Alpine Chills in Samoëns

 
Alpine Chills in Samoëns

From cold yoga to winter wild swimming, Samoëns, in Haute-Savoie, is the place to go for some cold therapy.

📢 As you scroll through the beautiful images, why not listen to our narrated article? It’s a great way for France Today Members to dive deeper into the story while enjoying the visuals. We hope you love this experience, and we’d love to hear what you think—feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below! Happy listening!

The western skyline is becoming more colourful by the minute. Above the jagged mountain range stretching behind the Haute-Savoie town of Samoëns, there’s a fiery yellow, which gives way to a deep orange, which in turn blends into purple and then blue. Criss-crossing this kaleidoscopic sunset are a dozen or so vapour trails from aeroplanes heading into Geneva airport. This is the view from Chalet Mont Plaisir, a once rustic but now very comfortable wooden chalet 1,400m up the mountain, north of Samoëns.

It’s early February and we are staying overnight in the chalet, having spent the day hiking and practising cold yoga with our teacher, Claire Philipczyk. Of all the forms of yoga out there, cold yoga is definitely one of the less orthodox. Wearing snowshoes, we hiked for an hour or so through deep snow up mountain trails to a plateau high above the Giffre Valley. Here, under guidance from Claire, we were encouraged to strike yoga poses in the cold air while breathing fast and deeply through our nostrils. The following morning, we took the practice to the next level, heading outside shortly after sunrise wearing just swimming costumes – nothing else. The air temperature was in single figures but Claire soon had us breathing fast and deeply again which quickly warmed up the body’s core. Strangely, despite having virtually all of my skin exposed to the cold mountain air, I didn’t feel uncomfortable. “That’s because your body is self-regulating and finding its equilibrium,” Claire explained, sitting next to me, perfectly happy in her swimsuit. “The more we expose ourselves to the cold, the more we regulate our nervous systems.”

Yoga raquette © Gilles Piel

Cold comfort

Her methods, she said, are based on a Tibetan Buddhist breathing practice called tummo, which aims to harness the body’s inner heat and increase its metabolism through vigorous breathing and ultimately achieve a state of enlightenment. I personally couldn’t say I felt enlightened by Claire’s cold yoga, but all that heavy breathing definitely warmed up my body and made me feel slightly light-headed.

The day before, my exposure to cold had been even more alarming. At Samoëns’ Lac aux Dames, we had met Shane and Asa – he Irish, she Swedish – who offer cold swimming courses. With the water temperature barely nudging 7°C, this required more than a little hardiness. Shane led us to the edge of the lake and encouraged us to take the plunge. “Go in slowly. Stay calm. Don’t bring your stress with you,” he said, brimming with positivity. “Accept the cold water. Decide that you want it.” Gradually we eased ourselves into the lake, first to the waist, then the shoulders and then completely submerged, breathing deeply all the while. The temperature was shockingly cold, stabbing little knives all over the body. Shane was loving it. I, on the other hand, was suffering silently. After about 40 seconds I headed back for the shore. That was quite enough for me.

Take an ice cold plunge in the Lac aux Dames © otsamoens

Not enough for Shane, though. He started swimming the length of the lake, down to the far end and back again. When, after ten minutes of swimming, he finally exited the water, he told me to touch his shoulder which felt like ice. But he was buzzing with energy and elation. Then I realised I was buzzing too. Suddenly I understood what this cold swimming was all about. It makes you feel alive, positive, totally invigorated. “The cold water makes your body produce high levels of dopamine and adrenalin,” Asa explained as I shivered beside the lake. “It’s like taking cocaine, but completely natural.” Many experts agree that exposure to cold brings about a whole host of health benefits. Blood vessels and muscle tissue narrow, forcing blood towards the body’s core. This then reduces inflammation, eases pain and accelerates muscle recovery. Although the research is not conclusive, some people suggest it boosts your metabolism and blood circulation. There are even suggestions it supercharges your immune system and improves sleep.

I’m not sure my 40 seconds of cold swimming was going to achieve all this. For me, being in the mountains is more about skiing than swimming. The town of Samoëns itself is too low down the valley for snow sport, but it’s connected to a larger ski area called Grand Massif one of the largest in the French Alps. To hit the slopes you first take the Grand Massif Express cable car for a short ride up to Tête des Saix, at 2,118m. From here you can access a vast playground of 139 pistes (23 green, 61 blue, 44 red and 11 black) stretching for 265km, served by 62 ski lifts and linking the villages of Samoëns, Morillon, Les Carroz, Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval and the biggest of all – Flaine. It was at the latter that we did most of our skiing.

