Downshifting ski chalets

For many skiers, bigger is better. And for the past three decades, resorts have attempted to outdo each other with ever-greater numbers of lifts and kilometres of piste (the Trois Vallées has 600km of piste, but the Portes du Soleil 650km), not to mention adding more hotels, bars, spas and shops down in the town.

However, a new trend is emerging. A growing number of skiers, chalet owners and ski guides are turning their backs on the big resorts and “downshifting” to tiny villages that may not have many lifts but still give access to amazing, uncrowded skiing. Better still, some of these pioneers are opening boutique hotels, lodges and chalets. Here are some of the best:

Veysonnaz, Switzerland

Former ski racer Ashlee Benis trained at resorts across Europe, particularly Verbier and Val d’Isère. So it raised ski industry eyebrows when she chose a secluded two-acre meadow above the hamlet of Veysonnaz, south-west Switzerland, as the site for an ultra-luxurious chalet. Called Hidden Dragon to reflect its tucked-away location but also the shinto and feng shui practices used in its design, the chalet is set amid forest at the end of a private road. It’s five minutes’ walk to the village (population about 500) but you can ski straight down to the lifts, which connect to its bigger, brasher neighbour Verbier. “Veysonnaz is a little fish in a huge pond,” says Benis. “Hidden Dragon was built with escape in mind.” www.hidden-dragon.com; www.veysonnaz.ch

Grimentz, Switzerland

Grimentz is an ancient farming village in Switzerland’s little-visited Val d’Anniviers, and has attracted much attention from keen skiers in the past couple of years. Nick Williams, co-founder of ski holiday company Mountain Heaven, spotted the resort’s potential early and bought an apartment there in 2007, drawn by the valley’s spectacular setting and old-world charm. Since 2008, he’s also been helping others experience its delights, by running Cole Ridge, a pretty catered chalet for up to 10. “We were initially a little reluctant to run Cole Ridge as we wanted to keep Grimentz secret,” he says. “But it’s been 100 per cent booked for the past two winters, so I suppose the secret is getting out.” www.cole-ridge.co.uk; www.grimentz-stjean.ch

Lyngen Lodge, Norway

Originally from Newcastle, Graham Austick moved to St Anton, Austria, when he was 19 and became one of the resort’s best-known off-piste guides. His company, Piste to Powder, is still hugely successful in St Anton, but Austick now spends much of his time in the remote Lyngen Alps of northern Norway. In 2008 he opened his own luxury lodge there, sleeping 18 guests, and offering an altogether different type of ski holiday. There are no ski lifts and no pistes at all here, instead each morning the lodge’s powerboat takes the guests through the fjords to a new mountain. The skiers climb up using climbing skins, then ski back down, ending their runs on the beach, where the boat will pick them up. “For skiers who want to get away from crowds, back to the roots of the sport and the purity of the mountains, Norway is perfect,” he says. “It’s a unique experience.” www.lyngenlodge.com

Sainte Foy, France

Rupert and Jo Clevely, founders of the Geronimo Inns group of pubs in Britain, have been devotees of Val d’Isère for years, with Jo first spending a winter there in 1980, paying for her ski pass by delivering croissants to chalets at the crack of dawn. But when the couple bought a chalet to run as a business in 2006 they selected Yellowstone Lodge in Sainte-Foy, a sleepy village 20 minutes’ drive south of Val d’Isère. Ste-Foy has seven lifts compared with Val d’Isère’s 94 and 25km of pistes to Val’s 300km, but the slopes are well-groomed, quiet and safe. The fact that guides from Val and Tignes spend their days off in Ste-Foy speaks volumes about off-piste quality. “Some people might regard buying in Ste-Foy rather than Val d’Isère as downshifting or even compromising but I would argue it’s upshifting,” says Rupert. “We have quieter pistes, no lift queues and more snow, while benefiting from a genuine community feel.” www.yellowstoneskilodge.co.uk; www.saintefoy-tarentaise.com

St-Martin-de-Belleville, France

It’s somewhat surprising to find a genuinely unspoiled Savoyard village tucked away in a corner of the Trois Vallées, the world’s biggest fully-linked ski area and home to such behemoths as Courchevel, Val Thorens and Méribel. Yet St-Martin-de-Belleville is exactly that. It comes complete with a pretty 16th-century church, friendly bars and a Michelin-starred restaurant. “When we stumbled upon St-Martin six years ago, we thought it was the best of all worlds,” says John Ayton, who founded jewellery business Links of London with his wife Annoushka Ducas. “The village is quiet yet atmospheric and there’s amazing food and skiing on the doorstep.” The couple owned an apartment in Megève and skied regularly in Courchevel and Méribel but decided St-Martin was the place to open a chalet. The result is the luxury Chalet Floralie, sleeping 18, which opened last season. www.skifloralie.com; www.st-martin-belleville.com

Engelberg, Switzerland

As professional extreme skiers, Swedes Niklas Möller and Eric Spongberg toured the world’s most celebrated resorts. But when it came to opening a hotel, they chose Engelberg, a relatively unfashionable resort in the Obwalden region of central Switzerland. They found an old, run-down property and in 2007 they opened Ski Lodge Engelberg, a 40-room hotel with a funky bar that is designed to cater for ski enthusiasts. Möller and Spongberg ensure that their staff love skiing and riding, enabling them to share local mountain knowledge with guests. www.skilodgeengelberg.com; www.engelberg.ch

Andermatt, Switzerland

When Kevin Obschlager and Sarah Keller first bought a 250-year-old riverside house in Andermatt, central Switzerland, four years ago, they planned to turn it into a backpackers’ hostel. As they started renovating the ancient timber and granite building, however, they realised its potential and embarked on a very different project. Over two years, the duo created the magical eight-room River House hotel, a boutique hotel with handcrafted furniture made from reclaimed timber and natural materials found during rambles in the mountains. Previously the couple were based in Zurich but came to Andermatt for the skiing on the Gemstock, a legendary north-facing mountain with few lifts but masses of off-piste routes. As Obschlager says, “Andermatt’s mountainous playground originally brought us here but the beautiful valley and authentic village atmosphere make it a place to live and grow in.” www.theriverhouse.ch; www.andermatt.ch

La Grave, France

This one isn’t new but is worth mentioning for the key role it played in kicking off the downshifting trend. Pelle Lang was a young Swedish ski bum living in Chamonix in the 1980s when off-piste skiing first really took off. He heard local guides talking reverently of a remote French mountain village with one ski lift, which ran only on weekends and gave access not to pistes but to endless off-piste itineraries: 2,000m-plus vertical descents, couloirs, forests, cliff drops and glaciers. Intrigued, he made his way to La Grave, a hamlet beneath La Meije, and in 1989 set up a hotel there. The first job was to campaign to have the lift opened on weekdays, and once this was achieved, Skiers Lodge never looked back. Offering comfortable if basic accommodation, combined with top-level ski guiding, Skiers Lodge feels like a meeting place for ski nuts from around the world. Unsurprisingly, Lang has no regrets about leaving Chamonix. “La Grave is my home and my playground yet its beauty still takes me by surprise. And, even after nearly 20 years of skiing here, I’m still discovering new lines!” www.skierslodge.com; www.la-grave.com