A Tale of the First Catered Chalet Trips to Chamonix Mont Blanc France
In 1770 the very first hotel was completed in Chamonix Mont Blanc. Prior to this Chamonix Mont Blanc constituted a uncivilized and tough agricultural village where the populace caught their own animals and harvested their wheat.
Chalets back then were used to breed dairy cows over the summer. The milk was kept by transforming it into cheese and stocked in the village for use over the bleak winter times. Throughout the winter season the farms were locked, and all valuables were locked in a small hut.
Quite who invented catered chalet holidays is nameless, however it was probably some enthusiastic folk who realized a pattern which worked. For entrepreneur Erna Low it commenced whilst she was a unhappy graduate and could not visit her siblings back home as much as she would like to. Therefore in 1932 she took a punt and put a small ad in the broadsheets to ask clients on a winter holiday. For only £15 they journeyed to and from resort, enjoyed food and lodging in the sole hotel, and had ski hire and tuition. The holiday was difficult work, there weren’t any lifts, no quick release fixings, only strong leather shoes, but it was so successful that Erna Low continued to take groups on vacations, guaranteeing she sourced superior accommodations and skiing guides.
Catered chalet trips during the beginning were very different to the luxury ski chalets we can enjoy now. Back then hot water was in short supply, the bathrooms were used by all of the clients, and there was no a cook; all the guests needed to muck in. No one knew who may be in the lodge for a holiday, one could be enjoyably surprised to meet new allies, or not gel with the group.
Chalet holidays were later on advertised on their extra pluses. A chalet chef, who served you cooked breakfast and a plentiful evening meal and cooked you cakes, plentiful warm water.
