More baby goats in the Aravis
June 14, 2013 @ 1:22 pm — Tags: animals, cheese, entertainment, farm, La Clusaz, Les Confins

I recently wrote about the lovely baby goats I got to feed and pat at the refuge near Thônes called Le Ferme des Vônezins. The ones pictured here are different goats in a very accessible place, and I’m surprised that I haven’t written about this before, given the photo on my ‘About me‘ page features goats from the same farm.
The goat farm at the very end of the Les Confins area of La Clusaz is open all year ’round. In winter, the goats are kept in a big shed with barn doors that are only closed at night and during the coldest weather. Most days, you can stand by the barn doors and the goats will come to the barrier for a pat. The adult goat pictured in the photo was attracted to the brush on her side of the barrier, and she enjoyed scratching for about five minutes while we patted her and watched the antics of the others. They’re entertaining to watch and the farm is one of my favourite places in winter in La Clusaz.
In spring, summer and autumn, the goats graze in the fields higher above the farm. You can walk through the fields with them. Most of them are shy without the security of the barn, but if you’re calm enough, one or two might come over to say hello. Best of all, those green collars tell you the goat’s name.
At the start of spring, when there’s still too much snow on the grass, the goats start producing baby goats. The newborns have a special pen where they can play together. The pen is accessible to visitors who can experience the feeling of a baby goat sucking their finger, and the goats being generally adorable, as pictured in the top photo.
When visitors have had their fill of watching the goats, they can buy cheese at the shop next door. There’s a choice of ridiculously stinky cheeses that I would never attempt to eat right down to fresh goat’s cheese, covered with herbs or spices, which tastes as inoffensive as cream cheese.
Of all the touristy things available in La Clusaz, this is the most popular with my visitors (apart from skiing and snowboarding, of course). It’s a crowd-pleaser with kids and adults alike, and in all the years I’ve lived here and taken visitors to the farm, I’ve never been bored. Now, if only I can talk the staff into setting up a goatcam…
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A few weeks ago, I took some friends to look at the picturesque views from the Col des Aravis. There was snow, green grass and wild mountain goats all visible nearby, and Mont Blanc was bright white in the distance. A rumble murmured in the distance when I took the photo, pictured above. I wondered if it was thunder, but the sky was blue and the only clouds are the light, fluffy ones you can see which caressed the mountain peaks of l’Etale as they climbed up from the other side and dropped down into the Col des Aravis.

Another problem in La Clusaz is that the pistes close more regularly in April. Last year, the Fernuy télécabine, which connects one of the five peaks of La Clusaz to the rest of the resort, was closed for weeks due to the risk of avalanche taking out a pylon. Getting to any other part of the resort involved a flat green piste and then lots of lifts, or a bus back to town.
I haven’t talked about the biggest pro of all, which makes all the cons worth it: the
This kid is definitely the youngest lift operator in La Clusaz.
The drill is black and just by his foot, and again, faffing with my new camera phone meant I didn’t get the shot I wanted of him in action with the drill. His parents were nearby, by the way.
March isn’t usually a month that you associate with outdoor festivals in either hemisphere of the world, but around these parts, one has just come and gone and another one is on its way. The
If you look hard enough at this photo, you’ll see someone in yellow ski pants climbing what appears to be a concave piece of cliff to the top of Le Croix (“The Cross”) up at La Balme in La Clusaz. That’s local hero 
The piste we had just slid down had been flattened, and the wetness of the snow meant our marks were very obvious, with footsteps, toboggan lines and even dog paw prints embedded in the flat, previously perfectly groomed piste. When the driver of the dameuse saw the damage we had done, he drove very close to our group and put the brakes on. We said ‘bonsoir‘ in high spirits, and one of our party pointed to Elodie and said in French that it was her birthday. The driver was unimpressed. ‘So?’ he said. ‘Look what you’ve done to the piste. I spent ages flattening it and now it’s damaged.’
We were the only customers that night, and the lady was friendly enough, but not all that motivated to keep us happy: she was hard to find when we needed more water, wine or bread. She begrudgingly brought out a fourth bowl of salad, which isn’t all that much for 19 people, and promptly disappeared again. The mushrooms added a little flavour to the fondue, but it was still pretty tasteless. As we neared the end of the fondue, it was time to dump an egg, some kirsch and bread into the dish and mix it up. She’d left the eggs on the tables for us to do ourselves (pictured, along with empty bottles of drink), but no kirsch in sight. It was a totally half-hearted effort of ‘serving’ us. Worse still, most of us were still hungry. Poor Elodie went to ask her for more fondue, and after a long discussion (because no French conversation can be short!), the owner agreed to bring more fondue and tartiflette — for an additional price. So, only the hungriest ate, and they got through everything. The owner had told Elodie she had used the usual 200 grams of cheese per person, but our fondue pot for three contained less than what I’d expect for three people. Regardless, I’ve been to restaurants that keep on refilling the fondue until you’re full, free of charge.