Courchevel: the height of luxury skiing
A hotel in Courchevel takes luxury skiing to a new level
The boot room at the Cheval Blanc hotel in Courchevel is a thing of wonder. An airlock to the snowy stratosphere, it is plush, warm and nestled between the fragrant spa and a forgivingly-sloped stretch of treelined piste. There are plump sofas, high-pile rugs and hidden cabinets meticulously laden with gleaming ski kit and mini bottles of mineral water. Not only do the staff heat boots ready for your arrival in the morning, they wrench them off and swap them for fluffy slippers when it’s time for a Panaché Pêche and three nips of something bracing at the end of the day.
Experience is le nom du jeu at Cheval Blanc. There is Le 1947 restaurant, with three Michelin stars and just 25 seats, named after the Cheval Blanc winery’s near-mythical Saint-Emilion vintage. Tables are placed beneath large acoustic-enhancing discs that focus the sound of conversation below, and diners are regularly escorted into the kitchen for a snoop around while gourmet dinners are being prepared.
Beyond food, nimble-fingered staff at the aforementioned spa expertly quash the strains of a day on the slopes with hot stones and fragrant Guerlain oils. Guests are invited to flit scantily-clad between the heat of a Russian banya and the chill of the snow, which the hotel assures does wonders for restoring ski-tired limbs.
Empty, perfectly groomed pistes are normally the reserve of the pisteurs themselves and the occasional (totally rad) marmot, but from this coming season, guests at Courchevel will get to the top of the mountain before everyone else. The hotel’s new First Tracks programme, on the corrugated idyll of the Trois Vallées — the largest ski fields in the world — will be private for a good 45 minutes or so before any other, less shrewdly stationed skiers have even shuffled from their chalet. The thrill of being alone on a just-bashed, sun-soaked, black run overlooking the resort is as pure, transcendent and exhilarating as thrills come.
The hotel has also enlisted the help of Manu Gaidet, a former Freeride World Champion skier, as a guide for visitors who want to experience the best off-piste the mountain has to offer. Few people know the area better than the stoic, square-jawed Courchevellian, and he has that canny alpine ability to sense the depth of snow and the angle of an incline from a distance of 100m. Handy for those guests who are perhaps better suited to a cocktail lounge than a couloir.
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Cheval Blanc Courchevel is open 13 December until 5 April 2020; prices start from £1,600 per night (half board included); Le Jardin Alpin, 73120 Courchevel 1850, France; +33 4 79 00 50 50; chevalblanc.com