Heaven and Earth

I am standing ankle-deep in snow on a ski slope high in the Haute-Savoie. Here above the tree line, it’s a stretch to think about artisanal food production. But we’ve come here to eat. Every winter cheese maker and farmer Bernard Chardon opens his small chalet, Alpage d’Ariondaz, at 2000 masl to warm and feed hungry skiers and hikers.

The place is a monument to tradition, humility and hard work. Compared to other restaurants on these hills, it’s decidedly unglamorous. The main building, made of stone with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, contains a simple open kitchen and a handful of wooden tables seating around 20. Inside it seems dark, especially when you’re blinded by the glare of the outdoors.

The meal is rustic. Country bread with a plate of house charcuterie: grison, bacon and smoked mountain ham. We have salad of torn lettuce with a sharp vinaigrette before a red enamel pot arrives full of bubbling, nutmeg-spiked Beaufort fondue. The flavors are rich, strong and complex with caramel notes.

When the pot is nearly finished our host cracks an egg and empties the basket of bread into it. He opens up the flame and stirs vigorously and voila – a quick omelet, the highlight of the meal.

Later our host proudly shows me his cellar, a stone room at the back in which he ages his cheese. People have been living and working like this in the Alps for centuries, and in this moment it’s as if very little has changed.

We leave the chalet to ski off, numbed slightly from half a pint of Mont Blanc blonde. Visibility is poor and the powder is deeper than earlier. I have €40 worth of Beaufort in my backpack.

Carving down a steep gradient my ski gets stuck in a drift and I roll head over heels. When I stop moving I don’t know where my skis are. Up the piste it’s all white and fog. A friend finds one ski. I spy the other and scramble up the hill to retrieve it. I check my backpack. The Beaufort is unscathed.

In winter Bernard Chardon runs his restaurant from his chalet. When the snow melts he walks his hardy Tarentaise cattle up from the valley, to graze on the pure and varied flora of the mountain pastures. Their rich, wildflower perfumed milk makes the crown jewel of M Chardon’s cheese production: a fragrant, dense, nutty Beaufort chalet d’alpage. He also makes fantastic Tomme and Raclette.

Find them at the top of the Ariondaz lift in Les 3 Vallées. Open in June for the summer, and open for lunch during the ski season. Book in advance. http://goo.gl/Fzcwj5