Romantic resorts revisted
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
I was in my 20s when I visited Val d'Isere. At the time I was Paris-based, on the first rung of an international advertising career. Colgate-Palmolive SA was at today's La Defense and I commuted from an apartment on the Left Bank at Place St. Michel opposite the Notre Dame. Life was good. An Irish friend was a model at Chanel engaged to a Russian Count horse-trainer and I'd spent the weekend before I visited the ski resort in the Aga Khan's Box at Longchamp. Then I doubled my salary and career prospects by moving to New York City.
It was in the States that I met Myrlie, the black Mississippian widow of the assassinated civil rights leader, Medgar Evers, on whose life CBS TV would later option my screenplay. Suddenly what I was doing with my life was placed into perspective. And anyone who has perused the pages of Wellbeing Magazine knows that it does not matter how high the salary, you can't fight across the grain. I changed professions overnight - 6 months later I was given a book publishing deal from Doubleday on the subject of the Conquistadors "God, Gold & Glory" and overnight I was no longer in advertising but had re-invented myself as an author and broadcaster. I had promised Myrlie Evers that I would write a book on Africa before the colonisers and dedicate it to Medgar's memory.
In the meantime, I have written for Newsweek in Australia, tracking down heroin smugglers, scooping Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Queensland's Premier, wire-tapping his political foes, and interviewing the alleged Mafia killers of anti-drugs crusader, Donald Mackay. For LA Magazine, I wrote about the daughter of a Kent sheep farmer, who once owned a 25-mile coastal rancho Malibu, and kept out all-comers with guns; interviewed international film-stars, pop singers and made BBC World Service broadcasts in Switzerland, the USA, and Africa where I was arrested for espionage in Tanzania, chased by a cobra at a remote Ethiopian highland airstrip, lived cheek-by-jowl with Osama bin Laden & Carlos the Jackal in Khartoum, and In Libya's Tripoli, Colonel Gaddafi posed for me in full military regalia, the dictator's same red and gold braid cap I saw last month on the head of a jubilant rebel. It was when Nelson Mandela congratulated me on my upcoming book on pre-colonial Africa that my life had swung full circle, and I was keeping my promise to Myrlie. It was then that I visited Avoriaz, a spell-binding car-free resort in the Portes du Soleil. Today Val d'Isere, well on its way to becoming a sustainable town, and ecologically-conscious Portes du Soleil are not just resorts to me. They represent the twin poles from a man's personal ‘winter of discontent' into a positive step of a new challenge - a career shift from ad man to author and era of wellbeing.
V A L D ' I S E R E
www.valdisere.com
At altitudes between 1,550-3,456 metres, Val d'Isere (alt.1,850 metres), in the heart of the Savoy Alps, offers 300 kms of pistes for skiers between November-May. Only the intrepid take on the infamous Face de Bellevarde or the Solaise piste. With its wooden, stone, and slate chalets, and its baroque church, Val d'Isere is an international resort with four 5-star hotels and a Michelin-starred La Becca), and affordable hostelries which has managed to retain its charm and authenticity. Enjoy Savoyard specialities: cheese, sausages, cured hams, cakes and pastries.
SPECIAL OFFERS AVAILABLE TO WELLBEING READERS
Inquire Tourist Office online for special offers for families, as well as shows and entertainment
There are beginners only pistes and children are welcomed at the Village des Enfants
P O R T E S D U S O L E I L
www.portesdusoleil.com
Located between Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc, the Portes du Soleil benefits from an unusually high snowfall. A huge ski area (650 kms) it has 283 ski slopes in 12 resorts. The pretty villages offer friendly family run hotels, restaurants with tasty local specialities and a lively après-ski scene. Special facilities exist for children. Non-skiers can choose husky dog sledding, parapenting, or a relaxing thermal baths visit. The ski area is ‘family friendly' (free for under 5s; reductions up to 16). One pass suffices for the dozen alpine villages that straddle France (Abondance, Avoriaz, Chatel, La Chapelle d'Abondance, Les Gets, Montriond, Morzine-Avoriaz, St. Jean d'Aulps) and Switzerland (Champery, Champoussin, Les Crosets, Morgins, Torgon, Val d'illiez).
Portes du Soileil is open from December 17-April 20 - and beyond if conditions warrant. A 6-day pass costs adults 216 Euros, children 162E, Teenagers (up to 20 years old)-Seniors 194E. There are 196 ski lifts, and 89 restaurants on ski slopes
Transport: 1hr Geneva Airport, 9.5hr drive from Calais, Fast Train: London-Paris-Thonon-les-Bains/Cluses (Fr)
