This last week has been shaping up as the real start of the summer season, with hot days, thunderstorms at the end of the afternoon, noticably more people around, and a sporting atmosphere.
The Tuesday (21st) was Fete de la Musique a national music celebration played out in the streets, bars, and clubs. At the end of the afternoon and start of the evening this is mainly a family affair which live music on the stands in the centre of Chamonix. As the evening draws on the scene gets a little more 'hardcore' with several of the nightclubs having there own decks and an outdoor dance-party until the early hours. Most of us made it through till 4am although there were some tired looks the next day. The record for staying up, as far as we know, goes to a friend of ours John T who was still going at 5pm on the Wednesday afternoon!
Wednesday and Thursday were fairly quiet as a result of the late night Tuesday, however all the Scandinavians in town had another good night on Friday as they celebrated their mid-summer solstice.
This weekend saw the Chamonix Mont-Blanc marathon (42km) and Cross du Mont-Blanc (18km) races taking place on a swelteringly hot Sunday, as well as shorter races for kids on Saturday (which took place in the rain). This now yearly event is one of the tougher marathons around with competitors reaching the top of Planpraz (2000m) as part of the race which is a 1000m above the town from where they start. This didn't seem to perturb 700 runners in the marathon, who started a 5am, or the 1000 in the cross which started at a far more sociable 9.30am.
As we weren't competing ourselves in either of the races (next year!), we spent the Sunday afternoon swinging through the trees at the Arbre Aventure. A large group of us, boys and girls, went down to this adventure park in Les Houches where you are given the necessary harnesses and instructions and then left to make your way round 50 obstacles high up in the trees. These include swinging logs, rope bridges, swinging stirrups, rope swings, and rope slides.
The whole circuit is quite physical though suitable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness, and can be negotiated in any weather - we preferred our choice of a warm sunny day however. It helps if you aren't too scared of heights (if you are - stay away), and there were plenty of families taking part as well as other groups like us - so most people should be fine. It was a great way to spend an afternoon we all agreed and you would have heard a lot of laughing coming through the trees if you had been with us. Prices Adults 23€ (groups >4 20€ each), Juniors (<16yrs, >1m35) 15€ (groups >4 13€ each). Clothing is shorts/t-shirts (depends on the weather) and trainers of some sort - if you have some cycle gloves take them. With hindsight our group of 15 was a little too big as it meant we had to wait a bit, anything less than 10 would be ideal. It's always a good idea to contact the park to ensure there are spaces especially in mid-summer high season as they are often very busy.
The bad news remains the truck situation, which we reported on earlier in the week, in that 22,000 trucks passed through the Mont Blanc Tunnel in the week since the Frejus tunnel disaster. This isn't good long-term and the organisation of protests is still going ahead. Although the resultant pollution is there by the roadside and has to be resolved it is not a reason not to come to valley at the moment: on a day to day basis you aren't going to notice it.
Until next week....
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
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
