4 Seasons of Adventure in Iconic Mountain Towns

by Larry Olmsted

“The mountains are calling and I must go,” said John Muir, the great 19th-century mountaineer and “Father of the National Parks.” Before Muir, French and Swiss alpinists set their sights on the summit of Mont Blanc in the 1700s, and today the pursuits of skiing in winter and climbing in summer draw people to glorious alpine settings worldwide. While charming ski towns are a dime a dozen—and wonderful when the snow flies—many become ghost towns in the offseason. For those seeking four-season adventure, these four locations deliver—and may be busier in the summer than in ski season, despite exceptional skiing and snowboarding.

Chamonix, France

The original resort mountain town, Chamonix birthed the sport of mountaineering in the 1700s and remains home to the world’s first and most famous professional guide outfit, La Compagnie des Guides (since 1821), which leads hikers, climbers, and skiers today.

Chamonix sits in the shadow of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps and Western Europe. It was the first mountain that humans set out to climb for sport, back in 1786, fueling the fire that would lead people to the top of Everest, Denali, K2, and high peaks around the globe. But before that it was famous for its glaciers, written up by two Englishmen exploring the area, who called this the Mer de Glace, or Sea of Ice. Their published exploits drove tourism, with the first accommodations opened in 1770. Almost immediately, celebrities like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe began coming, followed by hordes of climbers. A carriage road linked the town to Geneva, and then in 1901, a railway provided the first easy winter access for tourists. This kicked off a rich history of skiing, with the construction of cable cars accessing higher slopes, and in 1924 Chamonix would cement its reputation as the world’s preeminent mountain town by hosting the first Winter Olympics.

Today this long tradition of active tourism has been ratcheted up in scope, and Chamonix is simply a spectacular destination for anyone who loves the outdoors. In winter it is among France’s most desirable places to ski, both on resort slopes and backcountry, and home to one of the most famous expert runs in the world, the Vallée Blanche. This glacier run is accessed by a roped-in descent to the glacier, ideally with the help of certified mountain guides.

From spring to fall, Chamonix is the traditional beginning and end of one of the world’s most famous multiday hikes—and now trail running ultra races—the Tour du Mont Blanc. Circumnavigation of the famous peak through France, Italy, and Switzerland, the TMB is a holy grail for hikers and runners. Chamonix is also a magnet for mountain bikers and the full gamut of extreme-sports seekers, from winter mountaineers to wingsuit fliers and all sorts of aerial adventurers, including skydivers and paragliders. It’s a great place to try ice climbing, and in warmer months, there’s white-water rafting and hydro-boarding (riding white water on a small board). If you have no climbing experience you can take lessons or feel the thrill on a via ferrata, a climbing-like experience where you are harnessed and clipped into a cable, rope, or metal ladder rungs affixed to the mountainside and cliff faces.

If there’s something that involves adrenaline pumping, chances are you can do it in a great way in Chamonix, and at the end of the day, the charming town’s streets are full of great restaurants and bars serving delicious alpine fare. La Compagnie des Guides (chamonix-guides.com) is excellent for many summer and winter adventures, and there are lots of specialized shops and guides for activities they don’t cover. It’s laid-back and with the focus more on the activities, the pretension of the Alps’ chicest ski towns never arrived here. For almost two centuries the town’s top luxury hotel has been the understated Hôtel Mont-Blanc Chamonix (hotelmontblancchamonix.com), with an unbeatable central location. More recently the ante was upped by the first hotel from legendary experiential French bar/club/restaurant operator La Folie Douce (lafoliedoucehotels.com), whose hotel features live entertainment and copious glasses of Champagne served nightly.

Banff, Alberta

Home to Canada’s first national park (and the third in the world), Banff the town, in fact, is located entirely within the park. Stunning mountain views right from its Old West–style Main Street set the stage, and nearby is the stunningly gorgeous Lake Louise, one of the most photographed—and Instagrammed—bodies of water on Earth. If you talk to anyone who has ever visited, natural beauty is the first thing they mention—it’s just everywhere you look. Banff National Park was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site specifically for its “exceptional natural beauty” and “striking mountain landscape.”

While most North American ski towns came from mining, tourism was always the raison d’être for Banff, born as a Canadian Pacific Railway stop back in the era when the railway built grand hotels across the country to drive ticket sales and leisure travel. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Fairmont Banff Springs (fairmont.com), aka “The Castle in the Rockies,” right in town and the place to stay, along with its waterfront sister hotel, the Fairmont Château Lake Louise (a 50-minute drive away). Unusual for a rugged, adventure-centric mountain town, Banff is also home to one of the most famous golf courses in North America, the iconic Banff Springs.

