At Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre on Saturday, it looked like the Winter Olympics in August. Snowboarders flipped off of ramps in the middle of Lynchburg overlooking Liberty University. They were snowboarding on a synthetic surface called Snowflex.

New research has revealed that global warming could lead to a dramatic reduction in Australia’s alpine environments and ski fields over the next 50 years. Records reveal that snow cover at the highest snow course — Spencer’s Creek in the Snowy Mountains — has already declined by more than 30 per cent in the last 50 years.

So there I was, lying in a bed big enough for giants, with crisp cotton sheets. Having done a few hours’ hiking followed by the best massage in the world, I was thinking in an American accent: ‘Yup, this is, “Not exactly roughing it”.’ For that is the Beaver Creek motto.