La Fouly skiing: Verbier's shy neighbour About 45 minutes by car from Verbier, La Fouly is a tiny Swiss resort with just one slow chair and a draglift, plus a couple of beginner drags. While its 20km of mainly intermediate and beginner runs are frequented mostly by local families, it's also popular with ski tourers, since it's a great starting point for accessing high terrain stretching to France in one direction and Italy in another. And it's covered by a six-day Verbier or 4 Vallées lift pass, for a supplement of just CHF15 a day. My adventure with local mountain guide Jean-Benoit began in the neighbouring resort of Vichères, where we did a few warm-up runs on deserted intermediate pistes. A picturesque route took us through open snowfields followed by wooded terrain back to La Fouly. There wasn't a soul in sight on our not too challenging one and a half hour trip - a huge contrast with Verbier. La Fouly's simple, family-run three-star Edelweiss hotel made a huge contrast too. At around CHF100 per head for a night's half board, it's amazing value, aboutn half the cost of similar in Verbier. We dined handsomely on warm foie gras and rack of lamb, washed down with local Valais wines. Also covered by the Verbier lift pass is Bruson. The slopes here are limited, and served only by a slow chair and two drags, but they're worth a visit. The tree runs are tremendous - similar to Canadian heliskiing. A new gondola into the heart of the ski area from Le Châble in the valley means it's easier to get to Bruson from Verbier, cutting out a bus ride and a slow, old double chair. Visit verbier.ch to find out more.