Champery is a beautiful Swiss Alpine village, just over an hour away from Geneva Airport, situated in the Western Swiss Alps and forms a major gateway into Les Portes du Soleil – the worlds largest international ski area. Despite welcoming tourists for over 150 years. Champery has retained its unspoilt character. The narrow main street flanked by traditional Swiss style chalets is a picture postcard! Champery has a wealth of facilities, for those with energy left after a day on the slopes, the sports centre has both indoor skating as well as a large indoor swimming pool, the Thermal Baths in Val-d’illiez are a wonderful relief for tired limbs. Apres ski kicks off in any one of a number of bars that litter the main streets and continues into the early hours at the Crevasse nightclub. The railway allows non skiers to venture out of the mountains on day trips.

The Skiing (see also Morzine)
The Portes du Soleil is the world largest international ski area, the ski pass covers 237 lifts linked by 650 kms of marked and prepared piste, acres of off piste and 13 villages dotted along the French Swiss border.

Beginners
The ski schools in Champery pride themselves on their teaching abilities. There are nursery slopes for children in the centre of the village as well as up on Planachaux. Beginners will soon be exploring the wide open blue runs above Champery and over to Les Crosets – by the end of the week most beginner skiers and boarders will be able to venture over towards Avoriaz.

Intermediates
Champery is the gateway to the whole Portes du Soleil, Avoriaz is 2 ski lifts away from the centre of Champery, Morgins, is again just 2 lifts away, while Chatel is a little further – just 3 lifts gets you up into the Chatel area! Ski the Portes du Soleil circuit clockwise one day then anti clockwise the next! The home run to Champery – The Grand Paradis is a classic; stop off for coffee or Vin Chaud and watch the sun set behind Les Dents du Midi.

Advanced
Champery is an off piste secret, some of the best off piste is accessed from the top of the cable car. Chavanette – or the Wall is just ‘round the corner’ while the couloirs from Pointe des Mossettes back to Crosets are amongst the steepest in the area.
Champery is ideally located to explore some of Switzerlands other top resorts, Verbier is less than 1 hour away, Chamonix is under 2 hours while Zermatt is just over 2 hours away making for interesting day trips!

Ski Guiding
We have up to 4 ski guides offering a guiding service for intermediate skiers and above throughout the Portes du Soleil. Each day we aim explore a different area showing you how vast and varied the whole ski area is.

Ski Hire
We are very pleased to offer our new Rossignol ski hire facility in Chalet Rose des Alpes. We have teamed up with Rossignol and offer the full range of skis from their 2007 line up. The Mutix is the new revolutionary ski with interchangeable arms that changes the performance of the ski. The Zenith is an all round piste ski while the Bandits continue their dominance in the ‘free ride market’. We feature the Bandit B2 and B3 as well as the lady specific B2W and B3W. We stock a complete range of ski boots and also include lady specific models. Not forgetting snowboards, we have a limited range of Rossignol snowboards, boots and bindings. Our facility is staffed by qualified technicians and is equipped with state of the art ski repair and servicing equipment.

Ski School
Champery has 2 very good ski schools both employing British Instructors. The Ecole de Ski Suisse (ESS) offer a full range of childen and adult ski and snowboard courses. Lessons generally start at 9.30 each morning and are for 3 hours. The ski school also run a ‘kids club’ for children aged 3 to 7 years old with a choice of full or half days www.esschampery.ch The Freeride Company offer private and semi private lessons from 1 through to 6 hours www.skichampery.ch

Children
The Ecole de Ski Suisse (ESS) run specialist childrens ski and snowboard groups as well as their well respected Kids Club. While Champery has no formal crèche there are around 10 English speaking child minders who comply fully with Swiss law relating to care. We can provide a copy of the list and contact telephone numbers on request.

Mitchells Bar
Mitchells is a popular haunt for Apres ski - ideally situted half way between our Chalet and the cable car station - wide selection of beers, hot drinks, cocktails and snacks. The restaurant is renowned for its light delicate modern fayre with influences from all over the world. www.mitchells-champery.com