High in the mountains above the Rhone River valley are two of Switzerland's most famous ski resorts, Verbier and Crans-Montana. For our Easter holiday, however, we had decided on a smaller resort, St Luc, hidden away up the Val d'Anniviers. Not only does the village have its own ski area, there are others in this small side valley; as a group, they cater for everyone. The stats bear this out: 250km of pistes served by 50 lifts, with a bus service that is easy to use. For us, that meant gentle slopes to give my husband practice and intermediate runs that flattered my skills, seducing me into trying the steeper pistes. To our teenage son's question "Are they board-friendly?", the answer was a definite "Yes". Or, rather, "Oui", since this is the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

As for St Luc, the village is so low-key, there's almost no key at all. Only 200 people live here year round, and even with guests in the five reasonably priced hotels and holiday homeowners from Geneva and Zurich, the place never felt crowded. With Easter turning the vast networks of more famous Alpine resorts into a ski-jams, we enjoyed wide-open spaces and lift lines so short, we barely had time to chat and catch our breath before we were swooping up the mountain once again. In fact, our only wait was at lunchtime on Easter Sunday - for a sun terrace table at a mountainside restaurant, where we ordered up hearty goulash soup and a more traditional fondue.

St Luc marries an Olde Worlde look, with modern ski-lift technology. The new funicular, for example, climbs 1,200m in two minutes and is worth riding just for the view. But what about the rest of the Val d'Anniviers family of villages? Checking them out is easy, thanks to the valley-wide ski pass. Linking in with St Luc is Chandolin, whose system of red and blue runs makes it ideal for families with young children. Up at the head of the valley is Zinal, offering off-piste excitement. Back in the old days, this was the base for mountaineers such as Edward Whymper, the first man to conquer the Matterhorn in 1865. The largest village in the valley, Grimentz, boasts stunning medieval wooden houses, worth a whole role of film. Of course, the higher up the ski slopes you go, the more the panorama opens out. The "Imperial Crown" is a line-up of five peaks, each topping 4,000 m. And on a sunny day, there's the thrill of seeing the pointed Matterhorn, thrusting upwards for nearly 4,500m.