National Geographic Traveller (UK)
Cool off the press
If you’re heading to the Alps this season, check out the hottest new happenings from the peaks
What’s hot this ski season
As the travel world wises up to the need for more accessible travel, awareness of adaptive snow sports is also fast improving. This season, Consensio Chalets has partnered with UK charity Disability Snowsport UK to donate a one-to-one private skiing lesson with a qualified adaptive snow sports instructor every week to a disabled child. Also on offer are fully accessible chalet breaks across the French Alps, including a chauffeur for local transport, and a chef who can tailor-make menus to suit dietary requirements. One of the smarter offerings is Shemshak Lodge, set piste-side in Courchevel 1850, with direct ski-in, ski-out accessibility. Sleeping eight guests in four en suite bedrooms, the chalet is fully accessible and has an entire floor dedicated to a large indoor swimming pool, hammam, sauna and steam room.
From €37,000 (£31,660) per chalet, per week, full board. Includes breakfast, afternoon tea, dinner, Champagne and canapes. consensiochalets.co.uk/luxury-ski/accessible disabilitysnowsport.org.uk
The package
Meat and cheese are the focus of most menus in alpine resorts, but Ski Beat is launching new Vegan Ski Weeks, which allow guests to book into a chalet where all the other guests are following a preferred diet, be it vegan, vegetarian, or based around food intolerances.
Five vegan weeks are available between 21 December and 25 January in select catered chalets. From £739 per person, including breakfast, afternoon tea, evening meals, return flights and transfers. skibeat.co.uk
The run
Sölden, home of the world’s fastest ski lift, will now also host Austria’s longest toboggan run. Opened in December, this downhill thrill ride needs no previous experience to tackle and covers an impressive 4.5 miles of prepared piste, running at a dizzying gradient of 12%.
The toboggan departs from the middle station of Gaislachkogl gondola to Sölden, open daily from 09.00–16.15; tickets cost €30 (£25) for adults and €16 (£13) for children. soelden.com
The hotel
The newly opened Le Refuge de la Traye, in France’s Les
Trois Vallées, is accessible only by foot, electric vehicle, or on horseback from Les Allues. Set in a nature reserve between a lake and a mountain, this greenminded hotel was constructed from local materials and is partly solar-powered. Sleeping just 24 guests in a choice of chalet or hotel room, the Refuge has a spa, which includes such traditional alpine treatments as a hay bed and milk bath. Rooms from €318 (£267). refugedelatraye.com
The event
Being in the mountains always builds an appetite, and there are few better places to sate it than Courmayeur’s Mountain Gourmet Ski Experience. Sitting in Mont Blanc’s shadow, the elegant Italian resort welcomes chef Tom Kerridge back for his second year, accompanied by Claude Bosi of Bibendum for more fine dining feasts.
12-15 March. For bookings: momentumski.com/gourmet-ski courmayeurmontblanc.it
SARAH BARRELL