Chamonix Activity Report: 29th May 2008
We've been back on the trails this week, making the most of the limited sunshine. This week's been a mix of evening storms and typical May showers...hopefully just the skies getting the humidity out of their system and setting us up a long, hot summer in Chamonix.
The highlight of the week was definitely heading back up to the Petit Balcon Nord...this time with our mountain bikes. It was our first time biking in ages, and we were keen to see how the trail had held up to the rain that we'd had. Our plan was to head to Montroc on the train and ride back down the Petit Balcon via Le Lavancher. Fortunately, the train was running and unaffected by the strike that had happened earlier in the week. Even more fortunately, there weren't any other bikers waiting for our train, so we were able to get all the bikes on. In midsummer there's a maximum of five bikes per train, which the train guards enforce religiously, and it can be a bit of a pain getting aboard if it's busy. Be warned - it's better to forget the train and go for a pedal if there are a lot of bikes about.
The Balcon itself was in great shape - claggy in places, especially around the Grands Montets bottom station, but generally well-drained and grippy. I had a chance to test out a new Enduro SL, and wow - I see what all the fuss is about! What a great bike, perfect for aggresssive Chamonix cross-country style biking. It was nearly better uphill than it was going down....I left my friends behind on their heavy downhill bikes on every climb. All in all, a great ride in the sunshine.
Yesterday night we took an evening walk to the Sources d'Arveyron. I'd heard about this track from quite a few people. We took the train from Cham to Les Praz then walked up river, along the banks, to the village of Les Bois. There are some beautiful chalets here, one of which will be mine when my numbers come up in the Loto! Then, climbing into the forest toward Le Lavancher, we took the Sources turnoff. It's pretty well signposted and easy to find if you want to give it a try yourself.
And that is exactly what you should do. An hour from Les Praz we got to the Sources themselves, and it was an incredible sight to behold. A small viewing platform gave us a stunning panorama over an immense rock wall, with the river Arveyron disappearing into a deep, narrow gorge which heads up to the Mer de Glace. I'd had no idea anything like that existed here - it felt more like being at the Grand Canyon! Take a hike up there sometime if you've not seen it before. The track is very rocky (would be a great bike ride down if you pushed up...), but the view is more than worth it.
Whenever I go past Argentière, be it on the train, on foot or on my bike, I look up longingly at Les Grands Montets. There's still snow coverage down to the Lognan midstation, even though the resort is long since closed for skiing. However, that's not going to stop us taking our snowboards up there at the opening in mid-July. There'll be a bit of a walk back to the cable car once the snow runs out at the end of the glacier, and we'll have to keep our eyes open for crevasse and avalanche danger, even in midsummer. But it'll be worth it!
I'll be stopping by the Montenvers ticket office first thing tomorrow morning to buy my summer lift pass - goodbye pay packet - so I can be first up the Flegère lift next Saturday (7/6). Not long to go now.
