Chamonix Activity Report: 29th August 2005

The trail begins and ends at Chamonix but you can catch sight of the runners as they pass through Les Houches, Les Contamines, Les Chapieux, Courmayeur, La Fouly, Champex, Trient, Vallorcine and Argentiere. Each of these areas celebrates the achievement of the runners by holding a fete with concerts, barbeques and general encouragement, clapping and cheering as the runners pass by.

The event is very well organised with refreshments and medical assistance at all the check points; some friends of ours were on the voluntary osteopathy (kinesitherapie sportive) team providing well needed massages to weary bodies on route. It takes a real strength of mind to compete in a trial such as this, as well as excellent physical stamina of course, and this is perhaps reflected in the age of the participants; very few runners looked under 30, most looked between 40 and 50. The nature of this unique trail attracts participants from all over the world, including Japan, USA, Canada, the UK and mainland Europe, although there were by far more French runners than any other nationality.

Our good friend and neighbour, Olivier, this year took part in his second attempt at the Ultra-Trail, so we were there to wave him off at 7pm on Friday evening at the start of the race. After the recent rain it was extra special to have such a fantastic sun set on the mountains as he headed off to run through the first night of the trail. He had set himself the target of reaching Courmayeur in Italy at 9am the next morning and we had promised to meet him there for moral support. We arrived in position just before nine and the runners were coming through thick and fast so we hoped we hadn't missed him. Suffering from a leg injury, Olivier made it to Courmayeur at around ten past ten and wisely decided to end here for this attempt. At an impressive 72km in 15 hours he had come much further than on his first attempt – that's equivalent to almost 2 marathons but with the added difficulty of running through the night and at altitude. We salute you Olivier, fantastic effort.

The first arrival back at Chamonix was expected around 4pm on Saturday afternoon but perhaps due to poor weather it was actually at about 6.45pm. The race officially ended at 4pm on Sunday afternoon with a presentation ceremony and this year 700 of the 2000 participants successfully completed the course. There is no monetary prize for being the first to complete the course as the philosophy of the trail is that everyone's a winner – it's a personal achievement and as such there is a wonderful sense of team spirit about the event.

For us lesser mortals, it is possible to take a similar tour of Mont Blanc over a period of 8 to 10 days, staying in mountain refuges and hopping on the odd bus if necessary! Many people come to Chamonix each year to do just that, the scenery is quite spectacular and you really do feel on top of the world. This is what we are working towards for next summer

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Closed
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

We will be keeping this Chamonix snow report updated often during the season, but if you want even more up-to-date news on the ski conditions, why not sign up for our Dump Alert? We'll email you each time it snows enough to significantly change the skiing conditions. It's great to know that the snow is falling in the run-up to your holiday, and it might even allow you to book a last-minute weekend when the snow is particularly good. The service is free, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

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