subject: Courchevel Ski Resort for the People - Part 1 [print this page] Courchevel Ski Resort for the People - Part 1
Whilst Courchevel might now be known as one of the largest ski areas in the world and also as the winter playground of the rich and famous, it started out as a study where the French State wanted to build a 'People's Ski Resort'.
Following World War II and German occupation, French's fledgling ski industry was brought to an abrupt halt. Most of France's top engineers and town planners were in a prison of war camp somewhere or dead and there was no money or manpower to develop winter sports.
In the past, before World War II, skiing had mainly developed around existing winter resorts such as Chamonix, Megeve and Bareges or close to large cities like Grenoble. When a guy called Jacques Mouflier installed a lift at the remote village of Val d'Isere he was held to be completely crazy. Just before the outbreak of the war there had been a project to build a super ski resort to rival those in Switzerland and a number of places were named as potential sites, including the Three Valleys. However, the outbreak of war and political uncertainly meant that the project never got off the ground, except for the privately financed resort at les Allues (just under Meribel) which was personally financed and managed by a Scotsman, Peter Lindsay, in 1939.
In 1943, Laurent Chappis, was being held in a prisoner of war camp in Austria. He had studied town planning and was a keen skier who had skied in the Allues and St Bon valleys before the war. He happened to meet another guy from the Savoy region in the camp, Maurice Michaud, who knew the area well and suggested linking all three valleys.
During the war the Vichy government had not completely given up on the idea of a new super ski resort and in 1942 an engineer working for the Minister of Sports prepared a report on construction in the Three Valleys area. In 1945 both Chappis and Michaud returned to the Savoie and Michaud was contacted by the Savoyard General Council about building the ski resort and he turned to Chappis. The idea was to create a winter sports resort which was the responsibility of the local council. The Savoie was to be modernised and rebuilt through tourism which would bring pleasure to the youth of the area who had only known occupation and war. In November 1945 the vote was passed to build the ski resort and the council would have complete control.
However, the middle Allues valley was already British run and the further valley of Belleville was opposed to any outside interference (although seeing the success of Courchevel, the Belleville valley would go on to build Les Menuires later on) so the new resort had to be built at St Bon. The mayor of St Bon agreed to the development and set about convincing the local land owners of the merits of the resort. Out of the 16 local land owners, 15 agreed to sell their land to the department so access roads could go in and services and the plots then be sold off to private investors to develop the resort accordingly to a fixed plan. Around 202 hectares, mainly land above 1800 metres was acquired. It was decided to name the resort Courchevel, after a small hamlet further down the valley, and rename that hamlet Lower Courchevel. The residents of Lower Courchevel were furious and thus the matter was eventually resolved by calling the areas Courchevel 1550 and where the Tovets fields had been, Courchevel 1850. Not that it was actually ay 1850, but as Val d'Isere boasted about being at 1800 metres, the new resort needed to be higher and thus as a marketing ploy it was called 1850.
