Chamonix Activity Report: 23rd August 2009

It's almost the end of August now, spelling the end to the majority of peoples' holidays but it's not over yet! Some lifts will be closing in the next week, but there is still lots to do and some lifts (Brevent and Le Tour) are open well in to September and the Aguille du Midi open till November, when it closes for around a month. The Montenvers train will run until the middle of October. So still plenty to do in the valley, with things looking a bit quieter and with cooler temperatures which will hopefully be arriving in the autumn, Chamonix is a great choice to get out and about and enjoy what the mountains have to offer.

Yesterday the plan was to get the lift up to the top of Brevent and walk down to the start of the climbs on the rock face which is directly beneath the cable car, although luck would have it that the cloud came in early morning, so we waited as long as we could, but with no sign of the cloud passing we decided to head down to Les Gaillands and give some of the more technical climbs a go down there.

It was a bit of a disappointment as the wall we intended to do on Brevent is quite a good sized seven pitch or so, all with bolts on and a good place to practice putting in traditional climbing gear, while having the safety of the bolts to rely on while learning this side of climbing. I shall be back to do this route soon and with Brevent open till 20th September there is plenty of time to achieve it.

So we headed down to Les Gaillands, just a little walk outside of town near the Hotel Le Vert. It's a great place to come if you don't want to risk coming back down when it rains and there are so many routes down here to cater for every level of climber. Having failed at some of the routes down here in the past, I felt it necessary to give them a go and see how well I could tackle them now. I was quite surprised that I managed to complete all the climbs that I had previously failed at. So a successful day and climbing in some cooler temperatures that the cloud brought with it, which also helped keep the numbers down on the wall.

Although I haven't been paragliding this year, I have had a go on a tandem flight starting from Brevent and roaming around the Aguilles Rouges, taking in the view of the Mont Blanc Massif. The views are amazing when you have a fully qualified pilot to worry about flying and landing, while you sit in your harness stress free and enjoy the thrill of the ride.

There have been many paragliders in the valley recently with such warm weather to keep them up, none of them can resist coming to the valley. There are many companies in the town that offer tandem flights or training to become a qualified pilot. One of the better known ones is Summits with a wealth of experience flying in and around the valley and operating all year round, they are a great company to go to if this is something that interests you.

So a great few days in Chamonix, even though plans were halted by the weather, there is always something else that can quickly replace any plans made.

Between the 25th and the 30th August it's the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc. A series of running races which either start or finish in Chamonix having gone around the Mont Blanc Massif or half way round. A great week to come out for and cheer on the many competitors running these gruelling trail races.

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.