Flaine is where most of the skiing is done in Samoëns © OT Flaine / M.Dalmasso

Flaine sits within a vast natural basin, benefiting from meteorological conditions that guarantee great snow for much of the winter. Surrounding the basin is a ring of high mountains, protecting the pistes from the warming effect of the milder westerly winds and creating a natural amphitheatre. Most of the slopes face north or northwest, thereby avoiding the strongest heat of the sun.

There are pistes for all levels of skier. Beginners can schuss for 14km down the blue run known as the Piste des Cascades, from the top of Les Grandes Platières, at 2,480m, all the way to Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, at 760m. Experts, on the other hand, will prefer the Gers Bowl where they can take on back-country skiing if they dare. But the majority of pistes are either blue or red. The architecture of Flaine itself is unusual, to say the least. Its buildings are cuboid, grey and concrete, with apartments on the upper levels and shop-lined pedestrian walkways at street level. Dotted around the town are vast sculptures, one by Picasso, others by Jean Dubuffet, Victor Vasarely and Philippe Pastor. Resembling a 1960s British council estate, the town is not what everyone wants from their skiing holiday.

Samoens © Christian Martelet

From brutalism to beauty

Flaine is so brash and so Brutalist that it makes Samoëns seem all the more pretty. I spent a pleasant afternoon wandering around the latter, admiring its Swiss-style wooden chalets and beautifully crafted stone buildings, some of which date back to the Middle Ages. Thanks to the local limestone quarries, stone masonry has been a vibrant trade in this part of the Upper Giffre Valley since the 1600s. Napoleon Bonaparte himself was so impressed by the masons of Samoëns that he commissioned them for major canal projects. Their reputation found them work abroad, too, as far afield as Poland, Louisiana and Australia. In the old days, the masons would communicate in their own special dialect, called Mourmé, to ensure no one else could understand what they were saying.

All over Samoëns you can spot the masons’ handiwork: in the solid stone corner fittings and window frames; in the impressive doorways and the intricately decorated lintels above them; in the many chapels and cemetery tombstones; in the municipal fountains and church stoups. But the chalets show off amazing woodwork, too, especially with the patterned motifs that line their balconies, often with religious symbols cut into them. Samoëns was recently voted the most beautiful village in the Haute-Savoie.

Its main square, Place du Gros Tilleul named after the enormous lime tree that shades it is the perfect spot to while away a few hours in a café. Planted in 1438, in the intervening 600 years the tree has grown to symbolise the town and, for centuries, it was where townspeople would assemble for meetings. Next to it is the town’s covered marketplace, and nearby is the chapel and the wonderful Jaysinia botanical garden, with its 4,500 different alpine flowers.

Samoens © Christian Martelet

Wherever you are in Samoëns, there’s one landmark you cannot possibly miss and that’s Le Criou. With its summit at more than 2,000m above sea level, this huge rock stands sentry above the town. In summer, fitter locals love to hike the steep path to the summit, l’Aouille du Criou. In the winter, the snow and ice make the route precarious, though. For a split second I thought about trying it myself. But common sense prevailed: what with cold yoga and lake swimming, I’d endured quite enough cold therapy already.

Sculpture in Samoëns © Christian Martelet

SAMOËNS ESSENTIALS

GETTING THERE

  • The nearest airport is Geneva, which is well served by multiple UK airports and airlines. Once there, Haute-Savoie-based operator Alps Direct offers private transfers to Samoëns. www.alps-direct.com/en

WHERE TO STAY

HOTEL

APARTMENTS

CHALET

WHERE TO EAT

ACTIVITIES

TOURIST INFO

www.samoens.com

From France Today Magazine

Sorry, it looks like you don’t have access to this content.

  • Log in
  • Forgot password

Share to:  Facebook  Twitter   LinkedIn   Email

More in french alps, ski, Ski Holiday, ski resort, skiing in France, winter in France, winter sports

Previous Article Chandeleur: France’s Crêpe-Filled Celebration
Next Article French Film Review: Un Métier Sérieux

Related Articles


Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *