I visited the ski resort where the Wham! 'Last Christmas' video was filmed
As Last Video It Chalet In 1984 The From Christmas The Looked
Stepping out of the bus station I immediately regret my choice of outfit. My winter jacket is far too muted, I have no shoulder pads to speak of and my hair is distinctly lacking in volume. It’s not often that I have such sartorial anxiety but, then again, it’s not every day that I visit Saas-Fee — the filming location for one of the most popular Christmas videos of all time.
Few things say Christmas like a catchy pop tune and the 1984 classic 'Last Christmas' by Wham! is one of the most infectious. The song, a tale of broken hearts and Christmases gone by, was written by George Michael in his childhood bedroom in the autumn of 1984 and the video was shot soon after in the Swiss village of Saas-Fee, chosen largely because it was one of only a few places in Europe at that time of year with snow. It helped, of course, that the town is also incredibly picturesque — a cinematic car-free village of cuckoo-clock houses surrounded by mighty cloud-brushing peaks and majestic glaciers.
Back at the bus station, I make a note to return to the Wham! karaoke booth that sits opposite the entrance — one of many events taking place to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Christmas classic — and jump into the waiting electro bus belonging to the 5-star Hotel Walliserhof Grand-Hotel and Spa for the short journey to my home for the next couple of nights.
Lodged in the heart of town, the stately Walliserhof is where the band stayed when they were filming, and the hotel has gift-wrapped a number of Wham! themed activities to make this year’s Christmas period particularly special. There’s a Last Christmas-themed dinner at one of the hotel’s three restaurants, a Wham! spa treatment and George Michael’s favourite cocktail, a vodka and watermelon spritz, is being served at the hotel bar.
The hotel has also created a Wham! inspired augmented-reality scavenger hunt and, after checking in, I download the app and follow a series of clues through the hotel to help (virtually) find the spangly brooch that George gives to his ex-love. According to staff, the brooch really did go missing back in 1984 and it was only thanks to an eagle-eyed porter, who found it outside in the snow, that filming could continue.
The game ends in Suite 2501 where George stayed, and which today is decorated with photos of the pop star alongside Wham! books and CDs.
It’s not just the Walliserhof that is celebrating all things Wham! however. The local Saas Museum has transformed its ground floor into an exhibition dedicated to the duo with videos, voice recordings and memorabilia, and the Tourist Office is running guided Wham! walking tours. The two separate tours lead visitors to filming locations including the Felskinn cable car where George first sees Andrew Ridgeley alongside his ex-flame who (last Christmas) gave his heart away.
The cherry-red gondola normally speeds skiers and snowboarders up to the start of the Metro Alpin, the world’s highest funicular railway from where you can continue up to a dizzying 3,457 metres above sea level and the highest revolving restaurant in the world. The group didn’t make it this far, however, travelling instead only 50 metres up before coming back down again.
Charly Schmidt was the gondola driver in charge on the day of filming and, not speaking English or having any idea who Wham! was, found the entire process rather bemusing.
“I only saw the video 10 or 12 years after it came out,” he says. “In the 80s it was not yet common to own a TV, and nobody had English channels. I had no idea that the clip was so successful.”
Later that day I meet Lynn from the Tourist Office, appropriately dressed in a retro lilac-coloured all-in-one ski suit, for a walk to the Wildi part of the village and the chalet where George and his pals frolicked in deep snow, climbing over the rickety wooden fence and throwing snowballs. Now a private home, the property looks much the same as it did 40 years ago except for the noticeably taller pine trees and new neighbouring houses.
Nearby is the single-story Chalet Tita, today a culture centre... but 40 years ago it was the setting for the raucous dinner party scene that featured Andrew and backing vocalists Pepsi and Shirley, a brooding George with bouffant hair, and a gaggle of friends that they had brought out from London for the video shoot. Talking in the new BBC documentary that was broadcast this month, Andrew reveals how he missed the final scene in the video because he had drunk too much red wine during the dinner scene.
The group didn’t ski during their time in Saas-Fee — despite one of the band’s London friends, David Ridley, carrying a set of very long and very thin 80s-style skis onto the gondola and up to the chalet — but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to carve some tracks. With only 100 kilometres of ski runs (150km if you include the nearby — but not connected — resorts of Saas-Almagell and Saas-Grund), Saas-Fee is by no means the biggest ski resort in Switzerland, but it is home to some of the best snow in the country.
“Saas-Fee is really high, and our slopes are north facing,” says Emily, originally from Dublin and now an instructor at the Swiss Ski School. “So, we can get really freezing cold days, but the snow is amazing.”
I spend my second day in Saas-Fee with Emily and we ski as much of the resort as we can, starting on the Morenia side of the mountain travelling up to the highest point in the resort before making our way down, carving wide turns into the empty pistes and corduroy tracks, the pristine snow glistening in the sunshine. Later in the morning, clouds roll in and we move to the Spieldboden/Langfluh side, tackling red number 11 and then black 11b. What the runs lack in imaginative names they more than make up for in gradient: the runs are steep and exhilarating but best suited to intermediate and advanced skiers.
Back in the village and it’s karaoke time. There’s only one song available in the dedicated karaoke box and I join others in belting out the lyrics and re-enacting scenes from the iconic video before heading back to the hotel for one more Last Christmas cocktail — and maybe a spritz or two of hairspray.
- Swiss International Airlines have twice daily flights from Dublin to Zurich (flights from €124).
- swiss.com
- Travel Switzerland offers three-day travel passes covering the rail, bus and boat network and on local trams and buses (from €268; Switzerland.com/travel).
- Trains run regularly from Zurich Airport to Visp from where it’s a 50-minute bus journey to Saas-Fee.
- Rooms at the Walliserhof Grand-Hotel & Spa start from €480
- walliserhof-saasfee.ch
- Katja Gaskell was a guest of Saas-Fee Tourism and Switzerland Tourism.
- saas-fee.ch
- myswitzerland.com