Rosemary Kavanagh-Mayrhuber, President of the Ski Club of Ireland
Your earliest holiday memory?
I'm from Urlingford, in Co Kilkenny, but Tramore was the place I went to on holidays with my mum and my sister Catherine and my aunt. My dad would drive us down and return on Thursday, because that was the half-day for a business. I remember the beach. It was very large. It was great. I was seven or eight. What I loved were the amusements and the jukebox and the bumper cars. I also loved the chips. You didn't get those in Urlingford. I can still smell the vinegar. It was in the early 1960s and Elvis was playing on the jukebox.
What was your worst holiday?
I enjoy all my holidays, but on my first holiday skiing in Austria a lady knocked me down on my face. It was my first morning on the mountain in Saalbach. I fractured my shoulder. I was able to walk, so every morning I walked to the nearest village, Hinterglemm, and I went for lunch in a hut up the mountain, so I sat outside the first day and noticed there were a lot of other injured people. We got chatting and discussed our injuries, and then we'd have a schnapps. Overall it turned out to be a bit of fun, but it was disappointing not being able to ski.
Your best holiday?
It was in St Johann in Tyrol, in Austria, about 15 years ago. I've been there many times. I went with the National Council for the Blind. It was the Topflight Ski Challenge. We took a blind group away. We had David Norris, Davey Arthur and Brenda Donoghue from RTÉ. I was one of four instructors from the Ski Club of Ireland. We were each taking a visually impaired person for the week. The crack was mighty. The après-ski went on all night. It was a great experience. We'd have Davey Arthur playing the music, David Norris giving us a piece from Ulysses. By the end of the week all the visitors would ask us "where will it be tonight?" The week we arrived it had just stopped snowing. The following day we had blue skies and perfect snow.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?
I'd love to go to the Rockies, to Canada, and go in a camper van. I just like the remoteness of the mountains and to be able to drive around and be able to be away from everybody.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?
My husband, Gerhard. He's very adventurous. We would do climbing and walking that I wouldn't do on my own. We don't always go on holidays together, but once a year we do go together. He introduced me to the skiing and mountain-climbing in Austria.
Your favourite place in Ireland?
For short breaks, Co Kilkenny is where I would pick. Around Thomastown, Inistioge. It's wonderful to travel down by Leighlinbridge over the Barrow. And I love Kilkenny city. I love to bring friends, particularly from Austria, to a hurling match, be it club - I support the Emeralds - or a county. They really enjoy the game; it is so exciting.
What holiday reading would you recommend?
In Africa recently, when we were there on safari, I read The Kite Runner. Gerhard heard sniffles when I was reading it.
Where to next?
I've booked Ischgl, in Austria, for a few days before Christmas. It's an expensive resort, but it's inexpensive at that time of year.
• In conversation with Catherine Foley