The Mini wasn’t the obvious choice for a drive out to Switzerland

Mini JCW: continent crusher, load-lugger, snowmobile, ambulance. Other than the fact that it needed some miles on it, art director Paul Lang’s long-termer wasn’t perhaps the obvious choice for a drive out to Switzerland to go skiing, but I’ve got a soft spot for Minis (I used to own a Cooper in which I traipsed up and down the length of the country going to university and back).

You can fit tons of stuff in one if you put the back seats down and pack cleverly. The load for this trip started with 185-length skis, which admittedly had to poke between the front seats and get intimate with the radio but fitted nonetheless. On top of those came clothes, a helmet, coats, a pillow, trainers, ski boots, food for the journey and then, finally, my bike and cycling clobber, which I needed for the weekend before I went skiing. It was all gobbled up without a problem.

I set off in the middle of the night – to take advantage of the unsociable but cheap-rate ferries – and then once on French soil set the cruise control to a gendarme-friendly speed, sat back and regretted not bringing more CDs. The stretch from Briançon to the Swiss border provided a nice break from the constant 130-clicks stuff, and the appearance of snow either side of the road boded well.

Once I’d paid for my Swiss motorway vignette (£27) I was released down towards Lake Geneva and then headed up towards the mountains. The last stretch in the dark to Saas-Grund was perfect Mini territory, but to be honest I was too tired to drive it properly. Instead I was just glad that I was in something small so that I didn’t have to flinch every time headlights came the other way down the narrow alpine precipitousness. Eventually I found the hotel, parked outside, realised I was at the bottom of a steep slope that could be a major problem if it snowed any more, then wearily shrugged my shoulders and went inside.

And the ambulance bit? Well, 24 hours later and my poor snowboarding girlfriend had broken her arm. After being taken off the mountain and put in a cast she understandably didn’t really want to sit out the whole week at altitude waiting for the long coach trip back with a gaggle of students (she’s a teacher). So, after her check-up a couple of days later the Mini was loaded up with two lots of kit and we (thankfully) sailed straight back up the steep, slippery ramp to the road. The slightly jiggly ride over expansion joints wasn’t ideal for an arm in plaster, but 14 hours later we were back home. A 2000-mile Mini adventure.