There has also been plenty going on in Les Gets. It all kicked off with the huge Pass’Portes du Soleil. A challenging mountain bike ride covering 75kms of intense uphill and exhilarating downhill rides. We take our hats off to all those brave souls who took on the challenge!

Les Gets got very excited in July with the passing of the Tour de France - it came right through the town… twice! First came the floats doling out everything from haribo sweets to t-shirts and baby rattles, then all of a sudden there were eight helicopters in the sky, closely followed by the speeding cyclists.

That same week saw Les Gets’ bi-annual festival of mechanical music (how much excitement can a small town take?!). I love this kind of thing - mad musical instruments being turned, pulled and ridden (yes, like a bike) and plenty of locals dressing up in the traditional smocks and frocks.

There were some great mustaches on show too!

Then there was the international downhill mountain biking event in Chatel, the cowboy barrel racing and the young people’s mountain bike trials, which saw teams of cyclists riding a course that ran through Les Gets in relay - down roads, up steps, along shop fronts, over snow and into the stream!

We’ve got a few more weeks left to the season, so were hoping to squeeze in more of the things we love doing out here - golf (Jim’s lark), walking (my cup of tea), visiting the mountain lakes and some of the pretty towns near by - Yvoire and St Gervais are next on our list.

And then there’s the winter season to think about - we’ll have fun devising new menus and giving our website a bit of a make over. But right now it’s day off, and we’re going to relax over a nice supper and a movie!

Since then, we’ve had many more wonderful drawings and sketches added to the ‘Fridge of Fame’, and here they all are, preserved forever!

(Alas, what with the fridge being so close to the action in the kitchen, one or two pictures became ’sauced’ and, though much loved, were sadly retired from the display.)

Thank you to everyone who helped make our fridge the most beautiful in the Alps!

Always wanting to be part of the fun, Pure Mountain were representing in true style. One of our much-loved returning guests Maggie was in town, and we purloined Pavel from his cleaning duties with The Chalet Experience. Together with Jim, these fearsome 3 formed the team ‘Ready For Bed’.

It was a beautiful spring day with fab spring skiing conditions, so the 3 musketeers went for a ride on the mountain before attending The Games. Did I say they were dressed in nothing but nightwear?

So, with 30 odd teams competing for something, though nobody knew quite what, there was organised chaos at the bottom of the Chavannes all afternoon: A slalom race where the teams were tied to one another and had to walk part of the course due to the encroaching turf on the piste;

a human curling competition where you could get knocked over by a giant plastic mattress hurtling down the piste if you weren’t careful,

and a dizzying event designed to get you to fall into icy water in an attempt to retrieve a set of skis from the other side of a watery impass. All while wearing ski boots and silly clothing.

The highlight however was the water skiing - the grand finale to The Games. One after another (though I’m sure health and safety officials in the UK would have disputed this), competitors hiked up the hill, donned their skis then straight-lined it down in order to seamlessly glide from piste to water (a 20m-long purpose built ‘canal’), in the hope that they’d ski right to the end then pop back onto the piste.

Much to everyone’s surprise, a lot of people managed to complete this seemingly impossible task.

Our very own Maggie made a valiant effort and made it very nearly to the end of the canal, but not quite. Sopping, she emerged all smiles, and was definitely the winner of the competition in our eyes.

Unfortunately the water slide didn’t hold very long, so Pavel and Jim remained disappointingly dry. We must have excelled in all the other games though, as somehow, we managed to come 5th!

Also, we’re running a 15% discount on our summer holidays in the Alps this year.
Our summer prices and booking section has more info.

Colin’s blog

Enjoy a chalet holiday in the lovely Chalet Forestiere for less during March and April. The chalet’s location is perfect: Just a stone’s throw away from the town centre and the piste, from where you can explore the fantastic skiing in Les Gets and the wider Portes du Soleil.

If you’d like a quick getaway with just a few days on the piste, then why not try a short break skiing holiday: Just £295pp for a 4-night (Sun-Thurs), or 3-night (Thurs-Sun) stay.

Please see our prices and bookings page for availability.

The Pass’Portes du Soleil is an unforgettable mountain bike trek covering 7000m of downhill in France and Switzerland. Using 15 ski lifts, the 75km circuit will take you through stunning scenery from 1000-2250m in altitude.

With 4,000 riders starting from 9 different resorts in the region, this event is not to be missed if you’re a keen mountain biker. The price for entry is €40 and includes lift pass and access to 8 refreshment points enroute.

There are 9 different resorts you can start from, Les Gets being one of the most popular, so if you’re keen to register don’t wait too long!

Special offer for groups of 6 or more
Register here - the official Pass’Portes website
More photos of mountain biking in the Portes du Soleil

We loved it so much that the group decided to leave the one piece in our care, on the proviso that the garment itself would live on: our mission was – and still is – to get other people to wear it until we find a new owner, who will keep the dream alive, and keep wearing the one piece. There is a facebook group (One Piece Dreams) which tracks the progress of the one piece… would you like to be the new owner?

Below is a video of all the guests who dressed up, did their hair, grew out their mustaches and wore the one piece with pride. We take our woolly hats off to them for their courage, determination and stamina - it takes a lot to ski in full sun wearing a 100% nylon suit.