Celebrities, royalty, designers and professional skiers are all clients of the brand which celebrates its 60th birthday year of success this year.

The history of Moncler began in 1952. The mountain equipment enthusiast, René Ramillon, designed a special jacket to protect his employees from the cold temperatures. René’s friend, Lionel Terray the world famous explorer, convinced him to design a collection of outerwear jackets for extreme mountain climbing. This led to the design of a product offering various styles and colours that has since become a classic and luxurious mountain fashion item. In 1954 Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni became the first to conquer the second highest mountain in the world, K2 and they were equipped with specially made jackets by Moncler.

Over the course of its 60 year history, this famous French jacket has been constantly improved and updated to cater for athletes, explorers and ski fashion. With stores all over the world Moncler provides superb and popular ski and snow wear.

http://moncler.com/

Bonne anniversaire to Moncler!

Geneva has a good choice of carriers from the UK, with British Airways, Swiss Air and EasyJet all flying in from mainland airports.  You can leave from most of the London airports, including London City (with Swiss Air).  From Heathrow you have the choice of BA or Swiss; Gatwick and Luton are served by EasyJet, who also fly to Geneva from Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh.  There are no direct flights from Stansted to Geneva.

If you’re a Channel Islands resident, Blue Islands has flights from both Guernsey and Jersey to Geneva every Tuesday and Thursday year-round.  They make no charge for baggage, including excess baggage, so all your ski gear flies free.  Nor do they charge for credit or debit card bookings, ticket changes on the same route, or for pre-booking your preferred seat on the plane.  Very civilised!

One of the advantages of Geneva being a major city is that flights are not confined to the “normal” ski season, so you can take advantage of early or late snow – or even summer glacier skiing.  Because, of course, in Val d’Isere the skiing never really stops.

The chic Haute-Savoie capital is perfect for holidaying. A favourite summertime destination for the French who often avoid the crowds and tourists of the Cote d’Azur, Annecy offers beaches, restaurants, culture, history and sporting activities on and around its stunning lake. Sitting on the northern tip of Lake Annecy against the backdrop of the French Alps the town blossoms in summer and is riddled with medieval houses, historic buildings in pretty pastel colours, flower adorned bridges over the Thiou canal and endless restaurants, cafes and boutiques on winding cobbled streets. Due to its canal and bridges it is commonly knows as the Venice of Savoie. They say the locals glance at Mont Blanc in the distance to predict the daily weather.

From Savoyard gastronomy to extreme sports it is a superb choice for family and friends. Savoyard specialities are served up in the al fresco restaurants where you can sample tartiflette, galettes, crepes oozing the local reblochon cheese and award winning ice creams. The lake is a hub of activity and this month the town hosts the Paragliding World Cup. It also has some beautiful beaches – Plage d’Annecy-le-Vieux is ideal for some wild summer swimming! It is the cleanest lake in Europe. Popular lake activities include wakeboarding, waterskiing and boat cruises and cycling and roller blading are also very popular along the lakeside paths.

The Palais de l’Isle, an old prison, in the centre of the historic old part of Annecy, hails from the 12th century. It is the symbol of the town located in the middle of the canal and is amongst the most photographed monuments in France. Annecy Castle and the European Gardens are also striking features. The market is a must and frequented by the locals. It is held along the historic streets and has been held every Tuesday since 1170.

Either as a lunch or overnight stop en route to Val d’Isere or as a summer hot spot, beautiful Annecy is worth a visit.

With further unexpected snow at the end of April the sun is now hot, the snow is melting and the mountain marmottes are waking up for summer venturing out of their burrows. We hope next season is going to bring more superb snow and sunshine!

Le Chardon is already taking chalet bookings for the 2012/13 season. We recommend you book soon in order to secure your preferred dates and to take advantage of our early booking prices.

Chalet Kilimanjaro sleeps 8 guests, Chalet La Bergerie sleeps 11 guests, Chalet Lafitenia sleeps 12 guests, Chalet Mistral sleeps 14 guests and Chalet Le Chardon sleeps 20 guests.

Contact Sarah or Penny on 0131 209 7969 for details and booking.

When the skies clear again and the sun reappears here are the best places to lap up the end of season festivities and sunshine in style:

1. La Folie Douce and La Fruitiere restaurant – alfresco dancing bar with live music and exceptional restaurant on piste OK.

2. Le Signal – mountain lunch spot at the top of the cable car station in Le Fornet with excellent bronzing terraces.

3. Hotel Le Brussels – beautiful hotel at the bottom of the nursery slopes near the Solaise chairlift with oodles of sun loungers, live music and delicious cocktails.

