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MOUNTAIN MAGIC
by Clare Guinness
Additional research by Emily Turner
Forget
horseback riding in the Gobi, diving in Thailand, bone fishing in the
Bahamas, or even a week on the beach in … well anywhere, skiing
is my thing. It always has been - from childhood holidays, through teenage
years spent living in Norway, through being a saisoniere (French for ski
bum) to meeting my husband in the Alps and settling down for five extremely
happy years there. Now our life is very different, we live in London and
have three small children, but our annual pilgrimage to the mountains
is sacrosanct. We don’t have the option of leaving the children
behind, neither would we entertain the idea of waiting until they are
older, so for the last six years I have made it one of my missions in
life to find that holy grail: the perfect ‘family ski holiday’.
First attempt, winter ’98, Aspen: one 10-month old baby. The journey was fairly grim – Heathrow to Chicago, followed by an internal flight to Eagle and a long arduous drive up the mountain. However the payback for all this effort is the glorious ski station (a little Americanism for you) of Aspen, with its centrally heated pavements, 5th Avenue style shops, Nobu and Arnold Schwarzenegger, oh, and some rather wonderful skiing. Our self-catering apartment was decked out in a distressed alpine style. We hired a beautiful but slightly injured Argentinian Olympic skier to look after our baby. We had five hours’ skiing every morning and spent the afternoons shopping with babe in tow. It was a marvellous holiday.
We obviously weren’t as put off by the journey as we should have been when two years later (now with two children in tow) we headed off to Whistler: After the agony of the flight, during which our daughter spent the entire 11 hours to Vancouver perfecting her high pitched scream, we took the ‘Sea to Sky’ Highway, with truly breathtaking views, to Whistler. Here we realised that North America wasn’t going to work for us while our children are small. The combination of the getting there and the jet lag (now multiplied by two) was too much. When they’re bigger it will be great, the ski schools are packed with those cheery "have a nice day" types, and the change of culture is exciting - Mounties, moose, log cabins and English Muffins (impossible to find in England) for breakfast. Just not yet.
Third and Fourth attempts were both in Val d’Isere: Like homing pigeons my husband and I have returned with our children to the resort we know and love. We’ve done the self-catering no nanny option – I was heavily pregnant and so rather conveniently fulfilled both roles. A holiday best enjoyed by my husband. We’ve stayed in a wonderful chalet organised by Scott Dunn where we holed up and gorged on endless delicious meals – my elder son now prefers his risotto to be served from a mould! Take note - this is one of the hazards of a great chalet holiday. Another is that you are so blissfully taken care of in your chalet you tend not to leave it.
For our final attempt to find the perfect holiday we felt we wanted to be a bit more in touch with the resort and for the children to realize that they were in another country, not just England with some mountains. So we plumped for the Hotel Christiania, right in the heart of Val d’Isere. This was again organised by Scott Dunn who seem to understand how to make travelling with children bearable: flights at sensible times and transfer coaches replete with child-friendly picnics and videos. They also have the most fantastic nannies. The advantage of using one of their nannies rather than bringing someone along to help with the children is that they know the lie of the land. Some of it is basic - take the sort of equipment that children need in the mountains: sun cream, goggles, ski passes, hats, gloves, and so on. Common sense? Yes, but if you think getting children ready for a walk in the park is a palaver you should try getting them ready for a stroll in the Vanoise Massif. Also the nannies are used to looking after a different group of children from week to week so they slip effortlessly into their role as your nanny.
After an initial ill-fated attempt in ski school we organised a private
instructor for the children through the excellent ski school Snow Fun.
I am proud to say that my son is now the distinguished holder of a Crystal
badge and we are rather hoping that our daughter may qualify for a Souris
this year. (I’m a West London parent – what do you expect!)
As for staying in a hotel with small children, it was wonderful. The staff
at the Christiania couldn’t have been kinder or more accommodating.
The hotel has a pool and the children loved to have a swim in the afternoon.
My husband and I tended to do some utterly exhausting skiing every morning
while the children were either with their ski instructor or nanny. Then
we would all meet up for a delicious lunch on one of the terraces at the
foot of the nursery slopes. Afternoons were spent doing a huge range of
things with the children: more skiing, tobogganing, ice driving on snowmobiles,
riding on sledges behind huskies, walks up the valley to spot the Golden
Eagles, Bouquatan and Chamois, ice-skating, rides in bubble cars, hot
chocolates by roaring fires, cheese fondues up at the Fornet. We would
then tuck three weary little children up in their cosy hotel room and
head downstairs for a lavish supper - the children never stirred.
