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Agony and ecstasy were served up in equal measures when NEIL ENGLISH attended a gourmet ski week in Courchevel
In the two seconds or so it took to rotate 360 degrees in mid-air – my care-free world of powder-filled hedonistic pleasure transformed into a stressed-out world of nauseating pain!
My anticipation of this late March day could not have been higher. The previous evening thick snowflakes began to fall from the chilly night skies over the affluent French resort of Courchevel 1850 and when I peeked through my bedroom curtains at the luxurious Chalet Montana the next morning there was a fluffy blanket of boot high powder.
Skiing through the trees in Courchevel
My excitement was compounded by plans for dinner. A degustation of 10 courses prepared in our chalet by Michelin star chef Richard Phillips and served with local wines. This is all part of Supertravel’s Gourmet Ski Week during which guests in selected chalets are treated to one such feast.
But how did Matt, our regular chalet chef, feel about this celebrity chef sprinkling star dust on his already fine culinary parade. Matt said humbly: “It’s valuable for me. Richard’s already passed on some excellent tips and I love watching great chefs at work.”
Matt’s diplomacy matched his cooking skills that morning when he asked how many of us might like full English breakfast. All said yes including one slim lady who asked: “But can I have mine without egg, sausage or bacon!”
With only the faintest trace of a wry smile, Matt politely enquired, “beans and mushrooms with your toast then”? to which the young woman replied, “just tomatoes please”. All in a day’s work as chef in a luxury chalet where the clients’ are always beyond, direct reproach!
PHOTO: Courchevel/David Andre/Ski Aplin
Calories now on-board, the more experienced skiers in the group set out to plunder the powder with Sam, our instructor, from New Generation Ski School.
After a few gentle cruising runs on piste, we headed for the Creux Noirs bowl. The steep drop below the cornice looked ominous. Eventually I took the plunge and quickly found my rhythm, scooping out delicious turns through the giant pillows of powder, only stopping when my lungs hit bursting point.
Next up was the Saulire cable car to check out the well-known couloirs. They were already skied out so we opted for the untracked snow underneath the top section of the cable car. The snow here was far deeper than Creux Noirs and the turns were just as rewarding.
But my terrific morning was about to change. Our off piste group decided to catch up with the other chalet guests whom we found inspecting the Family Park below Verdons. Here, there are multiple kickers, rails, tables and a protected area where young children can launch into the air from a take off ramp, sat in inflated inner tubes, to land on a huge airbag.
I had zero intention of going anywhere near this children’s facility until adult skiers in my group decided they would like to try flying off the ramp on skis. Well, why not? I found myself skiing towards the kicker to attempt a helicopter jump (horizontal 360 rotation) to impress my new ski friends.
It all went well – until the landing. An instructor called Lorenzo ran up to help me off the bag saying if I’d landed on snow I’d have skied away. That ‘praise’ meant very little since the folds of the bag had snagged my outstretched arm whilst the rest of my body slid forward. I was suffering searing pain. When the girl videoing my jump on my phone came bag-side to capture what she hoped would be my celebratory wave, I was in fact trying not to vomit as my right arm spasmed freakishly.
Four hours later, x-rays and consultations confirmed that the force of my right shoulder dislocating had snapped off a chunk of my scapula meaning surgery, down the line, was inevitable.
Back in the chalet with my shoulder relocated and right arm in a sling, I faced a new test. Would I be able to taste Richard Phillips’ culinary masterpieces having had so many pain numbing injections and pills? I was so furious with myself that if I wasn’t such a klutz with my left hand I’d have given myself a good left hook!
Supertravel ski chalet chefs are personally trained by Richard Phillips’ head chef, Will Devlin
Mercifully, it was better than expected. Each dinner course, from canapes’ onwards, was served with a different, carefully paired wine by Roch Braillon, founder of Le Verre Gourmand, which supplies fine vintages to premium chalet operators throughout the Alps.
The combination of strong meds and excellent wines nullified residual pain and I could still appreciate Richard’s stunning food – though kind dinner companions’ had to cut it up for me.
Of particular note were the diver caught scallops with golden raisins, black garlic puree and shavings of cep mushrooms.
Probably my favourite was the beef fillet, served ‘Rossini’ style, crowned with ballotine of foie gras and in this case a foie gras mash for extra texture as well as slivers of feather blade steak in red wine jus.
To fully review every painstaking feature of each course as well as give due adulation to their taste sensations – not to mention the wine – would fill this magazine. Suffice to say, if I could derive that much pleasure on that much medication, and wine, then please Messieurs’ Phillips et Braillon, take a bow!
Happily, all Supertravel ski chalet chefs are now personally trained by Richard Phillips’ Head Chef, Will Devlin, effectively meaning that gourmet week is a winter long affair.
* To see a video of Neil English doing his ‘heli’ onto the airbag click here
The luxurious Chalet Montana in Courchevel
TRAVEL FACTS
Supertravel (supertravel.co.uk/ski – 020 7962 9933) offers 7 nights in Chalet Montana at Courchevel, from £1,299pp including Champagne reception on arrival, breakfasts, afternoon teas and four course dinners with wines, port and cheese, as well as chauffeur service to and from ski lifts.
Flights and transfers are extra.
For more information on Courchevel go to:
Categories: France