4. On a chairlift! Just about all of Val d’Isere’s slopes bask in the sun all day long.

5. Parapenting – April is popular for parapenting (paragliding) and the colours of the gliders against the blue sky is always striking to watch.

It’s not just the snow that’s still great: the shopping and nightlife are still humming,  snow-shoe treks are hopping, the Mono Ski World Championships have only just left town and, while the company may be thinning, there are still enough folk around to give the place a buzz.

Later on in the year, of course, Val d’Isere is a great place for hill-walkers, with miles of trails around the valleys.  The place is hardly recognizable if you’re used to its winter appearance, but has a different beauty: wildflowers and greenery under the famous Val sunshine and bright blue skies.  There are fewer people around and the pace is slower – for some that’s reason enough to hire a luxury chalet during the summer.

Eleven widely-different travel, wildlife, sport and adventure documentaries will be shown and then discussed with their makers.  Better still, you can watch them all for free.  The jury of five big-name adventurers will decide on three prize-winners, the audience get to vote for their favourite, and a new award means another winning film gets a showing on the Ushuaia TV channel.

As well as the main film shows there will be non-competition films, photo exhibitions and author interviews.   Frank Bruno will discuss his autobiography at the Mediatheque-Salle du Conseil Municipal on 18th April at 9.30 am; you’ll even be offered breakfast!

On 18th April an unmissable slack-wire demonstration on the main drag of Val’d'Isere will showcase the athletes of the film “I Believe I Can Fly”.  Slack-wire artistes don’t use any form of balance-bar.  Be prepared to scrape your jaw off the pavement by the time they finish.

Sherkan, a fish eagle, and Leman, a bearded vulture, who appear in the films Les Aigles de Leman and L’Envol du Geant, will be on hand to meet their fans at the Centre de Congres on 17-19th April; on 17th April, following a showing of L’Envol du Geant there will be a discussion about the re-introduction of the bearded vulture into the Vanoise national park and Leman will be appearing then too.

And of course, Val being what it is, skiing on brilliant spring snow will still be an important part of the agenda in between all the jollies.

Sounds like a terrific four days’ entertainment!

The hunt is for children of 12 years and under at 5pm on easter Monday 9th April in the ESF (Ecole du Ski Francais) snow garden (Jardin des Enfants).

It is a superb entertainment for children and families and an opportunity for children to make friends, have fun in the snow and devour some fine French chocolate.

They just have to find them!

The chocolate shops and bakeries in resort are bursting with easter goodies and in France the day isn’t just celebrated by chocolate eggs but also with chocolate bunnies, bells, hens and fish. 

At Le Chardon this easter our chefs are making our own chocolate eggs and easter treats and we will have our very own hunts taking place in our chalets!

There is still room in our chalets this Easter for families to experience some easter skiing.

Sitting at an altitude of 2,400 metres and located on piste OK en route to La Daille, La Folie is an open air day restaurant, bar and club which is alive and jumping from about 2pm.

There are two restaurants, La Fruitiere, one of the best in resort with a superb outdoor terrace to do some bronzing and Nuvoself, a trendy self-service cafe.

Open for late morning ski break hot chocolates and long lazy lunches, Folie attracts everyone in resort for the afternoon party where musicians, singers and djs have a huge crowd dancing on the terrace, bar top, tables and even roof to the happy alpine beats until 5pm…

Come and experience it! Le Chardon’s chauffeur can pick you up at the bottom of the piste afterwards and drive you home to your chalet.

http://www.lafoliedouce.com/

The resort’s Village des Enfants is an excellent day centre located ideally in the heart of the village and at the foot of the slopes.

It is open all ski season and accommodates children from 18 months to 13 years of age. If the little ones choose to incorporate an introduction to skiing then the ESF (French National Ski School) Jardin de Neige ski school is nextdoor to the day centre.

The day care centre promotes the care of children, schooling, activities and skiing. The centre has indoor facilities and an outdoor snow garden. Activities include dancing , singing, drama, art, igloo and snowman building, sledging and snow sculpture.

The centre is flexible to suit families and looks after children anytime from 9am to 5.30pm for mornings only, afternoons only or full days and offers a morning snack, lunch and afternoon tea.

At least 75% of the team of the centre activity leaders hold a BAFA Certificate and the centre also has resident nurses.

If the children are also doing ski lessons the activity leaders are responsible for preparing the children for their lessons and accompanying them to the lesson meeting point, handing them over to the instructor and then bringing them back to the day centre after. The lessons available from the ESF range from Snow Garden to group classes at competition level.

Val d’Isere is a fun place for children to learn to ski or to simply enjoy the mountains and adapt to the environment!

http://www.valdisere-levillagedesenfants.com/

http://www.esfvaldisere.com/enfants-jardin-des-neiges.htm