by It’s one thing to gracefully glide off a moving chairlift with skis on. It is much more without. That’s why I spent the trip up the mountain thinking of how best to tackle the oncoming crowd in ski boots, instead of drinking in the kaleidoscopic Alpine views – a painted church the size of a toy and framed by white grass underfoot, the wild Chaîne de Fiz. a sawtooth ridge across a bird’s-eye blue sky to the north and Mont Blanc peeping over Dômes du Miage in the east.
Today it is rare to find wheelchair lifts in France that require skiers to remove their skis before boarding. But then again, the ski village of St-Nicolas de Véroce – squirreled away by the 1,180mi Val Montjoie Haute-Savoie ski area and just 30km from behemoth Chamonix – is no other vintage.
Keeper of tradition
Born of simple farming stock, he found his fortune in the 16th century when most of its young men headed east across the mountain passes of the Alps on foot with a peddlerdashery they bought in Geneva. Money these travelers sent home from Switzerland, Austria and beyond colporteurs financed the treasure of St. Nicolas of the 18th century Baroque church. A small museum of sacred art nearby sparkles with amazing artistic wealth found on their travels.
“Each valley traded a different kind of goods – fabric, buttons, thread, everything to make clothes in our valley, but others sold seeds for the garden or hair to make wigs for the nobility,” local historian Caroline Duperthuy told me during post – a guided ski tour of the village of Savoyyard, home to 250 inhabitants year-round and no more than double that in winter.
A little further up the same street at St-Nicolas, the retro two-seater route that connects Route de Ste-Nicolas and the snowy Plateau de la Croix at 1,450m has not changed a single bit since it opened in 1970. Skiers do threading their skis into a metal bolt socket on the back of the chair and relying on a helping hand, literally, from a lift attendant at the top to jump safely out – and out of the way – of the swing chair. The budget for a €6 million cable car to replace it in 2025 has been approved, but in the meantime, the treacherous Télésiège du Chef-Lieu remains a symbol of a hidden Alpine village dedicated to tradition and a way of life quieter, slower than before. his neighbors.
A top-drawer intermediate ski
“Guests come here to ski and enjoy nature,” general manager Damien Bastiat told me that evening over locally distilled Gin du Mont Blanc in the bar at Armancette, St-Nicolas’ only hotel. “From here they can immerse themselves in the festival of Megève, but return to peace and quiet.”
Bastiat moved with his family from St-Barts to St-Nicolas in late 2022 to oversee the Almae Collection, a small French luxury hotel group dedicated to community partnerships and regeneration. When it opened in 2019, the first thing the five-star Armancette did was revive the village’s boulangerie (few beats the smell of a freshly baked baguette wafting across your balcony as a wake-up call). Lake fish, charcuterie and seasonal produce – all religiously sourced within a 90-minute radius of St-Nicolas – fuel the gastronomic art of hotel chef Fabien Laprée.
From the beginner’s area on the Plateau de la Croix – serviced by a couple of tow-friendly lifts, the CSE ski school and Le Schuss café serving locally brewed Marmotte beer – I made my way up to Mont Joly. At 2,525m this is the highest point in Domaine Évasion-Mont Blanc, a huge ski area with 400km of runs linking St-Nicolas with Parisian favorites Megève and St-Gervais-les-Bains.
The Grand Chamois run from the top of Mont Joly is as hairy and white-knuckle as roomless blacks get, and off-piste trails to Megève and Les Contamines keep powder hounds on their toes. Telemarking is popular and night skiing with a torch between pine trees down the magnificent red Marmottes run is alpine on steroids. To enable skiers to stay close to home, a micro ski pass covering St-Nicolas costs €17 per day compared to €55 for the entire Domaine Évasion-Mont Blanc.
At the bottom of the Mont Joly draglift in St-Gervais, I skip the Jägerbombs, rosé on ice and dance après-ski on tables at A-lister La Folie Douce. I have to return to St-Nicolas – a 15 minute ski – to watch the cows being milked and learn how Tomme de Savoie cream cheese is made at La Ferme de Véroce.
Beginner friendly mountain bowls
Leaving St-Nicolas the next day and after the high-octane thrills and speed of turbo-charged Chamonix, it was a relief when the Mont Blanc Express train pulled into the village of Vallorcine, a 30-minute ride north towards the end . of the valley. The cherry-red carriages in the snow are the stuff of stories with a passion for the last frontier.
Skiing out of the resort, in the Domaine de Balme-Le Tour area, is cruisy and insanely scenic, with eagle eye panoramas of the Chamonix Valley and the Swiss Alps. Unlike other sectors in Chamonix’s world-famous Mont Blanc Natural Resort domain, Balme is kind to beginners and timid intermediates. A state-of-the-art cable car in Vallorcine and the Charamillon La Tour gondola ensure easy access to 21 blue and red runs, some pretty between the trees.
Skiing like it’s 1959
“It’s life! ” he exclaims racer Gérard between nice scrapes of warm raclette cheese. Behind the magnificent Vallorcine train station with its green wrought iron canopy and beautiful mosaic signage, I lunched on the sunny terrace of Le Café Comptoir.
The crowd was quintessentially French and it’s no surprise to find that this is where skiers in vintage 1930s to 70s Génépi goggle-goggles lined up after Vallorcine’s exhilarating scaled-down retro festival in March . I put in a couple of gherkins and boiled potatoes swimming in a glorious puddle of sunshine silk cheese. It might not have been the bright lights of Chamonix, but I would have struck Alpine gold and revealed France’s best skiing secret.
Fundamentals
Where to stay
St-Nicolas de Véroce: Armancette (almae-collection.com/armancette) offers doubles from €750 or ski-in/ski-out chalets sleeping up to 14 from €1235 per night.
Valorcine: Les Chalets du Plane by Le Café Comptoir, (lecafecomptoir.com) offers doubles with half board from €120 and bedrooms for up to eight people from €800 per week.
How to get there
Fly from London to Geneva, then travel 60-90 minutes by car or private transfer to St-Nicolas de Véroce and Vallorcine. By rail, take the Eurostar to Paris, then direct SNCF high-speed train to Sallanches (five hours, then a 30-minute minibus transfer to St-Nicolas de Véroce) or St-Gervais-les-Bains (five hours, then. Mont Blanc Express in 90 minutes to Vallorcine).
