional, a family of five or just the two of you, Chilly Powder can make those memories ones to be treasured.
