The new series of Ski Sunday begins on 20 January from 1900-2000 on BBC TWO and the BBC Sport website.

I have to admit, of all the features we planned for the new series, inviting celebrities onto the slopes to give them expert tuition worried me the most.

I’m happy with myself or my fellow presenter Ed Leigh taking risks as we are used to it, but we are asking well-known important people to throw themselves down a giant slalom course. They may crash and break a leg, get hopelessly drunk at lunch or just not turn up at all: fear is in the unknown.

Our guinea pig for the series was the chef Heston Blumenthal.
I recommend skiing with a famous chef, because you know that every restaurant owner will pull out all the stops, particularly in Courmayeur where food on the mountain is second to none.

On the slopes I can report that no legs were broken, but Heston’s designer glasses took a beating when he pulled the chairlift safety bar onto them.

My other nagging worry was, would my coaching actually make a difference, or would they ski slower after the two hour lesson? All will be revealed Sunday 1900 GMT on BBC Two.

World Cup news
There are only so many alcohol-fuelled nights out on the eve of an important competition that any national team will stand, before something has to give.

The Freddy Flintoff pedalo incident would be a mere footnote in the life and times of party man Bode Miller. So by mutual agreement Bode was allowed to leave the US Ski Team and set up his O.P.P. (Own Personal Programme), which he funds through private sponsorship.

He has called it Team America, knowing Bode in deference to the 2004 adult puppet movie. Press speculated that, cast free of any discipline, Bode’s career would free-fall. What they failed to realise was Bode never took a blind bit of notice of the team discipline anyway.

Sure enough, Bode is skiing better this season, he has taken an impressive win on the tough Bormio downhill, scored points in slalom, the discipline that has troubled him most recently, and last weekend notched up his second consecutive win on the Lauberhorn.

There were mixed fortunes for the British Team: Finlay Mickel suffered a stress fracture to his ankle at the start of the season but is back on the circuit again, racing to 46th in Wengen last weekend.

Chemmy Alcott did not have the best of starts prior to Christmas, but is now showing real form. A 16th place in giant slalom bodes well with her favourite speed event, the Cortina downhill coming up this weekend.

You can watch the best of this weekend's action in Kitzbuhel during the show and in an hour-long highlights show straight after Ski Sunday finishes on BBCi from 2000 GMT.

Alpine Traverse
Last summer we came up with the idea of trekking across the Alps, starting from Monaco in the west and finishing in Vienna in the east.

Without the snow the Alps have a very different feel to them. The people who make their living from the mountains year round take over from the seasonal skiers.

The farmers make cheese up on the high pastures, woodsmen fell trees and tend the forests, and park rangers look after the indigenous species of animals like ibex, and bears that have suffered so badly over the years and are now being reintroduced in the many national parks.

The Alps become accessible as high Alpine passes are opened, as are the many high mountain refuges.

We started our journey in the foothills of the Alpes Maritimes looking down over Monaco. Clambering about on the rocks to get a better shot of the town below, our intrepid cameraman Keith Wade managed to rip the crotch out of his shorts, much to amusement of the rest of the crew and the few tourists picnicking on the rocks!

From Monaco we headed into the mountains driving up through the impressive gorge cut by the river Var that flows into the Mediterranean near Nice.

The most spectacular gorge however, was cut by the river Cians a tributary of the Var. Its steep narrow sides are a deep red colour, even to me with slight red/green colour blindness, for a person with normal it must just shout RED!

From Roubion we made our way north hoping to retrace the footsteps of Hannibal of Carthage who in 218 BC had taken his 37 war elephants and 60,000 men from North Africa up through Spain, crossing the Alps to attack Rome.

It is not clear where exactly Hannibal crossed the Alps, but the general consensus is that he used the Col du Montgenevre, which at 1860m is the lowest and most easily negotiable in the area.

Watch the first part of my trek during Ski Sunday - 20 January, 1900-2000, BBC Two and the BBC Sport website. If you have any questions about the new series of Ski Sunday please post them here and I will try to answer them.