Activity Reviews in Chamonix

There's been a definite Swiss feel to our adventures recently. After last weekends mountain biking in Verbier, I ventured back into Switzerland on Thursday evening to catch fellow Scots singer Paolo Nutini in concert at the Montreux Jazz festival. The two week long ‘jazz' festival has been around for about 40 years now and in addition to the original jazz theme, a variety of well known artists now come and play their style of music to the crowds. Organisers reckon that as many as 220,000 visitors come each year to watch the various indoor and outdoor concerts although I'm not sure if the unsettled weather we have all experienced recently will have affected numbers? This year in addition to Paolo, the festival attracted popular well known artists including: Van Morrison, Tori Amos, The Pet Shop boys, The Chemical Brothers and Faithless (whose concert we also happened to go to, and who were also excellent!). At about an hour and a half away from Chamonix, Montreux is located on the shores of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) which provides a spectacular setting and offers great panoramic views of the French Alps.

We have been having what seems like an endless amount of hot sunny days here in Cham with temperatures in to the 30's for a good portion of the day followed by a storm which cools things down a little in the evening and when it clears up later on makes for some interesting views down the valley.

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.

Sun worshippers rejoice! The feeling of warm sunshine and crisp, cool mountain air is back. We woke up this morning to a fresh 14 degrees and bright blue skies.

Ahhh...the dreaded interseason. The time when there's not a restaurant open in town, when the rain drums down, when chalets close their doors and board their windows and when teary waves see off the last bus of the winter to leave the resort.

With flip flops and shorts spotted around town last week could this signal the start of spring or will the new low pressure front bring with it some much needed snow?

Blue skies are here again, hopefully for the whole weekend, but when it rains in Chamonix, it really rains! Not that we can complain after such a good summer but what is there to do when the heavens open up?

With most of the lifts in the valley now closed for the autumn (with the exceptions of Aiguille du Midi and Montenvers) it's now all about low-level hiking or getting up high under your own steam.

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.

t's been sunny it's been brilliant and the rain storms that have been coming through have cooled the air down dramatically. With fewer people on the trails as well, it's felt really tranquil and quite comfortable to go on longer hikes, bigger climbs and generally expel more energy without the heat that has hung around the entire summer.

The past few days in Chamonix have been pretty sunny and warm, with the exception of Thursday being a day of downpours, which was needed to cool the air and soften the trails. Now the air is fresh and warm, with lifts open at weekends and summer fully here, Chamonix is the greatest place to be on earth!

We were well and truly deserted by the sunshine last week; rain, cloud and generally overcast skies were pretty much the pattern from Monday through Friday. The final straw came on Thursday when, along with the rest of the Alps, we awoke to fresh snow above 2000m and temperatures hovering not much above zero! At only 1050m, thankfully, Chamonix did not get snow in the town but we were deluged with heavy rain for the entire day and it remained unseasonably cold. On some of the higher mountain passes (in particular the Col d'Iseran above Val d'Isere), the snow was knee deep in places, causing a number of vehicles to get trapped at the top. Even once the snow plough had passed through to clear the road, it remained too slippery for non-equipped vehicles to make it down and the stranded motorists ended up being rescued at 3am by a shuttle bus!

With the continuation of the sunny weather we have been enjoying in September we have been able to keep up with our hiking, and recently took the trail up to Chalet du Glacier on the left bank of the Glacier des Bossons. This is the more popular route up to view the glacier and also the route taken by the first Alpinists to reach the summit of Mt Blanc in 1786 (namely Dr Paccard and his guide Jacques Balmat, a statue of whom can be seen in Place Balmat in Chamonix town centre). People aiming for the Mt Blanc Summit still commonly use this route

Summer 2013 may have been a late starter (snow in June?!) but since it decided to get its act together it has been a scorcher, with a day spent indoors feeling like a day wasted.

So the UTMB has been and gone, not exactly as planned but considering the dire weather I think they did a pretty good job at finding a way for the various races to go ahead. Congratulations and huge amounts of respect to everyone who took part, not a small challenge at the best of times but made even more harder when you throw in heavy rain and even a bit of snow for good measure!

The past few days in Chamonix have been increasing in humidity once more, with sunny mornings followed by some storms threatening to strike the area in the afternoons, although only a few showers have actually come in.