Banff is a world-class ski destination with SkiBig3 (skibig3.com), three resorts sharing a single lift ticket and free transport. Two of these, Lake Louise and Sunshine Village, would each be one of the largest in Colorado. The Nordic center for the Calgary Olympic Games is in Canmore, the first town outside the park and a 20-minute drive from Banff. Canmore is also home to one of the world’s top mountain biking trail systems. Hiking is hugely popular all through the region, and the main park road, the Icefields Parkway, is a major destination for road cyclists. Canoeing and other non-motorized water sports are popular on large Lake Louise, which in winter becomes a hockey and skating venue. Besides hiking and skiing, Banff is most famous for climbing, with rock climbing and mountaineering for all abilities, including very difficult technical routes, plus tons of ice climbing in winter. Banff connects directly with three other large abutting national parks, Jasper, Yoho, and Kootenay, and there is endless outdoor adventure in every direction, all year long.

Jackson, Wyoming

Jackson may be home to one of the most famous ski resorts on the planet, but summer is the busy season here, as the town is the gateway to two stunning national parks, Yellowstone (the world’s first) and Grand Teton. The latter is named for its iconic peak, the Mont Blanc of the Americas, where mountaineering in the United States kicked off. More than 12 decades after its first conquest, Climbing magazine still describes it as a “rite of passage for American mountaineers,” and there are around three dozen well-established named routes, and more than double that amount of possible route variations. Following in the footsteps of Chamonix, the Grand birthed the desire to climb America’s most iconic mountain guide service nearly a century ago, and Jackson’s Exum Mountain Guides (exumguides.com) has taken thousands of would-be climbers to the summit for its four-day camps (two days of skill building and the two-day climb). Exum also leads other outdoor pursuits, including backcountry skiing.

Jackson itself is a famously fun Old West town with cowboy roots that still thrive here today, from horseback rides, chuck wagon dinners, and the popular rodeo to the saddle-topped barstools at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and the bar at the Silver Dollar Bar inlaid with 4,000 uncirculated Morgan Silver Dollar coins—all from 1921. There is lots of bison and elk on local menus and several craft breweries.<

In winter the attention shifts to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (jacksonhole.com), “The Big One,” with the nation’s highest vertical drop. It is also home to America’s most infamous double-black diamond expert trail, Corbet’s Couloir, which involves a “mandatory air” leap of faith into a chute in the rock. Jackson Hole pioneered the backcountry gate partnership with the Forest Service, so you can use its lifts to access out-of-bounds skiing. There’s snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and alpine touring through the national parks, which in summer boast world-class hiking. Some of the best fly-fishing in the country is in and around Jackson, and mountain biking is also hugely popular here. The top lodging in town is the Hotel Jackson (hoteljackson.com), while 12 miles away at the ski resort and near the entrance to Grand Teton is the slope-side Four Seasons (fourseasons.com).

Zermatt, Switzerland

Ask a child to draw a mountain and you’ll probably end up with a cartoon Matterhorn. The world’s most recognizable peak, which has graced Toblerone chocolate bars, endless advertisements, and Disneyland, towers over Zermatt, a town that embraced the sustainable-tourism trend nearly a century ago, when it banned automobiles. Most visitors arrive on one of the most famous scenic railway routes in the world, and hotels pick up guests at the station in electric carts. The long pedestrianized main street with Matterhorn views is exclusively for strolling, and just about every storefront that does not serve fondue, raclette, and wine is an outdoor gear shop or outfitter, a clear indication of Zermatt’s priorities.

The Matterhorn was one of the last big peaks of the Alps to be summitted, and when a British team finally made it, they lost several members on the descent. Ironically, this tragedy put the town firmly on the map when Queen Victoria banned climbing trips here, creating a forbidden fruit backlash—suddenly everyone wanted to come to Zermatt, and they still do. Today you can do the full-day climb without technical skills if you are in good shape, but you absolutely need a professional mountain guide and, ideally, experience with crampons.

Hiking is the No. 1 outdoor activity here, with about 250 miles of well-marked trails right from town, and many more connecting to multiday trails across the Alps. The postcard-perfect town has long been one of the world’s top summer destinations for day hikers, with trails ascending in all directions, many leading to remote mountain chalets serving fondue and cold beer. The Gornergrat and 5 Lakes Trail are especially famous day hikes, and many routes are assisted by cable cars and Europe’s highest open-air cog railway, which leaves right from the main street. Mountain biking is also very popular.

In winter the cog railway is a main access point for skiers, and Matterhorn Ski Paradise is the highest altitude resort in Switzerland at almost 12,000 feet. You can ski directly into Italy’s Cervinia resort and you can even ski in summer, with about 13 miles of slopes and pistes open year-round, drawing national ski teams from all over the globe for training. Paragliding is also offered in the summer and winter.

Of all the great mountain towns, Zermatt is probably the most about the town itself, so idyllic that the developers of Colorado’s largest ski resort, Vail, modeled their village on it. It has the best food options in this niche, from several Michelin-starred eateries to the top examples of regional alpine fare in traditional stubes. The classic luxury hotel is the Mont Cervin Palace (michelreybierhospitality.com), and a newer kid on the block is its sister hotel, the Schweizerhof.

Photo Credits: Courtesy Jackson Hole Mountain Resort; Chamonix Tourism; Black Tomato; Banff & Lake Louise Tourism; Michel Reybier Hospitality; AdobeStock; Switzerland Tourism/Pascal Gertschen