Your Sweet Escape

It’s a long winter at home, grey skies, soggy dog walks, waking up in the dark for work, coming home form work in the dark. Definitely time for a holiday! You’re longing for the blue skies, crisp air and crunchy white snow of the Alps, and this year you’re sure you’ve picked a winner – it was a long quest before you found ‘the one’.  You’re staying at Chalet Rive Gauche in Le Fornet, and you can’t wait!

You’ve every right to be smug; few realise what a little gem the exclusive hamlet of Le Fornet is. The jewel in Val d’Isère’s crown, only for those with a discerning palate, those who know what they crave from a luxury ski holiday; tranquility and quick access to the slopes! This is your winter escape and it will certainly reward your confidence from the moment you arrive and step into the cool, inviting entranceway. The hall way shared with sister property Chalet Vieux Pont teases you nearer to the open doorway, like the entrance to a cave you long to explore. Rive Gauche does have a mystical feel to it, perched atop the river bank it blends in with its surroundings and feels elemental, a part of the mountainside.

Inside is warm and welcoming, and you are warmly welcomed with a glass of chilled champagne. Champagne sourced from a boutique house in the Grand Cru village of Ay, and as much care is taken in every detail of your stay at Rive Gauche as was clearly taken in sourcing the wines. Certainly one of Val d’Isère’s most striking chalets you would expect the décor and the service to live up to the exterior and it doesn't disappoint.  

As you start your sojourn with a relaxing dip in your private pool you cannot believe the magical white scene revealed before you, viewed through the impressive arced window. As you watch the Isère, rushing past on it’s journey downhill to the resort centre you feel a million miles from the dull grey you left behind. 

Holiday memories are likely to bring back visions of that wondrous pool and the hamam, but also of evenings spent in entertaining conversation around the roaring log fire, regaling each other with tales of the day’s ski mishaps before dinner. Your theatrical tumble through the trees – you swear that pine jumped into your path – and Sarah’s spectacular dismount of the La Daille chairlift – too keen to get to après at la Folie Douce! Dinners here are a feast to savour; prepared by your talented private chef you will be delighted by an international, gourmet cuisine with little twists and plenty of local flavours. After dinner you are only minutes from the infamous nightlife on offer in Val d’Isère, and your attentive chalet host has already arranged the taxis. 

Feeling slightly sluggish the morning after, you count your blessings that you are just 150 m from the Le Fornet ski lift, further still that the chalet chauffeur is ready and waiting to dash you up there with all your ski kit! The ski lift whisks you up the mountain where you quickly access the wide, open and empty pistes of the Glacier du Pissaillas. A couple of runs later and the skiers staying in central Val D’Isère have caught up with you, but by now the sore head is long gone. The peace and pure mountain air was just the tonic as always! 

As ‘D’ day approaches (departure) you can’t believe how quickly the week has flown by. How much you’ve packed into the days on the slopes and at the same time how little you’ve actually done besides kick back and enjoy the spoils of your surroundings. You ski back to the door engrossed in your own thoughts  - the others came back earlier for one last massage and a sploosh in the pool. Yes, there’s a divine presence at work here, you were definitely meant to find this chalet.