We Stayed at France’s Newest ‘Super-Chalet’—Here’s What It Was Like
The battle to build the best ski chalet has been bubbling over on mountainsides worldwide since the 1950s. And since best often meant biggest, the result was the invention, some decades ago now, of the super-chalet—an Alpine escape with all the gusto of an oil tycoon’s Dallas manor but done up in knotty pine.
The super-chalet was to the chalet what the superyacht was to the yacht: bigger, better, faster, more toys, more luxury, more service . . . more, more, more. But as with superyachts, super-chalets have never stopped evolving—in fact, they’ve only gotten better. The top ski rentals from Aspen to the French Alps now shun formality. Barefoot luxury in its winter counterpart, “cozy luxury,” is the contemporary zenith of the art form.
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Today, there are only a handful of combatants vying for ground at the top end of the contemporary super-chalet pyramid, and that’s why the opening of Chalet Harmony in Méribel one month ago went off like a cannon blast.
Completed mere weeks before the season began, clad in stone and freshly hewn timber, this volley across the bow of the super-chalet market came from Purple Ski. Despite its formidable size of 6,727 square feet—with six double bedrooms and a palatial master suite, sleeping 15 in all—and gargantuan views of the winter-white valley from floor-to-ceiling glass, the house felt snug on Robb Report’s visit. After all, even a super-chalet should be somewhere you can unselfconsciously crumple at the end of a day.
Light follows you through the chalet, turning on automatically where needed, and the secure automatic sliding doors to the spa require keypad access and open in a distinctly science fiction-esque manner with a pleasing whoosh. But among those show-stopping attractions are the smaller details: the beds that are sinfully comfortable and deep, USB A and C ports that are integrated into every socket. Naturally, there’s a hot tub, a sauna, a swimming pool, a gym, a hammam, and a steam room. But there’s also an impressive three-tier cinema. The main living area, clearly designed for a large family, also toys with that opulent-yet-cozy dialectic. Large log fires glow throughout the home.
With in-season prices starting at $45,000 per week, the rental comes with five rotating staff of the highest order and private chef David Leon, who is quite the thaumaturge in the kitchen. Of course, there’s a driver to take you the 90-second journey to the central lifts and a concierge, too, who’ll finesse any of your needs, from the mundane to the esoteric. As usual, god is in the details. When we asked for a doodad that wasn’t in the chalet, someone was discreetly dispatched and it appeared 20 minutes later.
It’s an ideal hub for anyone who is less obsessed with squeezing every possible run out of an alpine break. It’s a place so comfortable that bad weather comes as a delight. In fact, anything but the bluest sky and freshest powder does rather prompt a Shakespearean problem: To ski or not to ski? And it’s pretty close . . .
As befitting a superyacht or super-chalet, Purple handles everything, from your skis and boots, which are delivered and fitted in Chalet courtesy of Whitestorm, to ski lessons and guides via ESF Méribel and Parallel Lines. Restorative in-chalet messages are delivered via Massage-Me. As the ultimate nod to anticipation, we returned to the chalet late after dinner one night to find the staff had set-up the cinema with snacks and popcorn in the event we fancied a midnight movie marathon. (We did).
Last year, Purple won best chalet in France at the World Ski Awards (with their gorgeous Machapuchare in Val-d’Isère), and we cannot help but fear that this escalation in the super-chalet arms may end in an act of friendly fire.
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