An Account of the Very First Catered Chalet Trips to Chamonix Mont Blanc
Back in 1770 the inaugural guest house was opened in Chamonix France. Before this Chamonix village embodied a savage and tough agricultural village where the people caught their animals and produced their own wheat.
Farmhouses back then were used to stock herds during the summer. Their milk was kept by changing it into cheese and butter and stocked in the farm for eating over the hard wintertimes. In the snow season the barns were barred, and any valuables were put safely in a small shed.
Quite who devised catered chalet holidays is obscured by time, however it was in all probability various enthusiastic folk who recognised a set up which was novel. For Erna Low it started whilst she was a unhappy postgraduate who could not see her family in Austria as much as she wished. And so in 1932 she gambled and took out a ad in the London Times to invite guests on a skiing vacation. For only £15 they travelled to and from the town, had food and lodging in the only hotel, and paid for skiing equipment and instruction. The trip was strenuous , there were no lifts, no safety bindings, simply hard leather shoes, but it was so successful that she kept on taking people on vacations, making sure she utilized exceptional lodges and skiing guides.
Ski trips in the early years were very different from the luxuries we can receive nowadays. In the early days hot water was in limited supply, the bathrooms would be used by all of the guests, and there was no a cook; the punters had to muck in. It was a complete lottery as to who might share the lodge for a trip, one may be agreeably surprised to meet fresh acquaintances, or grimace at the thought of having to spend any more time with them.
Chalets France were later publicized on their additional bonuses. A chalet chef, who would serve you breakfast and an evening meal and made you a cake, lots of hot water.