The mountains are so beautiful and offer such a range of things to do for children of all ages, if you can sort out the basics - making the travelling as straightforward as possible, going in the spring when it’s not too cold, and organising good child care - it can be the best sort of family holiday. Hopefully it is one that our children will still be keen to share with us when they’re older; who knows, maybe they’ll even become ski-bums themselves, which wouldn’t be too bad…really.
Skiing Fact File
Scott
Dunn
020 8682 5059
A week’s holiday for two adults and three children at the Christiania
costs from £5950 in January (rising to £8595 over Easter).
Scott Dunn chalet holidays in Val d’Isere cost from £895-2195
pp.
Snow Fun Ski School
00 33 4 79061979
Hotel Christiania
00 33 4 79060825
Other tour operators that offer child friendly ski holidays include:
Club Med
08453 676767
The pioneer of all the all inclusive ‘holiday village’ with
28 skiing villages, the bulk of them in France. The majority offer free
children’s clubs from 4 years, with three (Flaine, Serre-Chevalier
and Villars-sur-Ollon) taking babies from four months (supplement payable).
The brochure has a good pull out section at the back so you can compare
prices, facilities etc. Helpful staff once you have got beyond the dreaded
recorded information greeting.
Family
Ski Company
01684 540333
Thirteen chalets in smaller villages linked to some of the main French
resorts, la Plagne, les Menuires, Portes du Soleil. Small family run company.
You will be less cossetted than with some of the other options, but good
childcare and excellent value.
Mark Warner
0870 770 4226
A variant on the Club Med theme - fourteen chalethotels mainly in France.
Eleven of these offer childcare facilities from 4 months (at an extra
cost) and the childcare in particular has won huge plaudits. Puffin, Penguin,
Polar Bear and Polar Ranger clubs from 9am to 5.30pm including supervised
tea. All reports are that the kids adore it!
Powder
Byrne
020 8246 5300
Up market operator that specialises in hotels (no chalets) in a selection
of carefully chosen resorts – excellent childcare options from 6
months upwards. Confident older kids should try the Martin Bell ski camp.
Running at Zermatt over two separate weeks during the easter holidays,
two classes of 8 will get tuition and free skiing with the man himself.
(£335 per child per week, 9am-4pm.)
This season PB have ditched brochures, claiming that they can provide
a better service on-line and over the phone. Not sure about this –
personally, I find flicking through brochures part of the fun of choosing
a holiday and when I used the site it was slow and
the last minute availability checks didn’t work. Extremely helpful
and prompt telephone staff though.
Simply
Ski
020 8541 2209
A nice selection of chalets in Austria, France and Switzerland (the majority
sleeping between 6 and 12). They offer a creche and children’s club
for children from 6 months to 8 years in Courcheval le Praz (from £150
per week) and private nannies in Zermatt, Verbier and St Anton (£450
per week). Variety of ski lesson options with the Simply Ski Children’s
Club. Good brochure. Helpful staff on the phone after a short wait. (They
also feature some gorgeous looking hotels in the USA but no childcare
facilities.)
Ski Beat
01243 780405
Small, mid-range independent with chalets in la Plagne, les Arcs, La Tania
and Val d’Isere. Childcare options range from private nannies to
creche facilities or ski school and afternoon care. Good website and helpful
telephone staff.
Ski
Esprit
01252 618300
Family ski experts with chalets and chalet hotels in popular resorts in
France, together with some smaller family resorts in Italy and Austria.
Full time nursery care available for 4 months to 3 years. In the 3-7 yrs
category, most childcare is either morning or afternoons so a good option
for families who want to spend some time with their children. Lots of
discount combinations which I found incredibly confusing. Long wait on
the phone. Definitely has the feel of a mass market operator.
North American Operators
Childcare options in North America have to be arranged locally, but the
following companies are recommended:
Ski
All America
08701 676 676
Ski the
American Dream
0870 350 7547
First published in angels and urchins, Christmas 2003