In 1770 the 1st guest house opened in Chamonix France.

Prior to this Chamonix France constituted a savage and craggy rural place where people caught animals and farmed their own oats.

Farmhouses then were used to stock dairy herds over the summer.

Milk was conserved by transforming it into cheese and butter and stored in the village for eating during the bleak winter times.

Throughout the snow season the farms were bolted, and valuables were put safely in a shack.

Quite who came up with chalet holidays is nameless, it was probably a few passionate folk who recognized a idea that was new and exciting.

For Erna Low it all started when she was a homesick graduate who could not visit her siblings back home in Austrias frequently as she would like to.

So in 1931 she took a gamble and took out ad in the London Times to tempt clients on a ski vacation. For £15 they traveled to and from the resort, had meals and accommodation in the solitary inn, and had skiing hire and instruction.

The trip was strenuous, there weren’t any chair lifts, no safety fixations, simply strong leather shoes, but it was so popular that Erna continued to take people on holidays, making sure she found grand chalets and guides.

The chalet vacations during the formative years were a far cry to the luxury ski holidays we receive now.

In the early days hot water was in short supply, bathrooms would be shared out by all of the customers, and there wasn’t a chef; the punters had to muck in.

It was a complete lottery as to who might be in the lodge for a holiday, one might be agreeably surprised to meet new friends, or grimaced by the thought of spending another day with unpleasant guests.