The History of the First Chalet Breaks to Chamonix Ski Resort
It was 1770 when the 1st hotel was opened up in Chamonix. Prior to this Chamonix Haute Savoie constituted a wild and tough agrarian place where the populace caught their own animals and harvested their barley.
Chalets then were used to stock cows during the spring and summer. Their milk was preserved by turning it into cheese and preserved down in the valley for use during the cruel winters. Throughout the snow season the farms were secured, and all valued possessions were secured in a small hut.
The person who devised the chalet holiday is obscured by time, however it was probably some zealous people who acknowledged a set up which was novel. For Erna Low it all started whilst she was a nostalgic alumna and couldn’t see her siblings back home in Austria as often as she would like to. Thus in 1933 she took a risk and put a small ad in the London Times to tempt clients on a winter vacation. The cost was £15 and they journeyed to and from the village, enjoyed food and board in the only pub lodging, and took skiing hire and tuition. Skiing was hard work, there weren’t any chair lifts, no quick release bindings, only hard leather boots, it was such a hit that she carried on taking skiers on vacations, ensuring she found fine lodges and ski instructors.
Catered chalets in the formative years were a far cry to the standards we can get today. Hot water was in short supply, the bathrooms would be used by all of the guests, and there was no a cook; all the punters had to muck in. No one knew who may share the lodge for a week, you may be enjoyably surprised to meet brand new friends, or spend a week of hell with people you didn’t get on with.
Catered chalet holidays were later publicized on its new pluses. Your own chef, who served you continental breakfast and a four course dinner and baked you cakes.
