Carved into a high-altitude clearing above Les Allues in the Méribel valley, a cluster of timber and stone chalets built in 2019 achieves something that most new Alpine construction fumbles: it carries the atmosphere of something that has always been there. Le Refuge de la Traye was conceived as an owner's love letter to the mountains — a sentiment literally inscribed into the dining room beam overhead, where the words Bâti en 2019 avec coeur et passion en joignant notre amour à celui de la montagne run in carved script above the banquette. The massing, visible from above, breaks the programme into several interconnected volumes with steeply pitched slate roofs and roughcut stone plinths, avoiding the monolithic footprint that betrays so many purpose-built ski hotels. Inside, the material language is consistent and carefully calibrated: aged larch cladding lines walls and ceilings throughout, with the signature detail — a coffered ceiling panel inlaid with cross-sectioned log rounds, backlit to glow amber — appearing in both room categories. The bedroom interiors layer sheepskin-draped chairs, tartan scatter cushions, and dark upholstered headboards against that reclaimed timber surround, landing closer to a well-appointed private chalet than a managed hotel room. The dining room deploys carved Tyrolean oak chairs and plaid banquette cushions with copper pots marshalled along a high shelf, while the wraparound summer terrace frames an uninterrupted panorama toward the Aiguilles de la Pennaz — teak folding directors' chairs and long communal tables keeping the mood easy rather than ceremonial.

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