Breath of fresh air

Villard-de-Lans is an authentic mountain village surrounded by the Vercors regional park in Isère. It’s a popular choice in summer, as well as winter, as Carolyn Reynier finds out

- Carolyn Reynier

When we were teenagers, my father used to send my sister Susie and me to France to learn the language. We stayed a few of times in Savoie with my father’s suppliers of Chambéry vermouth. In summer we water-skied on the Lac du Bourget. In the winter holidays we skied. Our hero was the great all-round skier Jean-Claude Killy who won 12 out of the 16 World Cup races in the 1966-1967 season.

I improved my French by learning lyrics of popular French songs. A great favourite was Dès que le printemps revient by the singer-songwriter Hugues Aufray. In 1967 he recorded a song about Killy called C’est tout bon. Expectations were high that Killy would sweep all three alpine skiing events in the 1968 Winter Olympics held at Grenoble in Isère and the first Winter Games to be broadcast in colour. He did. He won gold in the downhill, giant slalom and slalom.

The luge events were hosted by Villard-de-Lans, a small middle mountain town in the Parc Naturel Régional du Vercors. Villard, the largest ski resort in the Vercors, has recently attracted much media attention. Last year world-famous and recently retired French NBA basketball player Tony Parker bought the ski lift company there.

Yes, Villard with its lively pedestrian streets is a ski resort, but it is also, more importantly, an authentic mountain village with a soul. It lies at an altitude of 1,050m in the foothills of the Grande Moucherolle which rises to over 2,200m. It was a popular summer destination for its pure air long before the arrival of winter sports in 1925.