Long hot days, very few rainy ones, music festivals, ultra marathons, base-jumping expos, street parties, BBQs, lazy days at the lake... au revoir summer 2013, you've been wonderful! Autumn is now in the air, the majority of the lifts have closed and the final sporting event of the season is upon us.
The last big date on the summer sporting calendar is the Trail des Aiguilles Rouges, taking place this Sunday. A 50km dash around the mountains that includes 4000m of vertical ascent. Touted by many as one of the hardest races in the area due to the horrendous amount of steep climbs and sudden descents that it crams into a relatively short distance (the fact that 50km is considered "short" tells you something about trail runners around these here parts).
The course changes each year, always starting from Chamonix centre at 4:30am but then taking different routes up and over the mountains, this year finishing in Vallorcine. The winners are expected to come in at around 11am with everyone else crosssing the line throughout the day until 6pm. You can find the full map and profile here and if you have friends running you can follow their progress here.
This weekend is also your last chance to get up to Les Houches courtesy of the Prarion lift, which closes on Sunday. I was hiking up there this week and the autumn colours were just beautiful - heather in all shades from orange to purple, trees heavy with deep red berries, mushrooms and pine cones scattered amongst the undergrowth. There are plenty of walks to do up there, just head up and follow the signposts. La Charme is a lovely little circuit that only takes about an hour and a half giving great views in all direction but there are plenty of longer hikes too, heading off in the directions of St Gervais, back down into Les Houches or across the Col de Tricot and down to the Chalets de Miage - plenty of exploring to do! The farmers are starting to bring the cows and goats further down the mountains in readiness for winter, so you might find yourself suddenly surrounded by clanging bells while you're sat on a hillside enjoying your sandwiches.
After a good hike, you need a good dinner and for fear of sounding like a broken record I had yet another fantastic meal at Maison Moustache this week. For 30€ we enjoyed a delicious 3 course set menu with 2 of us choosing smoked salmon and 1 opting for onion soup to start, 2 fish curries and a burger to continue and 1 creme caramel and 2 fondant au chocolat to finish. I hadn't tried the fish curry (cocotte de poisson) before and it was excellent; tender chunks of fish and perfectly juicy mussels in a Thai style fragrant coconut broth, not so spicy that it overpowered the flavour but hot enough to make your mouth glow nicely. The hot gooey chocolate fondants were as heavenly as always and with a bottle of Roussette (Savoyard white wine) at 24€ it was a well priced meal for 3 people.
We still have the Prarion lift at Les Houches open this weekend, as well as the Aiguille du Midi cable car and the Montenvers train so make the most of the blue skies today/tomorrow and go hiking, the weather is due to turn on Sunday!
