Chamonix Activity Report: 17th August 2010
A nice warm sunny day today but overall the past few days have been a lot cooler and with a lot of rain passing through it hasn't been great for the parties that were on in the town, or partaking in any form of outdoor activity! The Fete des Guides was in action over the weekend but the crowds that would normally be drawn in with the warmer weather were nowhere to be seen!
There were a good few that braved the wet weather and hid under the marquees that were put up for both the Argentiere and the Chamonix events, and there was good spirits at both, followed by late parties at both events at the Office bar in Argentiere and Le Vert down in Cham.
With the cooler weather and a lot of rain low down, we had the first snow fall at around 2500m since the winter! So now there is a lot of talk about heading either up the Aiguille du Midi or toward some of the pisted resorts offered on glaciers in the area, such as Tignes, Saas fee, Les Deux Alps, Zermatt, or many of the other glaciers open throughout the summer months. Its definitely getting the locals thinking more about their winter plans, and feeling like it could be a good one we have coming! A great company to go through if you're wanting to get your snowboarding up to high spec before the season starts is Blue Mile Snowsports (www.bluemilesnowsports.com) or if you want to get your skiing in to good form for the winter then All Mountain Performance is one of the best operating in the area (www.allmountainperformance.com).
With the cooler weather and plenty of rain you can soon run out of motivation for doing something active outside, and you might not be feeling that crazy about getting out and doing something every day any way. A good option to take in this circumstance might be heading in to town for a bit of shopping. So with the family over and their motivation running on empty we decided to head through the tunnel du Mont Blanc and in to Courmayeur for a bit of sightseeing, shopping, coffee, and food.
We headed through the tunnel where we unfortunately had to pay full price, unlike during the winter when the tunnel pass comes at a heavily discounted rate with the ski pass. We parked up and started to wander through the scenic cobbled streets of the town, checking out some of the local cheese, meat and wine shops. There are some really great little Italian fashion stores, if you have the wallet big enough for it! We did see one jumper priced in at over €3000! I didn't see anything within my own price range but my mother decided to grab a lovely pair of shoes at a shocking price but apparently worth it! After they had their fill of shopping we headed to the infamous Bar Roma for a couple of pizzas and some of the finest coffees for miles!
Check out our Mountain Guide Listings for contact details of local guiding and activity companies.
Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Chamonix!
