Good day at work today

I have just dealt with our hundred and twentieth enquiry for the coming winter season. This time last year we had only had twenty two, so I am feeling pretty good about that. It does mean that we are starting to fill up though, so if you were thinking about booking to come and stay I’d get in touch asap so you get the dates you want.

I have also just put a guide to Bourg on the website. It would be great if anyone who has been to Bourg before could have a look and let me know what they think of it, and for those who haven’t let me know if there is any information you think it would be useful to include.

Chris has just finished tiling the downstairs bathroom and it looks amazing.

So all in all, quite a good day at work today.

The funicular in Bourg will run year round

The town council are planning to extend the funicular opening times to run year round, which is great news for us and all our guests, particularly mountain bikers who will now be able to enjoy the mountain for 7 months of the year.

There are also other plans afoot to improve Bourg for year round holiday makers. Read more in a recent guardian article

Summer fun in the Alps

This is the first summer that Chris and I have been out here running the chalet ourselves, and we have been having a great time discovering all the activities that the area has to offer in the summer.

We have done some walking with our lovely new dog, including going up to the highest peak in Les Arcs, which oddly still had snow on it, and exploring the area around Montchavin.

We drove over to Italy for a day which crazily is only a 20 minutes drive from here in the summer when you can go across the Col de Petit Saint Bernard which was stunning. It was lovely to potter around the town of Aosta and have our lunch in an Italian trattoria. I think there are loads more of the motorbike touring routes that we still have to explore.

We have also been white water rafting a few times which is wicked fun! One time we were only 4 people in the boat so it was really bouncy and a bit scary in parts. Our guide was a bit of a charmer and made all the girls in the boat sit with him, while he tried to do wheelies with the boat, but Chris suspected he just wanted to cuddle up with us.

Another very exciting day was when we went horse riding in Arc 1600. You go along the same tracks which we ski along in the winter, and because all our horses were so used to the trails they kept walking right at the edge so they could grap leaves from the trees below, but it scared the hell out of us because we kept thinking they were going to fall of the side of the mountain.

We have also got really into playing tennis and have made Chillchalet a member of the local club, which means our guests can play for free. The views are so stunning it actually makes it quite hard to concentrate some days - it’s a great reminder of how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place, when I remember the courts I played on in England which had a lovely view of the Dartford bridge!!

Another fun thing we have done was something called Parcours Aventure in Peisey, which involved clambering around in the treetops in a climbing harness. It was excellent, and included a zip wire across a river and an indiana jones style bridge. We loved it so much that we straight away went to try out the newest, even bigger one in Arc 1800, which had 12 zip wires and 102 obstacles and took us 4 hours to complete!

It hasn’t all be active though, we have also done our fair share of lying around by the outdoor swimming pool, sitting in the park and hanging out by the swimming lake.

The house in Bourg is looking really lovely after our renovations. You can see a few pictures on the Bourg chalet page of the website, and I am adding pics as we finish rooms. I can’t wait until it’s all done and we can make a video of it looking perfect.

New arrival at Chillchalet

We have been doing lots of work to update the website with details of our chalets in Bourg and Montchavin, but also lots of information about mountainbiking and other summer activities.

Another very exciting piece of news is that we have got a dog. She is called Vanilla and is three years old. We got her from a shelter so she was a bit ratty and timid. She’s only been with us for a week and is like a new animal - happy and bouncy and putting on weight. Here is a picture of her looking a bit tatty before, and then very smart after, her trip to the hair dressers.

We are already taking bookings for next winter which is great, so have been focusing our attention on marketing ourselves to road cyclists, climbers and other summer visitors. If any one has any ideas of things we could do to help meet the needs of summer guests, please do let us know.

New look Chillchalet website

Just wanted to let people know that I have been slaving away like a crazy person working on our website adding new content. The biggest changes so far have been to the mountain biking pages. These include among other things a new guide to mountain biking in Les Arcs and a guide for beginners to mountain biking.

There is also a new jazzy section for skiing and snowboarding which has useful things like a piste map, guides to Les Arcs and La Plagne, and advice for those who are new to the snow.

I am currently adding pictures to make it look a bit more lively, so if anyone has any good pics let me know and I will include them. I’m also adding content to new pages for the summer on road cycling, motorbike touring, climbing and canoeing.

We are also currently designing a new logo for it which is very exciting because we have had the other one for 7 years!!

Chillchalet Summer

Well, what a season?  The lifts shut a week ago with an unprecedented amount of snow still sat on the mountain, and we had great conditions throughout April.

However, spring is here so it’s time to look forward to summer activities.  Lucy and I have decided to run the chalet ourselves this year and are very flexible about whether people want to stay self-catering, B&B or fully catered so just let us know what you’d prefer.

We are in the process of writing pages for the website with details of all the activities on offer in Bourg from May until October, and will let you know when they are online.  To give you a taster we will be catering for mountain biking, walking, fishing, motorbike touring, road cycling, white water rafting, canoeing, golf, tennis, horse riding, swimming, climbing and even skiing or snowboarding on the glacier.

We can arrange activities and transfers for you and have plenty of room for large families and stag and hen groups.  So if you fancy a different summer holiday this year get in touch.  There is so much to do, and if that all sounds too active, what about barbecues and sunbathing in our garden, or lounging around by the lake.

Other news.

We are planning a few changes to our service next winter, just a few things to make your trip with us that little bit more luxurious, such as including wine with dinner and afternoon tea. We are also giving the house in Bourg a complete facelift, turning the triple rooms into twins, providing more storage in all rooms, and jazzing up the bathrooms. We’ll have photos and video later in the year, but you can be sure that your trip to the new improved Chillchalet will be memorable!

Speaking of which, we are taking bookings for next winter already, so if you have any special dates in mind get in touch so you don’t miss out.

That’s it for now, we hope you had a nice bank holiday and we hope to see you soon in the Alps.

Love

Chris and Lucy x

PS - Mountain Bikers might be interested in a short film of the trails in Les Arcs at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xQ4suVWaS9w

Whats up?

Hey all,

Over in Montchavin at the moment, riding fresh snow on the 15th April! What a finish to the season, incredible conditions, over the last few days we have had a couple of feet of fresh, mostly cloudy but looks a bit brighter today. Bring it on!

The Tour has been postponed until next Wednesday 23rd, loads going on, check back for more details.

Pics up later

The Tour

We are into the last few weeks of the season, but these few weeks are often the best, the missus and I are out there next week for a bit, organising “The Tour” which is a day out in Les Arcs, a bit like a car ralley, only on skis and snowboards. Teams of four race aorund Les Arcs doing silly tasks, visiting the far flung corners of the resort and generally ragging it around and seeing all there is to see. Then we tot up the scores, give away some Westbeach goodies and have a right old knees up!

More of a celebration of all things wintery and life in general than a competition, cant wait!

Loads of snow

Oh yes, snow in Bourg, loads on the mountain, amazing conditions. All good baby, all good. Check these pics out:

Come visit us, go to the website and email me. x

Oh my God!

Snow in Bourg, and lots of it, incredible conditions out in the Alps, check out the webcams here: http://www.trinum.com/ibox/FTPCam/LesCoches.jpg