Tatler Article: And you thought you knew ...Chamonix
Date of publication: 01 October 2007
Writer: Felix Milns
Most people know that... Chamonix is the legendary extreme-sports capital of the Alps - crazy people do crazy things here. They ski the highest slopes and the longest glaciers, spend a day zooming down the formidable Vallée Blanche -stopping only for a boiled egg - and climb terrifying crevasses. It's a 15-minute heli-transfer from Geneva, and in summer becomes a buzzing Alpine St Tropez.
Some people know that...Chamonix is going glam. Chanel, Lacoste and Swarovski have all opened boutiques, and the owners of the Milk & Honey bars (in NY and London) have opened a Chamonix outpost. The Clubhouse -a funky, boutique hotel and club with Myla sex toys in the minibar and drinks mixed by cocktail king Dale DeGroff. This stylish new edge is drawing the Russians - two Versace-clad blondes were recently spotted silver-spoon-feeding their chihuahuas champagne.
Not a lot of people know that... Robbie Williams, Hugh Grant, Jay Kay and Pierce Brosnan are some of the celebrities who find welcome anonymity among the Chamonix peaks. You can indulge your James Bond spirit by skidooing up to a remote mountain refuge for dinner, before sledging down and finishing the night at the casino. Ex-theatre impresario Philippe Courtines has built a magical hamlet of seven extraordinary new chalets, Chalets de Philippe - more stage set than hotel - by rebuilding derelict barns, some of which he moved here from outlying villages (no wonder it's taken 20 years) and filling them with antiques, home cinemas and spas.
Book through Pollen-Brooks Leisure (tel: 01344 849135; pollenbrooks.com). If you want a change of scene, it's just a 40-minute drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Courmayeur in Italy - also great for skiing and feasting.