Okay, not strictly anything to do with marketing, but just for fun…

Cake

Don't let them eat cake..

So why do chalet girls bake a cake every day?
As far as I know chalets have always left out a cake for their guests to tuck into for ‘afternoon tea’.

After a long day on the slopes, most skiers and snowboarders feel they’ve earned a nice slice of cake (or two, if you manage to get back to the chalet first!)

Have you earned it?
It’s generally suggested that skiing burns 350-500 calories per hour. But our – admittedly limited – testing, suggests that for all skiers, the true number is significantly less, and for advanced skiers, when skiing on piste, even less so.

Let’s have a look at the data recorded on a Garmin 310XT in January 2011.

Male skier, advanced, age mid-40s:
This 3h38m session burned just 355 calories – less than 100 calories per hour. Less than an hour of the session was spent actually skiing, with the rest either on lifts or standing still. It’s important to note that the whole session was on-piste. Powder and steeps will require more energy!

Female skier, intermediate, age late-50s
More encouraging for cake lovers, a more recreational skier burned 536 calories in 2h31m – over 200 calories per hour, but still significantly less than the 350-500 estimate. Because the subject was skiing slower, they spent a higher proportion of their time moving, rather than on lifts.

Conclusion – Don’t eat your cake until you’ve earned it!
Unless you spend a lot of time on the hill, are a beginner, or are lucky enough to go off-piste or steep, then maybe it’s time to tell your chalet staff that you don’t need cake.

They’ll be happy as they’ll get out skiing earlier. You might come back from your holiday having gained a few pounds, but you can blame that on the tiramasu…!