A day off skiing

Well, they did ask for a day off skiing. Not quite sure what they had in mind. As it turns out, it could have been prolonged sessions on the sofa watching rubbish cartoons and munching crisps. But how was I to know that?! The sun was shining, the snow was deep... walking over to towards the Swiss border seemed like an obvious choice to me!

To be fair, we did make it easier on them. Instead of heading up the Petit Balcon and through the woods, we did decide to jump on the train as far as Montroc, cutting out most of the uphill stuff.

Tré-le-Champ is perhaps my favourite spot in the whole Chamonix valley. There's something about the spread out chalets, the open meadow, the views back to the valley, and the waft of wood smoke that makes this a special spot. I see that they have some new residents, though!

 From there it's a short haul over the Col des Montets, at 1461m above sea level.

Lunch on the top in the glorious sunshine and then pretty much downhill all the way to Vallorcine via Le Buet.

We arrived in Vallorcine just as the January sun was about to disappear behind the Aiguille Rouges.  Perfect timing!

All in all a superb snow shoe trip. Not too long, but long enough to enjoy being out on snow shoes. Lots of great scenery and lots of big sunshine too. At Vallorcine there's the cafe at the station where they serve big glasses of beer and very reasonably priced but huge nutella crepes. A fine place to wait for the train back to Argentiere, or for this winter at least, the bus that replaces it on the same timetable.

Snow Shoes are fun!

I've always wanted to have a go on snow shoes, but for some reason it's always eluded me. I've been around snow often enough and for long enough, but no. It's not happened.


So last year I bought some. Still that didn't work. The snow conditions weren't brilliant for much of the season, and skiing always took priority.



With unbelievable amounts of snow this season, it finally worked out. A mere 44 years wait. We hired some kids sized shoes from Stamos Sports in the Grand Roc, and thinking we'd be back in an hour, headed into the woods. We got the camera out and had a bit of fun filming as we went. Here's the finished results.



We finally got back at dusk! It was fantastic! Try some!

Steep and Deep

A little bit of fun with the camera! A shortish video of the kids skiing at Grnad Montets, with a little bit of Le Tour thrown in for good measure!

Hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it!

Has anyone seen our pool?

Here's a couple more photos for you and a quick game of compare and contrast. One of the (many) nice things about the apartment is the open air heated swimming pool in the garden. Open for use throughout July and August, it's a great place to head for after a day on the hot dusty trails and grab a few rays and a nice refreshing dip.

L'Androsace and the swimming pool in the garden.

In the last few years, Health and Safety legislation has caught up (it's not just the UK!) and the co-proprietary has had to erect a fence around the pool. It's not too bad, and it doesn't really detract from the informal pool side atmosphere. Though, it is quite high - as you can see in the pics.

Mont Blanc and L'Aiguille du Midi down the valley make for a stunning backdrop to your swim.

However, it does seem to have suddenly disappeared! Here's Sam stood on top of the fence last week having dug down a bit to find it.


Told you that there'd been a lot of snow! And this is after the fresh snow of the previous week has settled and compacted. It's by far the most snow we've seen lying in Argentiere.

There it is!

Lots of snow!

That the Alps have seen lots of snow during December is probably not new news anymore. The snows came relatively late, with early December looking particularly bare. However, when it started, it forgot to stop.

The storm rages. Icicles on the roof of L'Androsace - and they just kept on getting bigger, and bigger!

Watching the rain beat against the windows with a hurricane force in the Scottish Highlands over the Festive period whilst reading blog reports of all the snow felt a bit cruel. However, as soon as January arrived we were off on our travels again, and another couple of weeks at the apartment in Argentiere.

L'Androsace apartments looking a little bit wintry.

We kept looking at the depth of snow on the garage and wondering just how deep it would get.
Jodie and Sam in front of our garage which is inlcuded with your stay at the apartment.

Keeping the driveway clear required an extra big shovel.

And it didn't disappoint. Snowing as we arrived, a clear first full day to settle in, and then another week of constant snowfall. In all, around a metre fell in the village in the first week of January alone.

What happens when you book an apartment without dedicated covered parking.

There's a van under there somewhere.

Digging out. Nothing like a ton of snow down your neck when you're filling up at the pumps.

The skiing was mostly very good as a result, although visibility did warrant a bit of Jedi skiing at times. However, heading for the trees above Plan Joran at the Grand Montets and playing in the powder in the steep gullies proved a big hit, even in the worst of the weather. Winds stopped play (first time I've seen this in the last 5 years of regular visits) and while many moaned about the queues for the Pierre a Ric, we found ourselves down at Flegere having one of the most fun days on skis we've had in years. Whilst there was only two sheltered chairlifts running, we didn't need anymore. Only a handful stayed to play in the bottomless powder between the trees. Yee har!

In the woods behind Argentiere.

When the legs got too tired we opted for a walk. Popped out for an hour, came back at dusk! I've always fancied having a go with snow shoes, and it's taken 44 years to make it happen. I've been missing out! More on that in due course.

