So you`ve arrived at your favourite ski resort, but the lifts are closed – what are you going to do? Well, Bentley has a plan. We`re in Gstaad, Switzerland, and courtesy of the firm, we`ve tried the winter sport of ski joring. Traditionally, this sport involves strapping on your skis and being pulled along by a dog or a horse. Instead of that, we`re using a 570bhp Continental GT.

Video: watch our man ski joring with a Bentley Continental GT

Heavy snow has closed the official ski joring track here in the sport`s birthplace of Rougemont, but that`s not stopped Bentley and its official ski partner Zai in our quest to have some fun. So a snowy car park is commandeered and we`re given some tips by Franco Moro. He`s ski joring royalty, with 27 years experience and 16 championships, and his advice is simple: Hold on tight. 

It`s not bad advice, as winter tyres, a 570hp W12 engine and four-wheel drive make for a brisk start. It`s odd being so close to the rear of a moving car, even more so when it`s sliding around a corner and you`re being sprayed by slush from its tyres. 

Speed isn`t easy in the car park, so we pack up our Zai skis – which thankfully aren`t the Bentley Supersports editions, which cost 7,500 Euros a pair – and head off to find a suitably snowy road. What we find isn`t perfect, but it`s good enough for a 40mph run, which is about as fast as a normal horse might run. 

We`re keen to go faster, but conditions don`t allow it today. There`s an idea brewing, though, and Bentley`s got form with cold-weather speed records – the special-edition Continental Supersports ISR is testimony to that. Could we see a ski joring record run? Don`t rule it out.