Chamonix Activity Report: 15th July 2008
It's pretty much a given that a rainy weekend in Chamonix is better than a sunny weekend in the office. Maybe it was partly due to this fact that Sunday's triple-whammy French National Day, Climbing Competition and Beer Festival went off so well. Despite the damp, the firework display was excellent - hearing the explosions of rockets booming around the ampitheatre-like walls of the valley was incredible.
The climbing competition was as much a showcase of incredible technical aptitude as it was a competitive event - for non-climbers and climbers alike, the sheer sight of sinewy bodies running up vertical pitches was quite something. In the end, fifteen year old Johanna Ernst amazed us in the ladies' technical finals as she battled the rain to win the event by some margin.
Meanwhile, a handful of Alpine micro-breweries made the journey to Chamonix to present some of their interesting brews. We found ourselves coming back again and again to the Alsace stand to repetitively check out their cherry and their raspberry specialities. Elsewhere, more unusual fare was available for the bargain price of 2.50€/demi...although if you fancied a quaff of the unique banana and vanilla flavoured beer, this was available for free in half-drunk cups, discarded by previous, bewildered drinkers.
Had a great meal last week at Munchies, one of our favourite restaurants in Cham. It's in Rue des Moulins, opposite the burnt-out shell of the old Queen Vic / Dick's / Cybar complex (which still promises renovation sometime this century), and you'd probably miss it if you weren't looking out for it. They have two dining rooms inside, a nice bar and a streetside terrace which is open in good weather. But you don't go for the setting - beautiful as it is - as much as you go for the food. The menu is a real mix of everything, from Asian to Swedish to modern French. Just thinking about their duck teriyaki with oriental vegetables is making me hungry. The service strikes the perfect balance between formal and friendly...in fact, I don't have a bad thing to say about the place. Go now, take my car.
Thankfully the forecast for this week is looking up, so with some luck it'll be less rain and more sun, bringing the trails out here back from quagmire to hardpack. Les Houches is probably seeing the worst of it; the porous rock beneath the resort doesn't drain particularly efficiently or well, so the goo seems to hang around longer there than elsewhere. Our advice; head to Le Tour, Les Grands Montets or La Flégère for the next couple of days until the surface water has had a chance to move on. Meanwhile, if anyone spots any alpine strawberries around, please let me know...every single plant I come to seems to have had them all eaten off!
I'm heading out on a bit of an adventure tomorrow - I've spotted a new car-accessed downhill from high above Les Houches down to Servoz, which looks like it will be a lot of fun. I'll let you know how it works out later in the week. Until then; bon ride a tous!
