Half-term puts a huge strain on any ski resort, but Les Gets in the French foothills of Mont Blanc is one that has learned to cope particularly well, even though it is only only an hour's drive from Geneva airport. Five beautiful mountains crinkle out into a range of hanging valleys and semi-secret sweeps of piste through the pines: nearly 70 runs served by four cablecars plus 50 chairlifts and drags.
The two-dozen streets among the chalets may be a foolhardy place to take a car, with the traditional Petit Train adding to a confusion of hoots, but for pottering about, the absorbent effect of the shops and cafés is remarkable.
The same applies to the slopes. You will not escape queues - this isn't Brigadoon in the snow - but the crushes come and go like amoebas and never affect every lift at any of the focal points at the same time. Inevitably, the main pressure comes in the morning on the two gondolas and the chairlift from the valley bottom; but you can squeeze in a couple of runs on the three nearby drags until the École du Ski Français mini-hordes are up at Chavannes. Les Gets is not for you if you dislike children. They were swarming - and showing their usual amazing ability to sidle through queues, even on skis.
There is the usual mezzanine stop halfway up the hill - four good restaurants, again with the queue-absorbing trick - and the gateway to a network of ups, downs and sidewayses (six miles of well-planned cross-country ski de fond ), which take almost exactly a week to work out.
Les Gets is primarily red-route country, with a few challenging blacks, but it also has an intricate web of blues and even - my own little world - an intriguing way of visiting all but one of the summits on greens. Or sort-of greens. You need a little ingenuity here and there, and a vin chaud to pluck up the courage to slither briefly across a red; but then the mountain restaurants of La Rosta, Ranfoilly, Pleney and Nyon are yours.
From there, you have a breathtaking panorama of the Mont Blanc massif, deceptively near to the eye, with the whole grand jaw of Mont Maudit, the Aiguille du Midi, the Dru and the Grandes Jorasses spiking the sky. La Rosta is particularly lovely as a belvedere; heading its own quiet mountain bowl with a choice of green, blue, red and black to take you back to a gentle traverse through the woods and on to the village.
The Scalextric world of ski de fond , with its preciously-guarded tramlines, has another eight miles on Mont Chéry, a single peak on the shady side of the valley facing the four other tops. From halfway up, you can also enjoy what are called "walks", but these are better taken on the bottom, sliding down through the pines like a human sledge.
Exploring the whole domaine skiable would absorb all your time, especially if you ski down to the bigger, neighbouring resort of Morzine and on into the four other massifs of the Portes du Soleil. But few will have time for more than a taste, particularly if they want to sample Les Gets' non-skiing attractions, such as hang-gliding, husky-driving and - our option - a snowshoe walk to spot chamois and mouflon in a forgotten valley of huge icicles and drifts.
Our "garde nature" spoke mainly into his beard but thoughtfully brought both a telescope - so the whole family can now describe a mouflon's bottom - and some invigorating Alpine gin.
The praticals
Les Gets tourist office, Maison des Gets, BP27, 74260 Les Gets, France. 0033 450 758 080. There isa live webcam on www.stella-galaxy.com. British Alpine Ski School 01485 572596 or at Les Gets include Ski Activity (01738 840888) and Hillwood Ski (01923 290700). easyJet (0990 292929) flies to Geneva from £110.
