What have a ‘slutty Santa suit’, a ‘bad boy’ comedian, an affluent Austrian ski resort, a snow storm and regular doses of high energy partying got in common?
Well, they have all just played a part in making my first turns of the season rather exciting.
Pop star Katy Perry looked a festive treat in the outfit that she so colourfully described just before hitting the stage to perform the official 2009/10 Ski Season Opening Concert in the Tirolean resort of Ischgl last weekend.

The snowboard loving Californian brought her family to enjoy the show including park-rat, younger, boarder brother David, who, according to Katy, ‘does flips and stuff’, older skiing sister Angela and her boyfriend and parents, Mary and Keith Hudson, who are Christian pastors.

There was no mention of Katy’s boyfriend, Russell Brand, having been invited and when an Austrian journalist enquired if he was also in Ischgl, she coyly replied: ‘That’s my little secret’. When another asked if she liked the local Austrian boys, she said she’d be heading out after the show to sample some of Ischgl’s legendary night life, adding ‘…and maybe some cute Austrian girl might get lucky,’ leading us to believe her chart topping hit, ‘I kissed a girl’ might also be among her plans for Ischgl. The rapturous 20,000-strong crowd enjoyed a 90-minute set that culminated in Perry’s biggest hit to date being included in the encore.
I’m sure the little red Santa dress played a part in Katy’s energetic performance, if only to keep her warm in the open mountain air on this cold Saturday night, but her leaping and bounding certainly worked the crowd into the desired frenzy of dancing. It also got Russell Brand going. He was hidden away, high up above the crowd in the sound tower and according to one observer, “was leaping about like a possessed gazelle”.
Katy now joins a long list of distinguished artists to have launched the new ski season, including Leona Lewis, The Corrs, Rihanna, Lionel Richie and Ronan Keating.

Though the younger Hudsons enjoyed the Trofana Arena and Pacha night clubs, they were also staying on a few days to sample some of Austria’s finest terrain.
Ischgl boasts 235 kilometres of groomed pistes that reach heights just shy of 3,000 metres and are served by 42 lifts – one being the Fimbabahn gondola with luxuriously heated seats.

When asked at the Austrian press conference whether Perry might join the ‘gondola-high-club’, the winter sports version of the ‘mile-high-club’, she replied, ‘Oh right, you mean sex in a gondola, why not, I’m freaky.’
But snowboarding seemed to be more on her mind. She told me: ‘I grew up in California with skating and surfing so I just slipped right into snowboarding. You can get some ok snow in the higher resorts there, like Mammoth, but actually…l like it right here in Ischgl.’

We were hoping to see the 25-year-old and her family out on the slopes on Monday but a welcome snow system blew in overnight and persisted all day with some fairly high winds.
The slopes were nearly empty but those of us who braved the elements were rewarded with our fist powder turns of the winter giving us a great omen for what will hopefully be a bumper snow season for all.
And sadly we had to leave Ischgl, which looked pristine under her new, festive looking and generously fluffy snow blanket.
And this was the day when Russell Brand had fixed up a ski lesson and the Hudsons’ hopefully enjoyed some fresh tracks, European-style.

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