Chamonix Activity Report: 17th September 2009
The weather here in Chamonix has taken a very mixed turn again with the snow returning to some of the higher areas in the valley and a fair amount of rain passing through, but mostly in the evenings, so the mornings have been fairly dry and in some cases quite sunny. All in all the days have become much cooler, bringing it with it the necessity to hang the shorts up and bring out the jumpers!
Unfortunately this coming weekend brings with it the end of some of the lifts in the area, making fewer places to go for downhill mountain biking or higher mountain climbing etc. Although the Montenvers train and Aguille du Midi will be open for some time to come and Les Houches will be closing on the 27th September so there is still a good bit to do for now. Even without the lifts there is still a lot of fun to be had, especially if you like hiking, mountain bike touring or road biking.
There are some good areas to road bike in and around the valley with some outstanding views to be seen on the way. On one of the sunnier mornings I decided to go for a ride on the road to Martigny, which is a lovely little town just over the border in to Switzerland. Depending on how enthusiastic you are feeling you can start this bike ride from anywhere in the Chamonix Valley, however I chose to get the train over to Vallorcine avoiding one fairly large climb on the bike going over the col des Montets. I probably would have given this climb a go if I had a decent road bike, I was however on a fairly heavy hard tailed mountain bike, but Zero G in Chamonix have road bikes for rent and for sale, and it would be a lot easier on a nice light high tech bike unlike me on this occasion!
Once off the train in Vallorcine it's a fairly easy cycle over toward the border (don't forget your passport!) into Chatelard, and from there the climb increases in difficulty after Trient, but it's a fairly short uphill if compared to the way back! It's fairly easy to follow the road to Martigny with signs pointing the way from Chamonix, and once on the road to Trient there is pretty much only one route to take. The hill stops ascending at La Forclaz where there is a nice little spot to stop for some coffee or lunch before taking the nice easy descend down in to Martigny.
Looking back towards Chamonix the clouds where coming in but looking ahead to the large valley below was blessed in glorious sunshine! And it was a lot warmer in this valley than the one I left earlier. The views coming in to this side of the hill were amazing! A much larger valley and you come down the south facing side so plenty of sun and passing by many fields of grapes where it seems the vineyards are just getting ready for their harvest, which gave me the fabulous idea of picking up a bottle of local wine! So on the way down in to Martigny pretty much at the very bottom of the hill I made my way up the other side slightly until I came to a winery where I picked up a very good bottle of red wine for a very good price! After grabbing a good bargain I headed in to the town to grab a bit of Swiss chocolate and making my way back up the hill via the train as the ride back over would have been exhausting! It's fairly to find the train station just follow signs to the centre and continue to the end of the road where you will eventually find it, and the train back over comes through a different valley with some more amazing views on the way!
Well a fairly good few days and it's good to know that Chamonix is on the border of 2 other countries with different weather systems so if one is pouring down with rain it could well be that another is fine and dry!
Don't forget to keep an eye on our What's On Calendar for a full list of events taking place over the summer months.
