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Share or not to Share... Vaujany in the French Alps is quite a
unique place. A visit is likely to leave a lasting memory, the wish for
a better camera and the feeling of discovering a special place just for you.
Many people in fact face the dilemma of whether to instantly invite their
friends to share these pictures and spread the word about this little
mountain gem, or keep it quiet and attempt to preserve its unspoilt nature. I have spent seven seasons marvelling at the changes this
place undergoes as the beautiful snowy blanket slowly melts in May to reveal
an amazingly fertile, so very different, landscape - greens the likes of
which are hard to believe. It almost looks as thought nature is showing off;
"Look what I can do!" July and the lifts open again - in an instant
one can be whisked up to 2000 metres, 2800 metres and finally to 3300 metres.
Here you will find a surreal almost moonlike landscape below the floor of the
cable car, the thousands of winter skiers replaced by the occasional marmotte, chamoix or fellow
nature lover. The brief but intense summer is a symphony of colours, smells
and sights. Vaujany itself is nestled on a gorgeous
south-facing slope at 1200 metres, amongst alpine meadows full of cows
complete with clanging bells. The landscape available for rambles, climbs,
fishing and admiration of the local flora and fauna stretches not only far
and wide, but more than 2000 metres above you. Then before everything turns
pristine white again, nature really puts its palette to full use in September
and October with an array of autumn colours all across the mountain and into
the valley below.
The village itself benefitted from compensation from EDF when
the land below was flooded some twenty years back. Entrpreneurial
locals seized upon the idea of investing in a state of the art 160
person cable car to link their little traditional Alpine village to the ridge
above and through a thrilling descent, the major ski resort of Alpe D'Huez (of Tour de France
fame). Vaujany the resort was born. Since then
careful control of construction permits and a limited availability of plots
of land, together with an investment in a child care centre, fantastic
swimming pool, a few traditional restaurants and an active kids club, has
created a fantastic and quite unique fusion of traditional and modern life. I first discovered Vaujany when I
was employed to run a small two star French hotel in the centre of the
village. For twenty one seasons virtually the only British tour operator to
the village has been the same small family run outfit. They rent the rustic
hotel Rissiou from their French owners in the
winter and together with five chalets, welcome visitors to this special place
in summer and winter. It has been the start of a personal love affair
with Vaujany: its charm, its traditions, its foods
and local characters that, as I come to the end of
my working stint there this season, will be hard to leave.
Apart from the obvious great skiing it has been the summers
and what they have to offer that has not only been the biggest surprise, but
has eaten up the most memory sticks and will provide the longest lasting
recollections. From the center of the village, the
lift takes you up the mountain opposite and onto the start of what seems like
infinite possibilities for mountain walks. Although I was taking full
advantage of this right from my first summer in Vaujany,
it was not until we had a guest one season who was a lichen enthusiast and
collector come stay with us, that my eyes were opened to a less obvious, but
equally stunning side to the Alps: the flora! This guest would request an
early breakfast in order that he be sure to catch the very first lift each
morning - I thought such nutters only existed in
winter - and be gone for hours, only to return with the day's haul of tiny
samples of lichen. As I recall he was on a mission to collect a sample of every lichen that grows in Europe. This was a
labour of love and he had been some twenty years in the process. I believe he
found three new ones just from his one week with us in Vaujany! After that I could never walk in those mountains in the same
way- suddenly there was double the amount of interesting things to look at.
Although I feel I have become very little the wiser as to my surroundings, it
has provided hours of fun on long walks at least wondering what plants,
lichen and flowers might be. I have even visited the excellent Jardin d'Alpin - an Alpine
Flora Research Station operated by Grenoble University - only an hours' drive
from the village. The garden was created in 1899 and sits on another Tour De
France favourite the Col du Lauteret at 2100m,
overlooking the beautiful La Meije mountain. It's
next to free to get in, and in July and August especially you can view more
than 2000 species of Alpine plants from around the world, beautifully
presented in rockeries. I believe the Station even organises workshops and
work experience - but that might be for another time! All in all, coming to this special corner of the world has
been a wonderfully eye-opening experience on so many fronts. One of the less
obvious for me seven years ago would have been discovering this interest for
the local flora. Now as I am off, as with many of the guests I have looked
after on their holidays over the years, I too have faced the dilemma of
whether to keep silent about Vaujany or share my
experience. When I think back on all the memories and how others might find
the place equally enchanting, it seems as if sharing is the right thing to do
- enjoy!
FACTS: Nearest airport Grenoble or Lyon (about 75 and 90 mins drive respectively) - it is about 570 miles from
Calais Col Du Lauteret Jardin
Alpin is only 60 mins
drive away : http://sajf.ujf-grenoble.fr/ The small family-run tour operator I worked for is Ski Peak: www.skipeak.com (they
have fantastic deals on all sorts of different size chalets for the summer) The peak flowering time is July and August (which coincides
with when the lift runs) The village website is: https://www.vaujany.com/en/ Thomas Randall All photos in this article are the property of Thomas Randall
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