Chalet Des Pistes

Des Neiges, des Pentes and des Pistes are the three parts of a chalet built especially for YSE. The Funival and the La Daille bubble pass close by, while the Les Etroits chairlift goes practically overhead. The building is on a little unskied island, overlooking the bottom of the OK, Orange, Diébold, Raye and Verte runs. The location is so perfect that we not only signed a very long lease on these chalets, we also bought the shack next door to live in ourselves. Could we give a more sincere endorsement of the position than taking a mortgage likely to last longer than we do to share it?

Being right on the pistes is great. Getting to the slopes is no longer a chore, and queueing for buses a thing of the past. To shed a layer of clothing, you just dump it as you pass. And these aren’t just any pistes: they are World Cup Downhill pistes. Most people have their first run of the day on these runs, and some seldom leave them. They offer skiing for every standard, ultra-quick lifts back up and guaranteed snow from snow cannons top to bottom. And once the lifts close, they become lethal with tearaway toddlers on toboggans!

In the morning, you walk for a few seconds before stepping into your bindings to glide to the lift of your choice – probably the Funival, still the world’s fastest lift. At the end of the day, good skiers ski right back to the door and beginners stop where they started, thirty seconds’ walk away.

A few hundred metres up the slopes are the sunny terraces of the Folie Douce and Trifollet, where a therapeutic drink or two to music – live and loud at the Folie, more subdued at the Trif – set one up nicely for the final schuss home to a hot bath.

The only people who find the 20-minute walk from the main village less than ideal are those who spend more time in Dick’s than on the slopes, but the free bus runs until 2am, and the teenage sample we asked were enthusiastic: apparently, staying in La Daille gives time for a mint or two on the way home, while being right on the pistes means even with a record hangover one can still be on the first lift. Parents will be reassured to hear that.

The owner of the chalets is a furniture maker, so they are as meticulously finished and furnished as his showrooms in Aime. There are acres of wood, much of it quite old.

More importantly, the chalets are very comfortable and well appointed. The bedrooms are not huge – predictably, since the real estate they occupy must be some of the most desirable in the world – but they are tastefully decorated, and have underfloor heating, reasonable cupboards, good lighting and gorgeous bathrooms. Even the beds are bigger and firmer than usual in France. Each bedroom has a private ski locker in the ski room, with very effective individual boot warmers.

The sitting and dining rooms are magnificent. Bottomless bespoke sofas from Sofa Workshop, curtains from Material Matters, fireplaces from the only man in the Savoie who knows how to make a chimney draw like a blast furnace.

Des Neiges has a dining room and open-plan kitchen, and a large L-shaped sitting room with home cinema, dozens of satellite channels, plasma screen TV and WiFi. Des Pentes and des Pistes each have a single sitting-dining room and make do with wide-screen TV, DVDs and WiFi.

Des Neiges has space for fifteen guests, Room 3 having three beds. If you fill the chalet, the fifteenth person pays half price.

Des Pentes can take eleven guests, because Room 1 has both a double bed and a single. When one party fills the chalet, a third person can stay in this room half-price – perfect for Mormons, Muslims, polygamists and bigamists. Mostly it’s just used by a couple with a child.

Des Pistes comprises three bedrooms, three bathrooms and six contented customers.

Rooms in order of preference (in our opinion):

Bedroom 1: Twin (13’6” x 10’6”) on second floor, under roof beams, bathroom with wc.
Bedroom 2: Twin (10’ x 9’) on second floor, under roof beams, bathroom with wc.
Bedroom 3: Double (11’ x 9’) on first floor, by the living room, bathroom with wc.
Sitting-Dining Room: (17’ x 17’ including open-plan kitchen) on first floor, with windows on three sides, wraparound balcony on two, TV, DVD, WiFi and big fireplace.

Next to Funival, La Daille bubbles and Les Etroits chairlift.

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