In the summer of 1929 Jacques Mouflier, an intrepid soul from Paris, eager for adventure made his way up what was little more than a donkey track and a perilous one at that. He was looking for Val d’Isere, he’d seen maps and his wanderlust lead him to venture where few outsiders had been before. Only a few brave souls came this way in the early spring months, climbing skins fixed to the bottom of their skis. The route was avalanche prone in winter and was no easier in summer with the threat of stone falls and mud slides. What greeted Jacques was a verdant, hidden valley, barely emerging from the subsistence agriculture of the middle ages, an Alpine Shangri La, isolated from the outside world. There is evidence of human habitation dating back to pre Roman times but the population was always very sparse and one can only imagine what that world must have been like. It was a truly stunning and beautiful location for sure, as it is now but the life must have been very hard.

Val d’Isere progressed and developed into a town of sorts and by 1664 the parish church was built and is still a landmark in the town to this day. By 1929 when Jaques arrived the resort had just four hotels, only open during the summer months, for the benefit of botanists and walkers. Water came straight from the mountain streams and the telephone and electricity were unknown. Mouflier saw the potential for developing Val d’Isere as a ski resort but lacking the money of the Rothschilds who had similar thoughts and plans for developing Megève had to set about convincing the locals. In 1932 the Hotel de Paris opened for the winter and in 1936 the first drag lift was built on the slopes of the Solaise mountain. But the resort was really put on the map in 1937 when Pierre Cot and Leo Legrange, two government ministers on an official visit were trapped in the resort by four meters of snow. They made it their mission to build a road and that same year, Europe's highest road pass, the Col d'Iseran was opened by the French President beside a beaming Mouflier, whose vision and persistence had finally paid off. In those distant days before widespread road transport not everyone was convinced by the idea of creating a ski resort in such a remote valley, far from the towns and cities that would provide skiers. Jean Matter, president of the French Ski Federation was quite scathing in his condemnation and is quoted as saying "it is utter madness to build a ski station at Val d'Isère, failure is certain!" History has proved otherwise.

At the end of the 1960s an agreement was reached between the lift company in Val d’Isere and their neighbours at Tignes  A lift was opened at la Daille, linking the two resorts and in 1972 links were opened with the Fornet sector. The area was named the l'Espace Killy after Val d'Isère's Olympic hero Jean Claud-Killy read Jean Claud-Killy's story who picked up a record 3 medals at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics. Years of largely uncontrolled development followed and resulted in a number of deaths in avalanches during the winter of 1970 including 39 children as they ate breakfast.

The development had taken its toll on the once charming village. The 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics were a spur to redevelopment in a more Savoyard style with the use of Lauze (stone roof tiles) quarried from the Manchet valley. Located in the Savoie région with good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambery, Val d’Isere is assured of it’s place as one of the worlds most successful ski resorts. Jacques passed away in 1973, but he would have been thrilled to see his vision bear fruit, he could have hardly imagined how things would play out as he toiled upwards on that arduous donkey trail in 1929.