Unspoilt and snowclad: the perfect Easter skiing spot in the French Alps

The Haute Maurienne valley has slopes for everyone from children to off-piste adventurers yet is still quieter and wilder than its neighbouring ski areas

I was crossing a steep-sided valley in the Vanoise national park in the French Alps by car when something in the sky caught my eye. My brain, unable to process what the huge black raggedy-looking thing could be, jumped to the conclusion it must be a drone, trailing a bin bag, so incomprehensible was its size. But, as it passed overhead, I saw a flash of orange underbelly and realised I was looking at an enormous bird.

A quick bit of Googling suggested it was not a golden eagle – though they live there too – but a lammergeier, or bearded vulture, and several breeding pairs inhabit this part of the Savoie. These colossal scavengers, whose wingspan can reach 2.8 metres, were reintroduced to the Alps in the 1980s, having been hunted to extinction a century ago. Back then, they were known as “devil birds”, considered predatory not only to sheep (the name translates as “lamb vulture”) but small children also. Mindful of the comparative size of my own two kids in the back seat, I could see why. I clicked the childlock.