Chamonix Activity Report: 18th July 2005
For the record, not everyone in Chamonix has to be an extreme mountain-sports fanatic; there's great stuff to do here for all ages & abilities. We are planning to cover various hikes and walking trails around the valley over the summer months with the intention that our fitness levels improve in doing so. At this point in time we are almost complete novices when it comes to planning for a day's hike in the mountains, its not something we have done much of here. We really should invest in some walking shoes….and a map….
To kick things off, we started with a nice easy hike from Brevent to a great little lunch spot nestled in the mountain called La Floria. Well, that's how our experienced hiker friends sold it to us anyway and they were right… although it was a little embarrassing having to stop for a ‘breather' and being passed by small children.
From the Brevent cable station you follow the road up and around to the right. It is a solid packed ‘road' with small loose rocks and a fairly steady gradient – it's also pretty exposed which is when you wish you'd remembered your sun cream/hat. After approx 20 mins you join the Petit Balcon Sud, which takes you off the exposed track to the right and along a shady, softer route that traverses all the way to the Chalet Floria.
As the name indicates, there is an abundance of colourful flowers around the chalet which boasts great views of the Grand Montets, Montenvers & Aiguille de Midi opposite. There are limited tables but the service is quick & very friendly with a simple but really tasty menu. The Petit Balcon Sud continues out the other side of the restaurant and on to Argentiere but we made our descent the same way we came – well, we didn't want to over do it on the first one. Including lunch and taking in the scenery, we took just under 4 hours to do this hike.
Despite the tracks being incredibly well signposted, we are definitely going to pick up a good map of the walking paths for future use. All the bookshops in town stock a good range of books, guides & maps in various languages and you can pick up plenty of useful info from the Chamonix Tourist Office.
Coming up this week
We're looking forward to having friends out to visit at the end of the week. We plan to cram in as much activity as possible over the 4 days and so should have plenty to report back to you.
Piste Maps for Chamonix (pdf format), Les Houches (jpg format), Cross-country skiing (pdf format), and Mountain-bike trails (pdf format)
Current status for opening of Pistes & Lifts
Chamonix Webcam Index
Useful Links
Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research
French Avalanche Research Institute
Meteo France - Mountain weather and avalanche conditions bulletins (in French)
Henry's Avalanche Talk - popular avalanche training sessions based in French Alps as well as translation of current avalanche conditions
PisteHors.com - Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding News in English for the French Alps. Excellent coverage of avalanche safety and advice
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
