Chamonix Activity Report: 2nd October 2009
Some amazing weather has been given to us this week in Chamonix and it has pretty much returned to summer again! Which has been a joy, but not quite warm enough to brave swimming in the lakes and before the sun comes over the mountains the tempratures have been as low as 5 degrees! By mid afternoon though, the temperature has sat around the 25 degree mark - absoloutly brilliant for whatever activity you would come to Cham for this October.
So interseason is officially here now with the Bellevue cable car in Les Houches closing last Sunday, bringing the end to downhill mountain biking and the higher altitude easy strolling or climbing. However, throughout this period I will still be keeping you up to date with what's going on in Cham and the build up to winter - every Thursday until December. So watch this space if your keen to come over for a bit of hiking, mountain bike touring, crag climbing, or one of the many other activities still possible right now!
On a fine autumnal day I decided to go on a nice stroll along the Balcon Sud, which is easily accessible from Chamonix. I was heading to the statue of Jesus which you'll see on your left hand side as you're heading up the valley, passing Les Houches. From the centre of town you can take the road toward Les Gaillands where you will find a number of footpaths directing you in various ways to the Petit Balcon Sud, so a nice tip is to take the path that keeps going uphill! It's a good slog up for a while but you will be blessed with some amazing views of the valley and the Mont Blanc Massif in all its glorious autumn colours! It was very quiet on the trails and I didn't actually see another person the whole time I was out, so it was very nice and peaceful.
Passing by some of what would normally be waterfalls or fairly large streams on the way, reminded me just how much of a dry hot summer we have had here (sorry to rub it in....), as there was no water flowing at all (well except the river Arve on the valley floor!) which was a bit annoying as I had planned my water consumption around these. You will eventually find that the path levels out a tad making it slightly less of a slog and from here simply follow the signs to the Parc de Merlet (the animal park), which is still open at the moment. Had I not had a dog with me at the time I may have popped in for a visit, but instead I took the road downhill to eventually find the signs pointing to the Christ Roi statue which was my destination.
The rest of the way was downhill but it's worthwhile straying off the road and looking at some of the sights such as this statue and the view from it or Lac Noir, slightly further on and up from Jesus. Once we reached our destination I had a sit down and enjoyed the view, while saying a little prayer for a good winter season filled with lots of snow and cold temperatures! Afterwards, I headed back down following the signs to Les Houches train station as the dog was looking a little tired! Once back in Chamonix I dropped the dog back off to its owner at La Terrasse bar and sat down to enjoy my reward – a free meal and a beer for walking the dog!
Don't forget to keep an eye on our What's On Calendar for a full list of events taking place over the summer months.
