I first skied with them in 2001, when they were running a small ski business in the village. I enjoyed it enough to return year after year, eventually staying for entire winters. Today, I rent a modest two-bedroom apartment from them, about 200m from the ski lift.
It’s the little things that make life here special. I rarely need to arrange to ski with friends – I simply amble over to the ski lift in the morning and usually bump into someone I know. If not, I’ll meet people on the slopes, or over coffee at the Bulle Café above Arc 2000 or Le Sanglier Qui Fume at Arc 1600. By late morning, I’m almost never skiing alone.
I’ve now come to know Les Arcs well enough to find good skiing in most conditions, which lifts to avoid at peak times, and where fresh tracks are likely to linger – all of which tends to make you popular with visiting friends.
Villaroger’s social life is low key, which suits me well. My days of dancing on tables in ski boots are long gone (almost). More often, evenings are spent cooking dinner with friends, or at Le Goyet restaurant in the village, where a warm welcome from owners Jean-Michel and Morgane is guaranteed. It’s an excellent way to end a day’s skiing, and it happens several days a week.
Of course, life in Villaroger isn’t perfect. The nearest supermarkets are in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, a 40-minute round-trip, and the drive down there can be interesting (to say the least) in heavy snow. That said, I’m within easy reach of Geneva, Lyon and Chambéry airports, as well as the Bourg-Saint-Maurice train station, so I can get back to the UK in just a few hours if needed.
But things are changing in Villaroger. In December, a new high-speed, 10-person gondola opened in the middle of the village, replacing old lifts and cutting journey times to the local slopes and wider Les Arcs area.