1770 was when the inaugural lodge opened in Chamonix town.
Before this date Chamonix was a savage and craggy rural hamlet where the populace captured animals and produced their own oats.
Chalets back then were used to raise herds during the spring and summer.
Milk was kept by changing it into cheese and stocked in the farm for eating over the long wintertimes.
In the snow season the farms were locked, and all valuables were secured in a hut.
The person who came up with chalet holidays is nameless, it was probably several enthusiastic people who recognised a idea that was new and exciting.
For entrepreneur Erna Low it started when she was a homesick postgraduate who couldn’t visit her folks back home in Austrias often as she would like to.
Thus in 1933 she gambled and put a small ad in the Times to invite guests on a ski break. For only £15 they traveled to and from the village, enjoyed dinner and lodging in the sole pub lodging, and had skiing equipment and instruction.
Holidays were strenuous, there weren’t any lifts, no safety fixations, merely hard leather boots, it was so successful that Erna Low carried on taking groups on trips, making sure she sourced grand hotels and instructors.
Ski vacations during the beginning were a long way to the luxuries we can receive now.
Back then hot water was in limited supply, bathrooms were used by all of the punters, and there was no a cook; all the guests needed to help out.
It was a real gamble who might share the lodge for the vacation, one could be agreeably surprised to encounter new friends, or grimace at the thought of having to spend any more time with them. A far cry from the luxury chalets of today.
