An Account of the Early Skiing Breaks to Chamonix Mont Blanc
It was 1770 when the 1st guest house opened in Chamonix Mont Blanc France. Before this Chamonix ski resort constituted a wild and craggy rural hamlet where people hunted their animals and harvested their cereals.
Barns back then were used to raise dairy cows over the summer months. Their milk was conserved by transforming it into different types of cheese and stored in the valley for eating during the long winter times. In the winter the farmhouses were locked, and valued possessions were secured in a small mazot.
The person who devised catered chalet holidays is unknown, however it was likely several spirited folk who acknowledged a pattern that was novel. With Erna Low it started when she was a homesick student who couldn’t visit her folks back home as often as she liked. So in the early 1930’s she took a gamble and placed a small ad in the London Times to tempt clients on a ski break. The cost was £15 and they journeyed to and from the ski resort, enjoyed breakfast and dinner and board in the sole hotel, and paid for skiing equipment and tuition. The holiday was arduous , there weren’t any ski lifts, no quick release bindings, simply hard leather boots, however it was so popular that she carried on taking friends on holidays, seeing to it that she sourced superb accommodations and ski guides.
Catered chalet breaks in the early years were a far cry to the luxuries we enjoy now. In the early days hot water was in short supply, washrooms had to be shared by all of the clients, and there wasn’t a chef; the clients needed to help out with the chores. It was a complete lottery as to who might share the accommodation for a holiday, you might be agreeably surprised by meeting fresh skiers, or not gel with the group.
Chalet holidays were later on advertised on their other pluses. A cook, who would serve you breakfast and a plentiful evening meal and made you cakes, lots of warm water for bathing. And with Chamonix travel options so plentiful these days it makes your ski holiday so easy.
