Champéry (French pronunciation: [ʃɑ̃peʁi]; Arpitan: Champérié) is a municipality in the district of Monthey in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
In 1969, Champéry became one of the founding villages of the Portes du Soleil ski area and resort.
It consists of the linear village of Champéry, which was part of the municipality of Val-d'Illiez until 1839 when it became independent.
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Quartered Argent issuant from three Mounts Vert as many Pine Trees of the same trunked proper and Azure statant on ground Or a man proper clad of the same troused Argent holding a bag of the same sowing seeds Or from it.
[4] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (996 or 90.0%) as their first language, German is the second most common (26 or 2.3%) and English is the third (24 or 2.2%).
[4] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][11] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 35.76% of the vote.
In the tertiary sector; 50 or 15.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 10 or 3.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 116 or 36.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 0.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 2 or 0.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 57 or 18.2% were in education and 1 was in health care.
[4] From the 2000 census[update], 818 or 73.9% were Roman Catholic, while 103 or 9.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.
[16] The Champéry – Planachaux cable car (125 passengers) and the new 6-seater chairlift in Grand-Paradis take skiers to the Portes du Soleil recreational area, at an altitude of 2,000 m (6,600 ft).
[citation needed] Champéry is home to the Skating School Of Switzerland, founded by Swiss Figure Skater Stéphane Lambiel.
[17] Champery also has one of the steepest ski slopes in the world which Red Bull made a competition on it.
The Portes du Soleil recreational area keeps 24 chairlifts open for the summer, giving access to over 600 km (370 mi) of paths.
Aigle is a town on the Swiss Federal Railway and allows train connections to Geneva, Bern, and Basel.