Activity Reviews in Chamonix

2-4-1 can either mean that you buy as many as you need and only pay for half or that you pay the usual price and get twice as many. Which is why cocktail happy hour at Chambre Neuf has a lot to answer for... especially when your maths gets a little fuzzy and you ask for 8 when you should only have asked for 4 and somehow end up with 16, who'd have thought drinking could be so complicated?

Well the good news is that the Winter season has already started, the bad new is that it is July and it should be hot and sunny!! Following weeks of blistering heatwave we have been plunged into a week of rain and storms with temparatures stuggling to hit the 18C mark.

Some very hot weather here in Chamonix with temperatures above 30 degrees centigrade for a good portion of the day, making shorts, nudity, or being emerged in some form of liquid an absolute must during the hottest part of the day! Some weather has been coming through in the afternoon, with large cumulous cloud growth creating some spectacular thunder storms in the evening with slightly cooler conditions, allowing for some early evening tennis opportunities or other such pleasurable activities to be partaken.

So another mixed few days in Chamonix, with some hot sunny days and others wet with a load of sunny spells thrown in, but still good for getting out about.

It seems most of Europe has had the most amazing weather this autumn – we have had temperatures comfortably in the 20s with vivid blue skies, wonderful sunshine and hardly a breath of wind for the past few weeks. Bliss

Well, the sun is back - thankfully - and interseason mode has kicked in up here in the Chamonix Valley. Thankfully the Flégère and Les Houches lifts are still open, until this weekend...and we've been out there enjoying the last few days of operations.

The Fete de Musique has been and gone, and summer is just getting hotter up here in the coolest valley in the Alps. I wasn't in town for Saturday's Fete - had tickets for the Grand Prix in Magny-Cours, dontchaknow - but reports of a 'great time had by all' are everywhere, no doubt helped along by the excellent dry, warm weather. Even the apparently severe approach that the Cham police adopted to certain bars' noise levels dampened no enthusiasm whatsoever.

Yesterday I thought I’d have a crack at a hike that I’ve not done for many years, one that last time I did it was so damp and misty that I couldn’t see the views and was so cold that there was snow falling on us as we reached the hut. That was in August 2006, surely I couldn’t have the same bad luck twice?

So we have had some lovely weather at last, it seems like an age since we saw the sun but now it has returned and in full force, with temperatures hanging around in the late thirties! Summer is in full swing now with all the lifts open for summer adventures and loads of activities on offer.

OK, so maybe I was a bit hasty in getting all excited about summer. It has been distinctly cooler, greyer and wetter since I last opened my big mouth - sorry!

The weather's been deliciously warm up here this week, with the thermometer outside my kitchen window pushing 28 degrees at lunchtime today. It's been so hot, even my cat is panting.

So, the peak season period is now over, the kids are back at school and the valley is a lot quieter now. The weather has still been quite changeable with a wee bit of rain from time to time and when the sun has been out its stayed fairly warm, but cooler than normal for this time of year.

This week sees the launch of our NEW Live weather station. Sitting at the top of Brevent you can see what the weather is doing at 2525m in real-time. We also have lots more weather stats for you, allowing you to spot the trends and make your own predictions, or just check the forecasts!

Chamonix is well known for it's hard core mountaineers, who think nothing of spending the night attached to a rock face as they attempt the summits that surround the valley. But for those of us who, for any number of reasons (kids, injury, self preservation), prefer a more accessible way to enjoy a night away from civilisation, then you will be pleased to know that Chamonix's version of Glamping has arrived!

Had an awesome ride at Les Houches today with a couple of friends and a bike photographer. That part of the valley's mountain bike trail network just keeps getting better and better as we find more and more tracks - there really is so much stuff that takes you down to St Gervais. And on the last couple of occassions we've found tons of good bike routes down to Le Fayet, where we pick up the SNCF train or Tramway du Mont Blanc to get back up to the valley.

We have been busy starting preparations for the winter season this week, updating the websites and checking information. We have launched our new weather statistics: Today's cumulative, The Week's cumulative, and The Month's cumulative showing trends and allowing you to see when snow might be on the way - read the explanations on the graphs!

The weather's still fantastic, town is buzzing with the chit-chat of a hundred different languages and Mont Blanc sits shining above the valley, looking more and more majestic each day as some of it's snowy flanks become rocky and its glaciers slowly retreat back uphill.