Chalet 1802 - Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

Buying a vehicle for a chalet company is a nightmare. You’re limited by the fact that they have to seat 8 guests plus a driver. So that leaves you with a choice between minibuses or Landrover Defenders. Just what is the best vehicle for your Chamonix accommodation?

Now Landrover Defenders are nothing if not design classics. I honestly think they look great and are fantastic off road. We couldn’t have a better vehicle for the snowy drive at Chalet Schuss. BUT they drink fuel, and their design, although classic, hasn’t been updated in 40 years – and they are soon to be out of production as they don’t quite meet EU safety regulations (if you’re in them you’re fine, it’s whatever they hit that isn’t).

That leaves us with minibuses. Renault traffics are terrible. There, I’ve said it. Never buy a French manufactured car. The fuel economy is good, the luggage space great, but that’s about it. They’re plasticky, and just fall apart to the touch. So they’re a no no.

That leaves the Mercedes Vito, more expensive, German and made in Spain – so I’ll have to give that a miss. Or the VW Transporter, more expensive, German and, well you get the idea.

However, my problem may have been solved by the Geneva Motor Show. Why limit myself to Defenders and minibuses. So I’ve come up with three possible solutions, now I just need to trade in the Traffics and start saving.

For The Farmhouse I’ve opted for a Brabus iBusiness Mercedes Viano. Yes it’s a minibus, but it has been adapted by Brabus to suit the needs of the traveling skier. It is a veritable multimedia lounge on wheels, complete with gadgets such as the iPad, MacMini, iPhone and iPod with a 3.0-liter V6 CDI Brabus engine and a top speed of 155 mph.

For Sous Les Bois I’ve chosen a slightly more refined option. Less gimmicky than the Brabus, but equally as comfortable with many additional features and a snip at €492,602

“The Maybach 62 includes many luxury features such as fully-reclining rear seats, Maybach 4 zone climate control, tinted-windows, infrared-reflecting laminated glass all round, AirMATIC dual control air suspension, display instruments in rear roof liner (showing speed, time and outside temperature), folding rear tables (left and right), BOSE Surround Everywhere sound system and a refrigerator compartment.” Wikipedia.

For Chalet Schuss I think we’ll stick with the ever reliable Landrover Defender – with a few modifications of course…

Less than 5% of police officers in England and Wales carry guns. Hardly any guns are ever shot, and cases of fatal shootings by police are infinitely fewer. There are only 7,000 firearms officers in the UK out of a force of 140,000. Police officers with guns are rarely seen.To the Americans, or perhaps the French, having a nation policed with men and woman armed with only a baton may seem incredulous.

Which make the police shooting in Chamonix last week seem all the more bizarre. Three men from Lyon were disturbed whilst in the process of robbing a chalet in Chamonix. They fled the scene and the owner’s daughter called the police.

The robbers ignored police instructions to stop and forced their way through a police barricade near the golf course in Les Tines. The police opened fire and shot two bullets into the driver’s side of the vehicle.

Photo courtesy of the Dauphine Libre

All very exciting, I’m sure. But was it really reasonable force by the police? There is only one road that runs out of the valley to Switzerland, and that has a boarder crossing. Surely it couldn’t have been too difficult to follow the vehicle, police helicopters had been deployed, until the car was either stopped at the border or another road block could be set up.

In the UK the police were found not without fault in the shooting of an armed but deranged lawyer, but he was armed. And looking at the bullet holes in the vehicle in Chamonix it certainly doesn’t look like the police were firing warning shots.

So if you see a road block in Chamonix the best advice is to slow down and stop.