British skiing has been in the deep freeze, you might say, for some years now - not that it was ever really hot stuff, most of the nation's wintry successes coming via the ice age of daredevil bobbers, sequinned skaters or the inimitable dancing feet of T and D.

So it is heartening to learn that there is a teenage skier whose burgeoning talent is warming the cockles for the future.

Nick Moynihan put on his first pair of skis when he was two, the moment he could jump off a chair and land cleanly on both feet.

Now, this weekend he is among 15 youngsters representing Team GB in the European Youth Winter Olympic Festival in  the mountains above Liberec in the Czech Republic.

His family lived in the French resort of Courchevel for three years - his father commuting from London at the weekends - so the piste came naturally to him.

The family? He happens to be the 16-year-old son of Lord Colin Moynihan, Olympic silver medallist rowing cox, former sports minister and now chairman of the British Olympic Association.

So no pressure there then?

"Certainly not from me," insists Lord M. "But plenty of parental support."

Nick certainly has support in abundance, not just from his family but also from his prestigious public school, Tonbridge, jn Kent where the state-of-the-art sports facilities are so outstanding that the Australian track and field team have chosen to base  their pre-Olympic training camp there.

Also, the head is allowing him to spread his A levels over three years instead of the customary two so he can slope off to the slopes as often as possible.

Sport is high on the curriculum at Tonbridge with five hours a week but Nick reckons he spends at least 15 with out of school activities.

He acknowledges: "I am lucky enough to have all these wonderful facilities at Tonbridge and I am pretty much on top of my game when it comes to land training."

He has never been on dry slopes as he is fortunate enough to be able to travel to the mountains of Europe in winter.

Specialising in the salom and giant slalom, he was selected for the British junior Alpine ski team in 2006, spending three years on the squad and doing well in a number of prestigious junior races.

In 2009 he joined for the newly formed GB junior squad - and despite an ankle injury incurred in the final minutes of a football match at Tonbridge, progressed up the FIS points ladder from races in South America, Europe and the USA.

"Soon after I started skiing I joined a small racing group and I loved it from the start," he says." I just loved the feeling of going fast.

"I always worked hard at it and I was always the one who would try and go for another run after everyone else. "

He has won the national children's championship several times and at the British Championships in Meribel he was the overall winner of the Ch2 category.

This is the first year Britain has had a full-time junior programme run by the new governing body, British Ski and Snowboarding and Nick trains with two French coaches at schools in the mountains.

He also spends school holidays in Argentina, the US and Canada and he does the European circuit from January to April.

The good news is that he is not alone. He says there are now quite a good few youngsters coming through; one of them – who is actually Moynihan's closest rival – shares another famous sporting name.

He is Jack Gower, also 16, nephew of former cricket captain, David.

They have been competing in the same events for most of their young skiing lives.

So far Nick seems to be edging their rivalry, which will be renewed in Liberec, where they will be roommates, racing both against each other and together in the team event.

"When you are skiing there is no better feeling than standing at the top looking down with the mountains all around you and then having that rush of adrenaline and wanting to go faster and faster."

Though he seems on the small size for a skier, at 5ft 8in at least he is taller than dad (pictured), once famously labelled, to his own eternal amusement, the 'Miniature for Sport'.

"Size used to be important in skiing but skiers seem to be getting progressively smaller as technology improves," says Nick.

"It is always going to be difficult to keep up with the set-ups in the skiing nations but we are definitely progressing a lot in this country."

In Liberec over 1,500 athletes from 44 European countries will be competing.  All are aged between 15 and 17 and for most this will be their first experience of a multi-sport environment and their first taste of Olympic-style competition.

Naturally, Nick has his eyes on an eventual World Cup placer and then a future Olympics.

"Not Sochi in 2014, that would be a bit too soon, but certainly wherever the 2018 Games are held."

What is he is aiming for in Liberec? "To put together solid runs, do the best I can and be happy and content with what I've done," he says as Moynihan snr beams his approval of his son's unassuming mien. "I am very proud of him.

Dad is said to be a half-decent skier himself.  "But I was beaten by Nick when he was eight, so make your own judgement."

Lord Moynihan has two other kids, George, 15, and India, 13, and both are into sports.

"With my role at the BOA I see sportsmen and women at the very top level and when I turn round and see Nick's total drive and commitment and the way he goes about delivering results, it's very special.

"If someone has a natural talent in sport and wants to develop it get to the top level, they have got to want it within themselves.  It's got to come from within."

Fingers crossed, Britain may just have one young snowman who won't melt.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.