Move mountains

Enjoying regular family trips to Chamonix, Claire Carmody decided it was time to buy a holiday home in her favourite Alpine resort

- Claire Carmody

My first visit to Chamonix took place in 2013 when we were staying in the nearby resort of St-Gervais Les-Bains. Our three-year-old twin boys were learning to ski and, as Chamonix was only 20 minutes’ drive, my French husband Frederic suggested we go there for an afternoon visit.

Little did I know that this would be the start of my love affair with Chamonix. Driving into the town, as the valley narrows, you suddenly become very aware of how close the slopes are on both sides, so you really get the feeling that you are in the mountains.

Beyond every street view in Chamonix, Mont Blanc and the other Alpine peaks are staring down at you. Chamonix is unlike other ski resorts in that the town was there long before the skiers arrived, so it’s not a typical ski-in ski-out purpose-built ski resort. It has an incredible history and was the first place to host the Winter Olympics back in 1924.

UNIQUE LOCATION

Deciding there and then that we would return the next year to stay in Chamonix, thus began annual trips for us as a family. Over the last seven years our boys have continued to learn to ski there and in the summer they join us on some truly incredible hikes.

Realizing in 2015 that just visiting wasn’t enough, I started to look around for a place which we could buy, so we as a family could go there whenever we wanted to.

Location was key. We wanted to be both close to the ski slopes and also within walking distance of the town centre. Le Brévent, with its unique location, was perfect for us. Knowing where we wanted to buy made it both easy and difficult – easy in that I could rule out so many other properties, but difficult in that apartments where we wanted to buy rarely came up for sale.