Horse-drawn Skiing
If you’re really missing skiing, how about this: skijoring (or, as the Norwegians call it, skikjøring)? The Ferme de l’Adroit offers it.
If you’re really missing skiing, how about this: skijoring (or, as the Norwegians call it, skikjøring)? The Ferme de l’Adroit offers it.
As you may have heard, no ski lifts, restaurants or bars can open in French Ski Resorts until after the Christmas/New Year holiday period. Sadly YSE has had to cancel all confirmed December bookings, and we are making full refunds under our Coronavirus Guarantee.
We don’t know if the whole resort will open early in January or mid-January (when restaurants in France may open) but we will be ready whenever this is. We have staff waiting to go to Val d’Isère and our chalets are spruced up for your arrival.
There has been quite a bit of media coverage regarding chalet companies who are no longer operating, or who have decided to give this winter a miss, but we are looking forward to welcoming guests to YSE chalets very soon.
Following our news post of August 2018 announcing the arrival of a Lammergeyer chick, the pair of adult Lammergeyer who nest every year in the cliffs above La Daille have produced another one this year, their eleventh since they first succeeded in 2002. The via ferrata on that side of the gorges is closed, and paragliders are asked not to fly in the area. The photograph above isn’t the chick: it’s one of the parents. The egg was laid in mid-January and hatched in mid-March, and he/she is just trying a few timid first flights now!
Nutritional therapist Toto enjoyed a fabulous ski holiday with YSE and wrote about it on her blog, Totoly Nourished:
Wow, wow, WOW! What a beautiful week in Val d’Isère with YSE and the West family. Incredible weather and skiing, a gorgeous chalet of guests and the most delicious food. I’m feeling so energised, relaxed and full of life!
When friends/family asked me what I would be eating on a week’s skiing holiday, I have to admit I wasn’t sure! YSE were very accommodating and I paid a small supplement of £25 to cater for my dietary requirements. A few years ago I would have felt uncomfortable about being singled out or treated differently but after nearly 27 years of managing my condition, I’ve realised that there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to feel your best at all times, particularly on holiday! These companies are there to make your holiday more enjoyable and YSE couldn’t have been more welcoming of my quirkiness!
Amelia (Mimi) Cheer was the most amazing chef and produced a stunning, three course meal each evening, which was gluten free and plant based. I asked Mimi if she would be happy for me to feature her ‘Toto friendly’ creations on here and I’m delighted to say that she said YES! More from Mimi shortly.
At the start of the week, Mimi and I had a good chat about more specific requests, for example breakfast options and canapé ideas. Each morning before a day on the slopes, I opted for two slices of gluten free toast with either smashed avocado or a selection of jams, usually with some fruit on the side. I wanted something which was easy to digest and more carbohydrate based to fuel the six hours of skiing that would follow. I brought protein bars with me and I enjoyed one with our mid-morning coffee up the mountain. Lunches were typically up the mountain and the most challenging. Luckily my French is fairly respectable (don’t worry if yours isn’t – they all speak English in ski resorts!) and I quickly worked out that simple was better when ordering in restaurants. I usually opted for a large salad, a soup or if nothing else was available, a big plate of chips! I found an amazing café in the centre of Val d’Isère – Arctic Juice & Café is the world’s first ‘mountain energy café’ and I was in complete heaven. Their superfood salad and green endurance juice left me feeling on top of the world!
After a boogie and a gin and tonic (or two…OK maybe three!) at après-ski, afternoon tea would be waiting for us at the chalet on our return. Mimi made me a beautiful ginger cake topped with fruit, as well as some delicious shortbread. Indulgent, yes but much needed after all that dancing!
So, the bit you’ve probably been waiting for. Here is one of the menus Mimi created and the recipes so that you can recreate them at home!
Starter: Moroccan spiced falafel with harissa chutney
(Serves 8)
Ingredients:
Directions:
Main: Quinoa stuffed courgettes on a bed of puy lentils, with a pea purée, roasted potatoes and tomatoes
(Serves 4)
Ingredients:
Directions:
Dessert: Vegan meringue with a berry coulis
(Makes 10-12 meringues)
Ingredients:
Directions:
An enormous thank you to Mimi for sharing her talents on Totoly Nourished and for making my skiing holiday stress-free and beautifully satisfying. I also have to mention Miranda and Anna, our dream team chalet hosts for the week, who were always smiling, helpful and huge fun to be around.
