Altitude Comedy Festival sells itself as the funniest show on snow. But do comedy and arsing around on a slope mix well? We went to Mayrhofen in Austria to find out for ourselves.
Monday was the first day of the festival, and I excitedly threw back my hotel room curtains only to be greeted by grey skies. I was hoping it had dumped a metre of snow in the night, the cloud burning off to reveal perfect bluebird conditions. Whoever’s in charge of the weather didn’t get the memo though.
Now a decade old, Altitude Comedy Festival has been held in a number of locations, and at varying times of year, but this is the first time it’s been held just before Christmas. The early season start meant that, while there was a gentle buzz and bustle in the valley below, up on the mountain there was a serene quiet.
As such, the slopes of Mayrhofen were empty enough to, at times, have runs entirely to myself, which made hooning about on the piste, and looking for little bits of powder to play around in, a pleasure.