Chamonix Activity Report: 23rd May 2010
The weather in Chamonix has taken a turn for the better! Its been getting warmer every day with less clouds poking their heads in to the valley, which is great for clearing some of the snow of the higher trails for hiking and biking along with some of the higher climbs in the valley that might become possible if the hot weather hangs around.
The weather is looking pretty darn good for the rest of the week as well although with a thunder storm risk toward the end of the week, and if you have never been in the mountains for a good storm its worth coming out to see and hear, truly amazing with thunderous roars echoing up and down the valley with pink and purple strikes of lighting hitting the side if the mountain before your eyes!
With the warmer weather and dipping our toes in the lake early on the week we thought maybe its time to go and jump in! with such lovely weather about and the lower down trails in very good condition we went for a bike ride from Argentiere all the way down to Lac De Passy which is a massive 32km ride! Although around 80% of it is downhill but the climbs uphill can be quit gruelling but worth it for the views that you receive once at the top. The route you must take to get to Passy by bike is toward Les Houches where it becomes necessary to climb uphill to the wonderful little village of Vaudagne, as taking the same rout as a car would take you on to the auto route which is illegal and you will find lorries beeping their horns at you until you retreat from the road, as I mistakenly found out last year!
Once up at Vaudagne it's a brilliant ride downhill toward Servoz on a very quiet peaceful road, where you eventually find yourself riding past the climbing wall at Servoz and on to a flat section before some more short climbs uphill over to the final decent leading down to Lac De Passy. The easiest way I find is to follow signs to Le Fayet then head out of the town toward inter-marche where you turn right then follow a narrow road running along side the main street which will eventually bring you out at the entrance to the lake.
Exhausted after our epic ride we arrived at the lake and parked our bikes opposite the small island of the lake and proceeded to get in to our swimwear and swim to the island and back. As soon as we stepped in we realised that we may have been a little optimistic about the temperature of the lake! But we came over 30km on our bikes for this so we had to do it! So we swam in a semi hypothermic fit over to the island and back again as fast as we could and with the knowledge that we could come out and be warm in seconds in the hot afternoon sun. if the weather keeps up the lake should be warm enough to get a more comfortable swim in the next week or so! After our refreshing dip we ate some well deserved sarnies and headed back to Le Fayet to catch the train back up to Argentiere for a few beers at the Office bar!
There are lots of summer activities possible at the moment and also still the winter with a lot of snow hanging around up high on the Aguille du Midi although the Valle Blanche is becoming a hazard to those who don't know the area intimately as many of the snow bridges have collapsed, so an experienced guide would be absolutely necessary right now for that route. Right now a lot of the routes high up come in to very good condition with Mont-Blanc accents soon to become very fissionable along with other high mountains in the area.
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!
