It’s tough at the top, especially when the top is Mont Blanc. Perhaps it’s just the feelgood factor from the Sochi Winter Olympics (what, there is one?), but according to French Property firm Athena Advisors, with sales of ski chalets over €1m increasing by 32% last year, more than just the ski lifts are on the up. The boom’s spawning things like the Chalet Husky in France’s Val d’Isere; a £10m, 7-bedroom fantasy by Jean-Charles Covarel. The 600m2 pad takes aprés ski to new heights, with bar, jacuzzi, pool, gym, pistol range, waterfall and climbing wall. The result is, well,intriguing. Covarel ‘pre-finances the entire build of every property he creates’. Although it’s an architect’s dream scenario, this doesn’t surprise. Who the hell would pay for it?