At the Aire de Jeux

The depth of snow meant that the slide wasn't too exciting!

Off piste snow shoeing above Argentiere. Huge amounts of fun.

But soon enough high pressure arrived over the Haute Savoie, the clouds cleared and some big ski days came our way. 2 weeks flew past faster than ever, and now it's time to plan the next trip to Argentiere. Can't wait!

Evening view from the balcony. Temperatures dropped to -13 degrees overnight this last week.

The Haute Route

Read around our web site a bit and you’ll find that we’ve been coming to Argentiere since 1986. That first trip was a bit of an adventure. The Chamonix Valley was just somewhere that I’d heard of and sounded like it was a place to go. Free camping on Snell’s Field, a climbing guidebook, plenty of the blissful abandon of youth and a wealth of experience of Alpine climbing – all gained from tales of daring do in the bar back home. (I’ve chosen to ignore the fleeting visit as a 5 year old, passing through at Easter 1973 on our way to Pisa in a Ford Cortina. All I can really remember is a snowball fight outside the entrance to the Mont Blanc tunnel and a chicken running round a farm yard somewhere in rural France just after having it’s head chopped off.)

The Chardonnet Glacier and the first col to cross.

That trip was many things and, bits of it at least, I remember well. The photo we use for the StayInChamonix banner photo was taken on the trip during a foray into the Vallee Blanche. A bivi in the ruin of the old Cosmique Refuge and an ascent of the North Face of the Tour Ronde followed that shot.

Revisiting the North Face of the Tour Ronde 25 years after I climbed it.

One of the things it did do was open my eyes to the wider world of mountains. I heard about the Haute Route, the high level ski traverse from Chamonix to Zermatt. At the time, skiing was prohibitively costly, and not something that proper mountaineers - like what I was, would entertain. But still, it sounded like a bit of a journey, and from that point on, the idea of doing it was logged.

Dawn on the Chardonnet Glacier, looking back to the top of the Grand Montets above Argentiere.

I do think that it’s important to have goals to work to. Some take longer than others to achieve, but nonetheless, so long as you keep moving in the right direction… It’s now 2011, some 25 years on, and finally I’ve done it! I’m not long back from a traverse of the Classic Haute Route.

The hardest part was probably parting with the cash required to buy into ski touring. Just when you think you've bought all the Alpine ski gear, you find out that you need a complete set of other gear to even think about ski touring. And it’s even more expensive! And then you find out that ski touring is mostly about going uphill, and you feel a bit cheated to find that you had to buy new skis at all!

How hard can it be? Starting off your ski touring career with the Haute Route did seem like a bit of a silly idea to some. But if you can ski, you can walk up hill for a long time, and you like being really dirty for days on end, then surely you’ve got what it takes?

Classic touring on the Haute Route heading towards the Valsorey Hut

It was a great trip – fairly full on from start to finish. Straight off the plane, up to the Argentiere Hut, and into the route itself. A bit of acclimatisation would have helped, but so would a clean bill of health – the one without the hacking cough to start off with. The weather was fairly kind to us, as was the snow (despite the relatively lean season) and we made it to Zermatt in 6 days. Days off don’t come into it when you’re on a boys trip (even if there’s at least a token girlie on it) and so day 7 was up the Breithorn and day 8 was a plod to Col Freshfield in the Vallee Blanche.

Nearly there. The Matterhorn on the final afternoon above Zermatt.

Tick! Haute Route done. And boy did I sleep when I got home!

See the Haute Route Photo Gallery on our StayInChamonix web site.

Thinking about the summer

Winter is far from over, and we've got a few ski trips planned yet. But the odd glimpse of the sun, and a burning desire to get back on the bike, and we can't help but dream of long summer days...

Enjoy!

Mountain Biking in Chamonix from Jason Chambers on Vimeo.

With thanks to Jason for this clip. Check out his web site for more.

Try something different

If you've been following the snow conditions in the Alps this winter then you'll be aware that, until this last week at least, fresh snow fall has been somewhat lacking. With big dumps of snow in the lead in to the season pre-Christmas, once the new year settled in, the sun decided to come out... And stay out.

Certainly no lack of snow at the Grand Montets

On our most recent trip to Argentiere, we were a little nervous that the much coveted ski trip wouldn't be quite the same. After all, we do like our powder and the off piste. However, as it turned out, we ended up enjoying some of the best family skiing we've done, albeit lacking the steep and the deep.

How do ski conditions compare to the design of your skis?

Although the pistes were 'firm', they were also fast, and a dream to let loose on. It wasn't long before we got to thinking much more about our skis and the way they worked. And the natural progression followed...

Hard and fast - the Hearse piste at the Grand Montets

... I wonder what it would be like on some different skis..., these different skis are the absolute business, I can really blast the piste on these unlike my own..., I wonder what some top end performance skis would be like..., these performance skis are the absolute business, I must have a pair, etc...

