For many winters Rob Freeman has written about wintersports and ski resorts great and small. In a former life he was a senior journalist on the Daily Mail and now writes on travel for national newspapers, ski magazines, websites and flight magazines. He has had a book published on Austrian skiing. A qualified ski instructor, he is also deputy editor of The Skier and Snowboarder. When he learnt to ski, a cousin told him boots had to be so tight it took three grown men to force the clips into place each morning. It took three hours each evening for any feeling to return. His boots are much more comfortable now.