Karen Bowerman and the girls head to Canada to get fit for the slopes at boot camp. It seemed like a good idea at the time....

It’s 2am British time and I’m trying to “centre my body through slow, easy, breaths”.

Today I got up at dawn. I flew from Heathrow to Edmonton in Canada, caught a coach to Jasper, a small town in the western province of Alberta, and 21 hours later checked into my hotel in the Rockies.

I told the girls I was off for a bath. No chance. I’d signed up for boot camp and it began straight away. So here I am, bent into a triangle and gritting my teeth as I try to “hold firm” in a downward-facing dog.

Salute the sun? You’ve got to be kidding! And apparently this is the “two hours of introductory yoga – to ease us in”....?

It had seemed such a good idea when we’d booked: a week away, a group of girls, all getting fit in the Rockies. But as the sixth sun salutation sucks out my soul, I wonder what on earth I’m doing.

I blurt out that what I really need isn't yoga but a large glass of wine and a good night’s sleep. Our instructor pretends not to hear, but I’m sure she cranks things up a notch.

The next day, the hard graft really begins. We meet our fitness trainer, Stephanie Sopocleous. She opens the door of her Jasper studio. There’s talk of ViPRs, TRXs and Tabata sessions. I laugh nervously and look bemused. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. Stephanie calls herself “Warrior Fitness” and she’s definitely up for a fight. Every muscle we have is a target: “You want to look fabulous, right?”

The boot camp is geared towards getting fit for skiing and on “afternoons off” we hit the slopes.

Admittedly our muscles don’t seem to ache that much afterwards, but I can’t help thinking an anadin would have been fine if they had.

From Jasper, we drive along the scenic Icefields Parkway, a 200km stretch of glaciers linking Jasper and Banff national parks.

After a day on the pistes at Lake Louise and a night at the swish Fairmont Chateau hotel, I’ve almost forgotten why we’re here.

But boot camp continues in Banff. At least our instructor, Chris Pacheco, is a pleasing on the eye.

Chris has the kind of smile that features in teeth-whitening ads. My fellow warriors prefer his muscles, but for me, a smile will suffice.

With Chris, fitness is simple. It’s just sit ups and squats. Sit ups and squats. (The more you say it, the easier it gets. Right?) We sweat like fountains and squeal like pigs. It’s really not pleasant at all.

It’s an exhausting week; there are tantrums and tears. Now it’s the turn of our trainers to look bemused. I try to explain that this is what happens when you deny grown women cheesecake.

Then suddenly it’s over!

Really?

We end, as we began, with yoga. I bend myself over, breathe (with relief) and offer up my very best downward-facing dog. Salute the sun next? No problem.

I’ll be glugging wine tomorrow.

ESSENTIALS

* Travel Alberta TravelAlberta.com

*Canadian Tourism Commission: keepexploring.ca  

* Ski Independence ski-i.com offers a seven-night package to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper from £1,219 per person. It includes return flights from London Gatwick to Calgary, accommodation for two adults and car hire. Accommodation is at Fox Hotel & Suites, Banff foxhotelandsuites.com, Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise fairmont.com/lake-louise and Chateau Jasper 
mpljasper.com

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