The History of the Very First Skiing Vacations to Chamonix Haute Savoie France
1770 was when the first accommodation Chamonix was opened in Chamonix Haute Savoie. Before this Chamonix ski resort was a savage and tough rural place where folks caught animals and farmed their own oats.
Farmhouses then were used to breed cows during the summer months. Their milk was kept by turning it into different types of cheese and stored down in the valley for eating during the long winter times. In the winter season the farmhouses were bolted, and any valued possessions were locked in a tiny shed.
Quite who invented the chalet holiday is unknown, however it was likely several spirited folk who acknowledged a set up that people liked. For entrepreneur Erna Low it all began when she was a nostalgic postgraduate who couldn’t see her parents back home as frequently as she liked. Thus in 1933 she gambled and put a small advertisement in the broadsheets to ask punters on a skiing trip. For £15 they journeyed to and from the town, enjoyed dinner and lodging in the sole inn, and took ski equipment and instruction. The trip was difficult , there were no skiing lifts, no quick release fixations, only leather boots, however it was so successful that Erna carried on taking groups on vacation, guaranteeing she found first-class hotels and instructors.
The chalet holidays in the early years were very different to the luxury we experience today. In the early days hot water was in limited supply, bathrooms had to be used by all of the punters, and there wasn’t a cook; all the guests had to help out with the chores. It was a real gamble who may share the lodge for a vacation, you might be pleasantly surprised by meeting fresh skiers, or grimace at the thought of having to spend any more time with them.
The chalet holiday was later on advertised on its new pluses. A cook, who served you cooked breakfast and a plentiful evening meal and even made you a cake, plentiful warm water for washing.
