ROLL on 2006. When I'll gather friends and anyone else I can around a TV set to watch the Giant Slalom in the Winter Olympics.

And as the Alpine skiing stars risk life and limb hurtling down the immaculately groomed piste, I'll tell the assembled throng: "I've been down that."

What I'll not tell them is that the near 90-degree turn they take at 60mph, I took at a snail's snowplough pace.

My sense of achievement, however, at completing my first red run will surpass that of the future gold medalist. His success in February 2006 will be greeted by thousands. My success in February 2001 was greeted by a proud wife - and two well-rested daughters who I'd last seen when they overtook me just a few yards into my epic adventure and who had beaten me to the bottom by some distance.

Bardonecchia will be one of the skiing and snowboarding centres when the Winter Olympics comes to Turin. The only signs so far are a few stickers bearing the Games emblem in shops, bars and restaurants. Over the next few years, there will be intense activity as developers move in ready to put this Italian border town on the skiing holiday map.

Bardonecchia is as far as you can reach in Italy if you take the motorway out of Turin and head west. Next stop, after a tunnel carved through the Alps, is France.

For British winter holidaymakers, Bardonecchia is very much second string to neighbours Sestriere and Sauze d'Oulx. To the Italians, however, it is immensely popular, especially for those in Turin less than an hour down the road. For them it is the place for weekend skiing.

On Saturdays and Sundays, therefore, you can expect the slopes to be busy, very busy. But Monday to Friday the natives depart and you can have the runs pretty much to yourselves, even, as we discovered, during February half-term week.

Bardonecchia has something to offer all abilities. While the absolute beginner may find even the green runs a bit daunting, an excellent ski school can ease their introduction to the sport.

The resort has three main areas - Campo Smith, Melezet and Jafferau - each connected by a free bus. Lift passes, covering all three, can be obtained locally for about £60 a week, half the price of similar deals elsewhere in the Alps. The area boasts a total of 140km of piste, served by 24 lifts.

Campo Smith, named after the Smith brothers from Norway who brought ski jumping there in 1934, is the biggest area and within easy walking distance of the town centre and most of its hotels and apartments. Facilities are available to store your skis and boots overnight. From there, you can ski across to the open spaces of Melezet, where congestion amounts to half a dozen waiting for a chair lift. Jafferau, for the more adventurous and devotees of the black runs, is a bus ride away on the other end of town.

The views from the slopes, across to Sestriere and the French Alps, are stunning. But it is the absence of crowds which gives this resort the advantage over its near neighbours in Italy or across the border.

Its relatively low altitude can limit snow levels, and cut short the length of the season. In 2000-1, however, regular snowfalls provided excellent conditions from November through to April.

The peace and quiet on the slopes, unfortunately, is mirrored in the town, a rather drab and sprawling settlement against such a stunning backdrop. Apres-ski consists of little more than grabbing a pizza and heading back to your room for a nightcap. The Olympics may well bring in the crowds and a change of pace for the town. Come the Games, regrettably, my pace on the slopes will remain pedestrian.

TRAVELFACTS

Neilson, Crystal, Airtours and Thomson all offer package deals to Bardonecchia. Flights are to Turin, transfer time to resort is about one hour. Prices per adult start at around £350 a week, self-catering. Self-drive options are available.