Ski France Archives • GloBelle Affairs

January 16, 2013

Living The Dream: MLK, Jr. Day In Portes Du Soleil, France

Beautiful snowy Alps views taken from the top of the French Alps in Portes Du Soliel

clBonjour y’all! Dr. MLK, Jr. Weekend is always the Annual Black Ski Weekend. Even for those who cannot attend official events, the extended holiday weekend draws African-Americans to the slopes for fellowship and camaraderie. Living in Germany doesn’t pause tradition. For the four-day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend, I went on a trip to Portes du Soleil, a ski community on the Swiss-French border.

With 13 Ski resorts (8 French, 5 Swiss), 307 runs, 200 chair lifts, cute villages spanning 372 miles (650KM) of Ski Community, and two mountain cultures all under one ski pass — Portes du Soleil is an Ultimate Winter Sports Wonderland. You cannot say you’re an avid skier without making Portes du Soleil your winter holiday destination at least once. But, I guarantee once you get there, you will want to keep returning. Here are all the reasons why I love skiing in Portes du Soleil.

The Alps

I absolutely adore spending time in the Alps! They take my breath away no matter the season or the country I view them.

You can ski over to the Swiss side, but make sure you spend your money on the French side…it’ll go further that way.

TARIFS-DU-13-AU-21-AVRIL-2024-1.pdf (portesdusoleil.com)

Charming French Towns

Unfortunately, I had to spend most of this weekend hotel-bound writing a gosh-darn research paper for the final class of my Master’s program while everyone else hit the slopes. However, La Chapelle is the perfect, quiet place in the Alps to post up in a coffee shop and write all day.

My ski extraordinaire pal, Lucia

The Church in which the ski town was named after.

Fondu party in the Apres Ski

French and Swiss Après-ski Culture

Après-ski is one of the most memorable parts of a ski vacation. During the day, everyone disperses based on their skill level, but in the evening, when the slopes, close friends can all come together to hash out the day’s most memorable events over food and drinks. We had a fondue night where we made a meal out of dipping pieces of bread, veggies, and meats in warm cheese. Wine flowed freely as wine should when you’re in France, and the laughter got louder with crazy plans to take a photo in the blizzard in our bathing suits. this crazy plan never manifested but it sure was fun to discuss.

The name of the town

The Chapple that the town was named after…Which, by the way, is the comedian Dave Chapple’s name…it’s French!

These photos were taken on the day I stayed in a coffee shop to write my paper. Of course it was a beautiful clear sky day.

La Chapelle

This is one of my favorite ski resorts because it had a variety of slopes for all skill levels. One green run was four kilometers long with gentle back and fourth curves perfect for practicing. Not only that, there were several green runs for me to practice on.

The sun shines bright against a blue ski in French Alps in Portes du Soleil. evergreen strees on the snowy slopes.

I pretty much decided I graduated from the basic ski instruction. I don’t need to spend 60 euro for someone to tell me how to “pizza” and “french fry” anymore. I just want to practice on my own. I was bored and I felt like it wasted a whole day when I could have been doing trial and error an finding by own way on longer runs.