If you are interested in hiring Mimi, an Orchards Cookery School trained chef, for private jobs, please contact Mimi directly at ameliacheer1@gmail.com
Top tips for a happy and healthy holiday:
Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.
Love and light,
Toto x
Read the blog here:
https://totolynourished.com/eating-in-the-alps-featuring-guest-chef-amelia-cheer/
As voted by the readers of Condé Nast Traveller this week. It’s been our guests’ favourite for years!
The annual transhumance has happened later than usual this year, because the snow took longer to melt. The 80 cows of one of Val d’Isère’s two dairy farms came up last week to the high pastures, where they’re being milked twice a day in mobile milking parlours. Because of their diet of wild flowers, the milk is considered to make wonderful cheese.
Here, lifted from the excellent radiovaldisere.com, is an understandably blurred image of the new baby lammergeyer – or bearded vulture – stretching its nine-foot wingspan high in the blue sky above Val d’Isère. It was spotted last week for the first time and caused huge excitement in the village because lammergeyers don’t often breed successfully. No-one then saw it for a week, but it’s been seen again today, learning its trade from its parents in the Grande Sassière valley, the next valley north of Val d’Isère.
We were very pleased to welcome The Times travel editor, Jane Knight, to YSE Chalet des Neiges last winter. She skied with John and Fiona who showed her their favourite routes around the ski area. Best of all, she came away realising that Val d’Isère is not just a mecca for good skiers, but is absolutely suitable for beginners and low-intermediates!
From chalet girl to chalet guest, avid skier Laura Pullman returns to Val d’Isere ten years on and finds there’s more to the resort than just good food and flirting.
Read the full article.
The French came late to ecology. Until recently they recognised just two species in nature, the çasemange and the çasemangepas (the youcaneatit and the youcanteatit). But they have now realised how much nature they have, and are looking after it with admirable dedication.
In the 1960s, Val d’Isère gave half its land to the nascent Parc de la Vanoise, on condition that it could replace ski lifts already on that land when the time came. But the law changed, and when the STVI wanted to build the new Cascade Express chairlift, it was only allowed on condition the Parc got a few thousand more acres.
More than 60% of Val d’Isère’s land is now given over to national parks and reserves. The ibex are back. The lammergeyer is back. The golden eagle is being more protected than ever (mostly against the lammergeyer!). The Olympic downhill was moved to protect a clump of granny’s nightcap, the World Championship slalom was moved to protect some melancholy thistles, and a snow cannon reservoir on Bellevarde has been held up for the past year because it was disturbing alpine campion – all flowers that grow like weeds around Val d’Isère, but are rare nationally. Work has finally been allowed to continue, on condition that Val d’Isère set up several other reserves for rare species.
Volunteers scoured the slopes of Solaise for rubbish this summer (they did Bellevarde last year) and picked up half a ton of litter, including ten thousand cigarette ends. The Tourist Office is trialling customised pocket poubelles, so that skiers can store their day’s detritus until they find a proper bin back at village level.
A study into Val d’Isère’s carbon footprint, designed to help the resort cut back its production of greenhouse gases, determined that most of the CO2 emissions are caused by skiers’ journeys to the resort, and that the best solution was to tell them not to come. So that one got the kibosh! Electric buses have been tried: they don’t like the cold. Trams have been considered: the rails would ice up. But 100 tons of salt per winter are no longer going into the Isère now that the village keeps its roads white. The energy consumption of all public buildings is being monitored and limited. And the days of the 4×4 driving zone on the back of Bellevarde seem to be numbered, while more tracks are being opened up to mountain bikes.
Rubbish is sorted into three categories before going in the moloks, the sunken dustbins. Most of it gets burnt in a modern, clean incinerator just below the dam. But a lot goes further down valley for more sorting and recycling. Cynics may wonder how much fossil fuel it takes to cart a load of glass down to Albertville in order to save a bit of sand, but at least the plan to heat the new sports-aquatic centre (swimming pool) with a log-burning boiler in order to save oil and, er, protect the forests was put on hold!
All in all, Val d’Isère is making vast efforts to protect its bit of heaven and preserve it for a few more generations.