Chamonix Activity Report: 15th May 2008
Ahhh...the dreaded interseason. The time when there's not a restaurant open in town, when the rain drums down, when chalets close their doors and board their windows and when teary waves see off the last bus of the winter to leave the resort.
Thankfully, that's not the case in Chamonix. Whilst the Tarentaise might be a ghost town and there's more to do on the moon than in Flaine right now, the only true year-round Alpine resort is positively buzzing with activity. The Aiguille du Midi cable car continues to ferry intrepid explorers to the highest of heights, the Montenvers train is running and the night-life in town feels unchanged. The bars and clubs are still open; the only difference is that you can find a table easier, and there are no stag weekenders to spill their pints on you.
We've been out there this week trying to change our winter fitness into summer fitness, and have had some good times. On Saturday, we went down to Les Bossons – a village just outside Cham, towards Les Houches – and climbed up to the Bossons glacier. That's the one that comes down from Mont Blanc toward the valley – the one that's on all the postcards. In previous years, there's been a chairlift that whisked you part way up but this year it's not running (well, not yet at least...), so we parked at 'Le Mont' and made our way up on foot. It's a nice walk – shady, steepish singletrack in the woods that's great to get your heart rate up without feeling you're running the London Marathon. 40 minutes later, we arrived at the Buvette café and enjoyed stupendous views over the Bossons glacier. Every few minutes a rock bounced down the ice face or a serac peeled off and crashed to the floor, reminding us that geological time includes 'right now'!
The Bossons is home to two of France's worst-ever air crashes. In 1950, an Air India Super Constellation name the Malabar Princess crashed into the glacier, followed sixteen years later by a Boeing 707, Kanchenjunga, of the same airline. Since glacier ice formed at the top of the Bossons takes around 50 years to get to the terminal 'snout' of the glacier, it's only in recent years that pieces of wreckage from the first accident are being found. Satisfy your morbid curiosity by examining a huge piece of undercarriage and an engine which are on show at the Buvette café up there, having been spat out of the glacier.
The weather has been great this week. Yesterday, to make the most of the sun, we took the train to Montroc (free if you have a 'seasonnaire' or 'cate d'hote' card) and walked back to Chamonix along the Petit Balcon Nord via the high village of Le Lavancher. This is one of my favourite hikes, with well-signposted dirt footpaths and plenty of beautiful views. From Montroc you cross the viaduct and climb up to the white Le Planet hotel, then follow the Petit Balcon Nord signs back to Chamonix. It took us about 2.5hrs, but since we were chatting about our plans for the coming weeks all the way, felt like it went past in an instant. Definitely recommended for a 'first-day' hike to get the legs back into it before you tackle some of the meatier walks in the valley – some of which we're going to start on next week.
Meanwhile, don't miss the Zero G bike test this weekend; they're offering you the chance to take all their shiny, brand-new bikes for a spin on Saturday and Sunday. See you there!
