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Chamonix Activity Report: 20th June 2010

featured in Activity reviews Author Kieran Sharp, Updated

So here we are; lifts are open now all except Grand Montets, Fete de la Musique is coming up on Monday, and its looking like we might even be getting some warmer sunnier weather for the music festivals which will be on throughout the valley and all of France! We are still in the process of receiving a large amount of rain and last night it actually snowed down to 1800m!

The rain and the snow has prevented an enjoyable downhill mountain bike on the new track at Flegere which opened yesterday, which was disappointing but a daring few did give it a go, and after hearing news from more experienced riders having difficulty getting down in the rain, mud, and white out conditions on the trails we decided not to go up until it dries out. If you are out this week to give downhill a go make sure you have good brakes and good grip on your tyres as its muddy and slippery even on the lower trails.

Now that there is some snow at around 1800m I'm going to wait till the sun burns it all away, which shouldn't be too long with the weather forecasters predicting better weather moving through and hopefully perfect timing for the Fete de Musique tomorrow.

We did however get out for a bit on the Balcon Sud yesterday, the slightly less extreme option for the day but still a good ride and some sections where you can practice downhill techniques. It was very wet indeed with rain falling and many puddles down the entire trail, so we didn't stay clean for too long! Coming down the trail there had been a few tree falls from all the wind that we had last week, so be careful to watch out for that if you're riding down the Balcon Sud as there was one particular tree just round a corner after a down section and if you don't see it you could be clothes lining yourself!

After the ride down and feeling pretty soaked through, we checked out to see if anyone was actually riding down from Flegere but it seemed that anyone that had was fairly experienced on the bike and had pretty much only done one run to check it out. So we headed down the road with a few other bikers to Bar'd Up to watch some of the World Cup while enjoying some World Cup happy hour prices!

So now with everything pretty much open and the weather changing for the better its time to book a trip over here if you haven't already, there's going to be some big parties this summer, Fete de Musique tomorrow, many other smaller parties, and competitions like the climbing world cup and many other events, so watch this space and make sure you experience at least part of your summer here in the wonderful valley of Chamonix.


For more information about lift price information and parking check out the Vallée Blanche skiing article on this website.

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!