It may be a city of high finance but Luxembourg’s historic heart succeeded in converting Colette Sheridan.

Alan Shortt quickly finds his feet in Austria’s Kitzbueheler Alps and discovers zooming down the slopes, arms outstretched, is the closest a man can get to flying without wings.

Conall Ó Fátharta hits the slopes as a beginner, in Austria, and discovers the thrill of the descent as well as a true sense of achievement, which make his aches and pains more tolerable and a beer more welcome.