Chamonix Activity Report: 3rd September 2009
Still a lot of mixed weather in the valley here. If you're lucky you can time it just right and avoid the rain and when the sun is out it's been fairly warm. This week we have seen the town become significantly quieter compared to the rest of the summer season, but there are still lifts open till the middle and end of September, with the Aguille lift open till November.
Grand Montets is now closed, but there is still plenty to do if you're thinking of planning a trip over to Chamonix. And with a lot less people on the trails and the promise of some cooler temperatures, it's a great time to come over and get in to a high sweat factor activity.
The height of the summer season is now over but local businesses have been saying that they have been doing quite well despite the recession and Chamonix as a whole seems to have had a fairly busy summer much to everyone's delight.
If your coming over from the UK the pound seems to hurt the pockets of those wishing to go out and have a few drinks or get a good meal in the valley, but there are happy hours and meal deals that run all through the year in many of the bars and restaurants, making it that much easier on the pocket and in some cases can work out a better deal than in the UK.
MBC, Monkey bar, Bar'd Up and The Office Bar are just a few that are open year round and all have deals on drinks/food, so when you're over be sure to check them out and even buy the guys a shot or two for staying open through the year.
Although it has become much quieter, climbing walls like les Gailands have still been fairly busy due to its close proximity to the centre of town, so on one of the dryer days we decided to go for a bit of a slab climb up in the Chapeau area, which boasts some great views looking back to Chamonix and up in to the Mer de Glace.
To get there you can catch a train to les Praz, or simply walk from the town following the river up getting on the path in Le Bois and following the very well signposted trail markers pointing the direction to Le Chapeau. The hike up to the climb is a relatively short easy one at around about 2 hours walking up hill, although with ropes and equipment it can turn it to a bit of slog quite quickly!
There isn't really a sign that points out the wall, but if you keep looking out for paths on the right when you begin to approach the Chapeau hut, you will see it eventually. Or you could carry on like we did to catch a glimpse of the foot of the Mer de Glace followed by a cup of coffee in the Chapeau hut.
When getting on the path it should be noted to use caution while looking around for your climb as you actually enter half way up the climbing wall and there is a gorge below from which there may be no return. There are many routes in this area and if you are a fan of friction climbing, you will love this area.
Even if slab isn't really your cup of tea, there are some fairly easy routes possible where the wall is at a very shallow angle and with absolutely no hand holds. It was a good opportunity for us to practice our friction climbing skills, so we started off with some of the easier routes quickly becoming intrigued to try the more difficult ones, but setting up our ropes so that if we came in to difficulty, we could climb back up an easier route to get back out on to the path.
After spending all our energy hauling ourselves up some fairly tricky routes, we headed back down the hill to make good use of the first lot of happy hours at Bar'd Up!
Well a good few days in Chamonix just missing the rain, but a good time to come out if you prefer some quieter trails and some cooler temperatures, so don't delay book a holiday out here today.
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.
