Chamonix has a busy event calendar throughout the year. Here are some video clips of the big annual events.
Videos from Chamonix - French Mountain Biking Championships (Subaru French Cup)
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The 4th leg of this year’s French mountain biking championships was held in the woods in Les Praz. The two disciplines being practiced were cross country and trial riding. With France having just taken gold and silver in cross country at the Olympics in China, the standard of riding was high. There were various categories open to the entrants so that male and female, young and old could compete.
Heavy rain on the Saturday had made both courses muddy and slippery but the sun shone on the Sunday and competitors in both events pulled out all the stops in an effort to become French Champion.
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last updated 8-Sep-2008
Videos from Chamonix - North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc
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The North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc is the last major event in the Chamonix summer calendar.
An endurance race, which attracts runners from all over the world, the Ultra Trail is a gruelling 166km run around the Mont Blanc Massif which crosses through three different countries and climbs over 9000 vertical metres, starting and finishing in Chamonix town centre.
The Ultra Trail is the main race of the week but there are two other large races too. The Courmayer, Champex, Chamonix (CCC) which is the 98km half course and the enormous Petit Trot du Léon which is a 220km, non-competitive run around the massif. The runners in each race have to run through the night in an effort to be the first to cross the finish line and distance and altitude gain mean that many are unable to finish. But for those who do membership of an elite club awaits, for it is not everyone who can claim to have finished this incredible race.
Videos from Chamonix - World Climbing Championships & Cham'Biere Festival
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This year’s World Climbing Championship weekend was another incredible event in the Chamonix calendar. Although bad weather on the Saturday meant that the programme had to be altered, nothing dampened the spirits of the crowds who gathered or the athletes who were, quite simply, astonishing. The technical climbers on the lead wall seemed to stick, fly like, to the most impossible of overhangs and after a well battled night final on the Sunday the Europeans dominated the podium:
Men’s Lead 1. Jorq Verhoven (NED) 2. Sachi Anma (JPN) 3. Klemen Becan (SLO) Women’s Lead 1. Johanna Ernst (AUT) 2. Angela Eiter (AUT) 3. Mina Morcovic (SLO)
The real crowd-pleaser of the weekend was the speed climbing and here, China was in a league of their own taking five of the six podium spots!
Men’s Speed 1. Qi Xin Zhong (CHN) 2. Ninq Zhang (CHN) 3. Maksym Osipov (UKR) Women’s Speed 1. Cuifanq He (CHN) 2. Chun-Hua Li (CHN) 3. Cuilian He (CHN)
Once the climbing was over the celebrations continued on until the very small hours as the Chamonix beer festival got underway. Local brewers show-cased over thirty different types of beer, the Chamonix fire brigade were, very sensibly, in charge of the barbeque and live DJ’s kept the crowds going until the sun started to come up.
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last updated 29-Jul-2008
Videos from Chamonix - Mont Blanc Marathon Weekend
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The Mont Blanc Marathon weekend takes place in Chamonix every year at the end of June. For two days Chamonix is host to runners from all over the world who come to take part in the various races.
The highlight of the event is the Marathon itself. A 42km race that runs from Chamonix centre to Vallorcine on the Swiss border and then back through the Aiguille Rouge nature reserve to finish at Plan Praz (2000m). The shorter Cross du Mont Blanc is a half marathon that follows the same route as the marathon as far as Montroc (just beyond Argentiere), where it then also crosses into the Aiguille Rouge and heads to the finish at Plan Praz.
The weekend also has races for kids with five different classes for different age groups and for those new to cross country running, there is a 10km "discovery" race.
Videos from Chamonix - Nissan Outdoor Games : Extreme Sports Action
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The best teams in the best mountains... The top athletes representing the extreme sports of skiing, snowboarding, mountaineering, speed-flying and BASE-jumping will be in Chamonix to dispute the Nissan Outdoor Games by Columbia film and photo competition. After three very successful summer editions, the event which has no fear of anything is now growing and developing on different levels.
In a class of its own, this biggest European outdoor event combines the sporting performances of professional athletes with a creative and artistic aspect and blends it all into a festival of film and photography.
The winter games will host about sixty athletes, photographers and cameramen from Europe and North America to take part in the competition. Their challenge: shooting and editing 20 pictures and a short film, which according to the rules, must be no longer than 5 minutes including a sequence of BASE jumping, paragliding, mountaineering, skiing and snowboarding. Creativity-wise, anything goes… Elected by a jury, the best film will be judged on its photography, its screenplay and the performance of the riders. When it comes to pulling off the biggest moves, these high-level athletes should display the best combination of their disciplines with the Mont Blanc in the background.
Video Snow Report from Chamonix : Wed 19th Mar 2008 - Boss de Bosses
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Jon reports from the site of the 19th "Boss de Bosses" competition. Teams from Val d'Isere, Chamonix, Verbier, Zermatt, Courchevel and Meribel compete to find out which resort rules the bumps. With the course shaped and the tunes pumping it looks set to be another great day in Chamonix and with fresh snow forecast a really good Easter too. Click here to find out who won!
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last updated 21-Mar-2008
Video Snow Report from Chamonix : Tue 6th May 2008 - Freeride Days at the Grands Montets
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Jonathan is up at the Grands Montets for the official closing party of another winter in the Chamonix Valley. The snow is still tremendous and fortunately there is a bonus week left to enjoy it. Enjoy the bonus footage as well: highlights from both the day and the winter.
Jonathan Trigell is the author of the novel Boy A winner of The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, The Waverton Award and The World Book Day Prize 2008, which was recently turned into a BAFTA winning drama by Film 4. He also wrote the first serious novel about winter sports: Cham. "Trigell’s ski-bum hedonism does for extreme winter sports what Alex Garland’s The Beach did for backpacking" - The Financial Times
