Mark Nicholls skis across the Swiss-French border for some ‘rock’ on the pistes
Against a backdrop of stunning mountains, rock is the order of the day.
The Dents du Midi – the seven defining peaks of the region – are jaggedly formidable against the skyline.
While the literal translation of ‘teeth of mid-day’ can be a little confusing, they are geologically spectacular as the backstage panorama for the Rock the Pistes musical festival.
The annual festival on the slopes of the vast Portes du Soleil ski area embraces everything from Europop and DJs through to English folk-rock with the likes of Charlie Winston.
Now on the cusp of its 10th year, Rock the Pistes offers a late-season boost with Franco-Swiss cross border co-operation in Portes du Soleil as one of the biggest ski areas in Europe with some 600km of piste straddling a dozen resorts.
I was skiing with a group based on the Swiss side, in the village of Morgins in the Region Dents du Midi and staying in the intimate Chez Jan hotel just a street back from the lift system.
Rock the Pistes – held towards the end of March every year – takes in five concerts at five different mountain venues, and for 2019, we were going to two of them.
With the stage helicoptered in from one location to the next, we arrived at an auditorium carved out of a natural snow bowl and holding crowds of up to 5,000. After a long, sunny spring morning skiing on the French side of the border, we found ourselves funnelled towards the venue above Châtel for an energetic performance from the French band Hyphen Hyphen.
With hundred of pairs of skis propped up or laid out in rows, the ambience is warm, sunny, friendly and vibrant. The ambience for both shows is relaxed: smoke wafts from barbecuing sausages, raclette is served in traditional style with potatoes, beer and wine flows while a light aircraft streaming vapour carves a treble clef and a love heart in the blue sky above.
And the link between the performers and the crowd is seamless – Santa, Hyhen Hyphen’s lead singer, leaps off the stage and wanders among the crowd as she sings, walking to the top of the natural auditorium before being piggy-backed to the stage by a security guard. Charlie Winston speaks to the crowd in French, reads out his phone number and invites people to text him.
There are also stunning stunts to bring gasps from the crowd… the wing suit flyers swooping in moments before Charlie Winston took to the stage were phenomenal, while paragliders descended mere feet above the crowd to land nearby.
Ben Arvis from Region Dents du Midi explained: “The five concerts during Rock the Pistes, and including the ‘Piste Off’ evening events in resort, attract around 30,000 people in total and the biggest single attendance is 5,000-plus.
“The idea is to bring people to the region towards the end of the season when things start to slow down and to put something on for this time of year but also to show people the region and celebrate the end of the season, which runs from mid-December to mid-April.”
Most of the acts and are well-known French and Swiss artists although international names such as Rag ‘n’ Bone man have also appeared.
“We see music as something that brings everyone together and across the age range from children and teenagers to older people all mixing together.”
Alongside Hyphen Hyphen and British performer Charlie Winston, the 2019 event also featured Ofenbach DJ set and Gaetan Roussel, as well as ‘off the pistes’ live bands every night in the individual resorts during the Rock the Piste Festival.
Cross border skiing is the appeal. When based in the Swiss canton of Valais, ski across to France, have a spot of lunch to see a gig, then head back for some Swiss apres – or vice versa.
The 600km+ of ski terrain is diverse, offering slopes that have appeal for all standards and styles. There are 12 resorts within the Portes du Soleil area – four in Switzerland and eight in France – and the concerts on the slopes, which are free live music events with the only cost being in buying a ski pass, started nine years ago.
The Dents du Midi in the Chablais Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais reach a height of 3257m (10,686ft), with the area encompassing six villages near the south eastern end of Lake Geneva, including Val d’Illiez, where there is thermal spa with indoor and outdoor pools.
For winter sports, Morgins, Champoussin, Les Crosets and Champery are the key centres on the Swiss side with a great skiing area and opportunities for hiking, ski safari, snow shoe trails and cross-country skiing, while on the French side Les Gets, Morzins, Avoriaz and Chatel are within easy reach.
AIR GUITARIST: Charlie Winston was one of the performers at the Rock the Pistes Festival in 2019. Photo: Morgins/Matthieu Vitre
For skiers and snowboarders, the choice of terrain is mesmerising, from appealing reds and blues, trails through the trees, to long, winding slopes such as the Ripaille-Grand Palais run or the challenging Didier Defago (named after the local here who won the 2010 Olympic downhill), to perilous black pistes such as the mogul field at the top of Chavanette… the Swiss Wall.
Back in Morgins, the cosy Chez Jan hotel has a warm and welcoming bar and dining area with chess sets and comfortable chairs, lovely rooms and is set close to the slopes with easy access to the chair lifts.
For food, in Switzerland there is an inevitability that fondue will be on the menu at some stage but increasingly with an unexpected twist. Our cheese fondue, for example, had the flavours of chilli, mushroom, beer, and even cannabis, which I am assured is legal in this context in Switzerland.
For a more formal dinner of steak and salad, we dined at restaurant La Buvette by Chez Jan, though for something special, head over to Restaurant Le Communal in the heart of Val-d’Illiez for exceptional cuisine, perhaps after a morning or relaxation at the thermal bath.
TRAVEL FACTS
Mark Nicholls flew London City Airport to Geneva with Swiss International Airlines (swiss.com) and then took the train (swisstravelsystem.co.uk) and taxi to the resort.
He stayed at Hotel Chez Jan (chezjan.com/en) where rooms are 225CHF a night, including breakfast.
A seven-day lift pass in mid-March is 355CHF. For more information visit MySwitzerland.com, visitvalais.ch or regiondentsdumidi.ch
For more info on Rock the Pistes 2020 (15 – 21 March) go to: en.rockthepistes.com/
Categories: France, Switzerland