Anzère, Switzerland...

By Yolanda Carslaw 

Perched on a makeshift wooden bench by a cowshed, I take a bite of a barbecued saucisse smeared with Thomy mustard, and survey the view. It's snowy to the floor of the vine-lined Rhône valley, where the Valaisan capital, Sion, and its castles are camouflaged by whiteness. If I knew my stuff, I'd recognise a dozen "4,000-ers" on the 180-degree horizon. I pick out the peaks of the Weisshorn and Dent Blanche, the folds of the Grand Combin behind Nendaz, and the towering hump fortified by spikes that is Mont Blanc. I expect it's the thrill of cooking my lunch on the mountainside, but is the finest view in the Swiss Alps a little sharper than usual? Does the air feel fresher?

 

Probably not, but it might make sense if it did, because below, in the village of Anzère – where I have skied since I was a child – a clean-energy drive is under way. Its centrepiece, which was switched on in October, is central Europe's largest wood-pellet burner. For 600 apartments and two hotels, as well as the new indoor-outdoor pool and spa, heat and hot water are no longer on tap thanks to fossil fuel but to offcuts and sawdust from Valaisan trees.

 

The CHF8.5 million (£5.9 million) "Centrale" is the size of a family house, with two slim chimneys no higher than the pines that surround it. Its pair of oversized ovens roars when the village is full and flickers when it isn't, sending boiling water gushing around 2km (a mile and a quarter) of pipes, into neat little heat exchangers in each building that is connected. Pellets are delivered every three weeks, from a wood plant 10 miles away. Inside looks like a sophisticated swimming-pool shed. It is unmanned: adjustments and checks are done remotely.

 

The brains behind the burner are two friends who met as children in Anzère, where most apartments are in large, chalet-style Sixties buildings, most on a car-free village square at an altitude of 1,500m (4,920ft). When Markus Mann, who runs a renewable-energy firm in Germany, proposed replacing the ailing boiler in his building with a wood-pellet burner, his friend Alain Bertrisey said: "Why not the whole village? Every boiler will need replacing soon."

 

Already the Centrale is on course to "save" 1.5 million litres of oil a year; further buildings will be added in time, and as long as the price of oil doesn't plummet, it should save money, too.

 

And while Anzère – with 50km of pistes plus acres of little-frequented off-piste – will never rival nearby Verbier or Zermatt for vastness or motorway skiing, it is becoming an increasingly appealing prospect, especially for families. From this season, most of the village has become – snow-permitting – ski-in, ski-out, thanks to a new "moving carpet" that links to a button lift towards the telecabine, which used to be a 10-minute walk from the square's furthest reaches. The square itself has been re-energised by the pool and spa, which opened in December, and an outdoor café where parents can wrap up in sheepskin rugs and keep an eye on their children on the toboggan run, ice-rink or climbing frames.

 

Visitors can ski by full moon, go parapenting, practise jumps in the buzzing "Flypark" or drink their fill of free vin chaud after the weekly descente aux flambeaux. Time a visit right to catch – or avoid – the Swiss Snowmobiling Championships or the Winter World Transplant Games.

 

Next season a new chairlift will open up fresh terrain, and the beginners' bowl on the mountain (at 2,400m/7,874ft) is getting a revamp. The long-intended cable-car link with Crans-Montana still looks remote, but I am secretly relieved. After all, people might come and never leave. Then we regulars might not be able to savour the moment of lunch by a cowshed, cooked on a wood fire (what else?) with nobody but our nearest, dearest and that splendid view for company.

 Apartments for four from SF690/£470 per week (+41 27 398 3348; belvivo.com). Adult lift pass SF226/£155 per week. 

Three more energetic Alpine efforts 

Here are three more examples of winter-sports spots where the sustainability strategy goes far beyond offering organic rösti for lunch…

 

The hotel 

Muottas Muragl, Switzerland 

This 16-room, 105-year-old property near St Moritz became the first "plus-energy" hotel in the Alps after a refit and extension in 2010 that reduced its energy needs by 64 per cent. Hot water comes from 60 square metres (646ft sq) of solar collectors in glass windows; there are 16 geothermal loops extending 200m (656ft) into the mountain and electricity is generated by a photovoltaic system extending along the funicular railway that serves the 2,456m (8,058ft)-altitude building. Heat from the railway's cooling units, exhaust and the machine room, as well as from the kitchen, is also used, and excess geothermal and solar energy is stored below ground.

 

The resort 

Lech/Zürs, Austria 

Stay at almost any hotel in Lech, Oberlech or Zürs and your hot water and heating comes from one of four biomass plants, whose energy output replaces eight million litres of fossil fuels. As Austria's "energy model region", the town has a commissioner who advises businesses and home owners. Among his suggestions for hoteliers is a gadget that switches the radiator off whenever a guest leaves a window open. Even Lech's police are in on the act: they patrol on "e-bikes".

 

The mountain hut 

Monte Rosa Hut, Switzerland 

This "hut" of aluminium, glass and wood, built at 2,880m (9,449ft) in 2009 to replace the nearby stone hut of the same name, shimmers for a reason: its giant window panes drink in solar rays, making the five-storey building, which has 120 beds, 64 per cent self-sufficient. Underground are giant tanks that store glacier-melt. The place not only has running water but hot showers. It overlooks the Gornergletscher near Zermatt, with views to the Matterhorn and the Monte Rosa massif, and is accessible only to self-propelled ski tourers and hikers – although decidedly "un-green" heli-skiers pass by for lunch, too.