The Queen's first ski holiday

The Queen concluded a four-day tour of Slovenia and Slovakia today which included her first ever visit to a ski resort, it has been reported.

She was escorted by the Slovak President Ivan Gasparovi to the resort of Stary Smokovec where she boarded a funicular to ascend a mountain.

She emerged at 4,144ft to unveil a commemorative plaque to mark her visit.

The Queen also kick-started an Anglo-Slovak ice hockey match at a local ice rink in the Tatras mountains.

Prince Philip, meanwhile, visited an area that had been hit by a storm in 2004 which ravaged three million trees.

There he planted a tree as a symbol of forest regeneration.

The Slovakian Tatras mountain resort has been polled as the second best ski destination in a list of the top 14 compiled for winter travel insurance customers.

But Romania's Poiana Brasov resort topped the Post Office survey list of budget resorts where total ski costs plus food and drinks reach around £200 a week.

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