Posted on 01 March 2013
Bond fans who are also keen skiers might be disappointed that in his latest film, ‘Skyfall’, the legendary spy goes nowhere near the white stuff, however they can take comfort knowing that in earlier movies, some of the most thrilling scenes are of the Alps and Bond on skis.
The Swiss resort of St Moritz, in the Graubünden area, was the location of arguably the most famous skiing scene in any Bond film, namely ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. The film opens with a thrilling high-speed chase down slopes around the chic resort, which ends with Bond (Roger Moore) jumping off a cliff and opening his Union Jack parachute.
Still in the Swiss Alps, the revolving restaurant of Piz Gloria featured in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ as the mountaintop research unit of baddie Blofeld. Other ski chase scenes in this film were shot around the resort of Saas Fee. ‘Goldfinger’ also contains Swiss mountain scenery, namely the village of Andermatt, where Sean Connery became a known face during filming. For a ski home in the Swiss Alps – and a taste of the Bond high life, Skiingproperty.com is now selling new apartments in Flims Waldhaus, not far from St Moritz in Graubünden.
Meanwhile, over in the French Alps, did you know that some of the dramatic scenic shots in ‘The World is Not Enough’ are of the Chamonix area, including the Argentière glacier, and that there is even a run there nicknamed ‘The James Bond Trail’? Not too far away and still in the shadow of Mont Blanc, a little-known aerodrome at the resort of Courchevel, called Altiport, was used for some of the opening scenes in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’. Voted one of the most dangerous airport landings in the world, it’s used for private flights by wealthy owners of property in the French Alps and visiting celebrities, and once a year it becomes the venue for the world’s highest-altitude snow polo tournament.