Chalet De Pierre

This brand new five bedroom, five bathroom, ski-in, ski-out chalet with sauna, gym and private lift, is one of the smartest chalets in Val d’Isère. The good-sized bedrooms have small but tasteful bathrooms. More importantly, each room has a pair of decent-sized beds which fit together to make a huge double if your holiday is going well, or slide apart if it isn’t. And better still, the rooms have picture windows giving breathtaking views of sunrise over the Galise or sunset behind Bellevarde.
The sitting-dining room up under the hefty rafters, with its open-plan kitchen, is vast. In a village where a coffee-table’s worth of property can sell for £20,000, it is amazing to find so much space.

The table has been hand-made to our specifications: three diners on the longer sides, two on the ends. That’s the way to get a good conversation going! Not one of these long, thin tables where you get stuck next to your mother-in-law and miss the punchline from the other end. Mealtimes are accompanied by an unforgettable view of Bellevarde.

At the other end of the room there’s an equally spectacular view across the bottom of the lovely, smooth L piste and up to the glaciers of the Italian border from big, squashy sofas around the log fire. When it gets dark, there’s a flat-screen TV with lots of programmes in French, some in English, and a selection of DVDs.

On the ground floor, between the front door and the private lift which whisks you to the bedroom floor or the living room floor, are the ski room, boot warmers, sauna and gym (cross trainer, cycling and rowing machines – just what you need after eight hours’ skiing).

Rooms in order of preference (in our opinion):
Bedroom 1: Twin/double (19’ x 11’6”) on first floor. Bathroom with bath and wet-room rainhead shower. Separate wc. French windows facing east.
Bedroom 2: Twin/double (14’ x 12’6”) on second floor next to sitting-dining room. Bathroom and separate wc. French windows onto balcony facing west.
Bedroom 3: Twin/double (19’ x 11’6”) on first floor. Bathroom and separate wc. French windows facing east.
Bedroom 4: Twin/double (14’ x 12’6”) on first floor. Bathroom and separate wc. French windows facing west.
Bedroom 5: Twin/double (14’ x 12’6”) on first floor. Bathroom and separate wc. French windows facing west.
Sitting-Dining room: (40’ x 15”) Enormous room on second floor under roof beams, with sofas around a log fire, TV, DVD and WiFi, west-facing dining area, and two separate balconies. Open-plan kitchen included in these measurements.

Sauna and gym with shower and wc on ground floor. Extra wc on second floor.

The chalet dominates the little hamlet of Le Laisinant, five minutes’ walk or one stop on the free (and now eco-friendly) bus past the edge of the main village, from a position just beneath the Traversée du Laisinant piste.

You don’t have to be a good skier to return to the chalet from the bottom of the L or Mattis pistes (see photo of the man in black, top right!), while the never-crowded six-seater Laisinant Express chairlift is two minutes’ walk, or a quick pole away. The Laisinant Express was already the quickest way into the Fornet ski area, and now a new run takes skiers straight into the Solaise area, making this chairlift a superbly convenient way to start the day’s skiing.

• Telephone: 0845 122 1414
  
• Telephone 2: 0845 122 1414
  
• Fax: 0845 122 1415
  
• Web: http://www.yseski.co.uk/pierre.html#
• Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=120895930800