Work those edges!

And so on it went. We had a blast and very soon I'll be several hundred Euros poorer, but have a big grin on my face. So the moral of the tail is that while no snow is definitely not good, different snow might just be the key to a whole new chapter of skiing.

Dynastar's youngest Factory Test Pilot

Head across to Sanglard Sports and hire some skis with 15% discount when you mention StayInChamonix, or better still, book online using our preferential rates. You can also ask Sanglard Sports for a voucher for the Dynastar Test Centre, based up at Lognan on the Grand Montets. With this, and for free, you can take any of their range of skis for a test ride for a couple of hours. (But remember, it'll cost you when you fall in love with them and have to buy a pair afterwards!)

And, by the way, plenty of new snow this week!

All change in Argentiere

Some welcome improvements to the village of Argentiere are under way at the moment. First is the complete refurbishment of the village 'square', outside the Mairie and the Office Bar.

The Mairie, Argentiere.

Although in the centre of the village and effectively being the focal point, the open area was always a bit lacking, dominated by a cash point lobby and a defunct chalet office.

New steps replace the defunct chalet office.

But no more! These buildings have been cleared, new steps added, and a more organised open communal space created.

But does anyone know if there's going to be a replacement cash point?!

Elsewhere, the road junction to the Grand Montets car park is being rebuilt. Again, hopefully this will improve the busy junction and perhaps set the tone for more improvements planned for the Grand Montets car park and lifts in the next few years.

Argentiere in 1925

My! How times have changed! Came across this post card recently, and going by the postmark on the reverse it appears to date from around 1925.

My hero!

I think the photo says it all. I don't do hero worship. Just like I don't do all the celebrity culture bit either. Well, not normally. But meeting Glen Plake is different.

Family Daynes (minus shy Sam) meet My Hero.

Actually, its not the first time we met. I was quite taken aback at a local ice hockey match; Chamonix taking on Megeve I think it was, last October, when I realised that Glenn was sat further along the same row. Too shy to go up and say hello.

No one has really asked what took us to Chamonix. Obvious I guess. But if anyone did then the full answer would have to include watching Greg Stump's movies in my 'formative' years. The Blizzard of Aahhhs (still got it on my iPhone!), License to Thrill and Groove Requiem in the key of ski. Then dashing across Europe to for a week in Chamonix, flinging ourselves off anything vaguely steep and dangerous, and wishing I had the nerve to go for the full pink mohican.

What a sad man I am!

Le Grand Bornand

There’s an old Chinese proverb that goes along the lines of “simply printing a mountain bike route map does not a mountain bike mecca make”. Or at least if there isn’t one, there should be. And the good folk of Le Grand Bornand in the Aravis Region should take note.

Camping L'escale, LGB

Uplift!

Moving on from Annecy, a trip back through the Aravis seemed like a good idea; a good scenic route on the way back to Argentiere, with plenty to see and do along the way. Finding some good biking was high on the list of priorities, as was a good camp site with a pool, hence we landed in Le Grand Bornand for a few days.

Jodie with the Col de la Columbiere in her sights

Some of the better "green" sections above Chinaillon

We reported to the tourist office, bought the VTT map, and set off up the gondola to tackle a green route. Don’t get me wrong, it was pleasant enough. Contouring round above Chinaillon and towards the Col de la Columbiere and then back down towards the village again. However, I think we bikers have been spoilt with dedicated and even purpose built trails. We’re just not used to large portions of a green route taking in the tarmac road.

Sam & Jodie on the descent from Le Lachat

Undeterred, we also had a go at a blue route. The first problem was that to get to the start of the blue we had to descend a red, from the top of Le Lachat chair lift. No flowing single track here. The red route follows the access track to the top of the piste, and is little more than a vehicle track covered in loose gravel. Fairly daunting for Sam and Jodie, but no fun for me either. Lovely views, though!
And the blue? With one very short exception, the blue route is a winding road which leads up from LGB through the hillside farms. I was expecting a little more in the way of singletrack, or at least some more ‘off road’.

So, not a high score for the quality of the mountain bike trails in LGB based on this experience. But this was a mere blip on an otherwise unblemished record. The camp site is very pleasant and conveniently close to the village. The pool is both indoor and outdoor, and a great spot to catch some rays at the end of the afternoon.

And the village itself is a lovely spot. Focussed around a very attractive square with plenty of useful shops – bakeries, bars and a Casino mini market. By the river you’ll find lots of leisure activities, from mini golf and beach volleyball to archery and a fitness trail. Close by at the Maison de Patrimonie is a newly constructed bike skills area.


And at the patinoire the kids were playing rollerblade hockey. – the day before they’d been shooting , in the style of the winter biathlon discipline. Unsurprising to hear that if the Winter Olympics bid by Annecy for 2018 is successful, the Nordic Combined events will be held in LGB.

Spot the ball! (It's blue!)

Obligatory end of ride ice cream...

Chances are we’ll be back for another visit some time soon.