Keep an eye out for the weather in the mountains!
Everyone's been caught out before when nipping to the shops, you leave your umbrella at home or your jacket in the car and then from out of no where a sudden downpour forces you to run for cover. Well if you “swap nipping to the shops” with “cycling 50 kilometres away from home”, and “sudden downpour” with “relentless tropical storm”, you're somewhere near to my situation on Wednesday.
As I sat eating my lunch on the balcony, I was thinking to myself that it had been a good week or so since I'd last seen the sky completely cloud free. The Tourist Office thermometer was reading 33 degrees; it was the perfect summer day. So I slapped on the sun cream, filled up the water bottles and set out on my planned route towards Flumet.
It's a really good cycle over to Flumet its about a 100 kilometre round trip, and depending on fitness and style of bike should take between 3 and 5 hours. If you head out of Chamonix (avoiding the main road at all costs) via Lacs de Gaillands towards Les Houches and follow the road through the town. When you get to a roundabout take the second turning and head slightly uphill, at the first hairpin turn right and the road climbs for a kilometre through trees. From here you can coast downhill for about 6 kms be sure to stop and admire the view down to Servoz perched the other side of the valley, apart from the odd little bump in the road its pretty much downhill to Passy and Le Fayet. This is where the main road climbs back up to Chamonix. From here you have a few options (but that first part is fundamental for starting any ride around here):
You can head up towards Megeve or Combloux via St. Gervais and Sallanches or alternatively head to Cluses 20 kms away. Cluses is not going to be credited highly in any guidebook of the area but it does open you up to some of the big cols in the area. If you have the time (and the legs) for it you can take the route up the mighty col de la Colombiere and complete a 150 kms heading back via Megeve and Passy. It also opens you up to having a dart at the col de Joux Plane via Samoens (the steepest and toughest climb in this years Tour de France), though be prepared that from Morzine you'll still have 75kms left to get back to Chamonix from and no doubt two very heavy tired legs. I've cheated and done this with a support vehicle so spared myself the pain, but even if you drive to the bottom of the climb and ride up and down it, there's an amazing sense of achievement when you reach the top, even Lance Armstrong broke halfway up it a few years back. You will always get help from passing motorists, walkers or farmers in their fields shouting encouragement, and they aren't to know that you've got the car ticking over at the bottom. But reach the top and give yourself a pat on the back as its one of the toughest climbs in cycling. (I'll stop digressing now as I will go into full Tour de France bore mode, but if you are interested in following the route go to Le Tour's official website).
So there I was steadily climbing up through St. Gervais, sweating as the afternoon sun beamed down on me, when strong gusts of wind started to blow down the mountain, I persisted and climbed up towards Megeve. Now wisps of high cloud started to appear. I made it through the trees to where the climb levels slightly; I could now see the problem. Thick, very dark clouds were heading straight at me from the Flumet direction and the thunder was rumbling not too far off. So I turned back and headed down as fast as possible. The clouds were literally chasing me down the mountain; I flew through St.Gervais and met the road works the other side. Luckily the traffic lights were in my favour so I blasted along, narrowly avoiding a pothole which would happily have taken my life. Not stopping to think about it and with forks of lightning all around I continued like a man possessed towards some shelter. I arrived at the Super U in Passy just as the rain started. And boy did it rain!
I waited for 50 minutes whilst the electrical storm and blankets of rain dumped down, people running 30 yards from their cars to the entrance were getting soaked through – I thought I'd best sit this one out. The temperature in the valley dropped 15 degrees in an hour. This is when having a support vehicle to come pick you up is always nice. Eventually the rain eased and I decided to bite the bullet and get on my way. Cold wet legs don't seem to work as well as warm dry ones and the last climb up has never been so hard. A victory beer is my normal reward at the end of a long ride but today the thought of a hot shower and cup of tea was the only thing keeping the pedals turning.
The moral to this story is to keep an eye on the weather forecast, when I got back I checked on the website and it did clearly state mid afternoon heavy thunderstorms. I've learned my lesson - In the summer, in the mountains, the weather can change pretty quickly. The very high peaks seem to draw the cloud in at times and the high valley walls give no horizon or means of seeing what could be brewing in the distance. All this means that everything can change very quickly. So before you go hiking, climbing or cycling check the forecast and make sure you pack some appropriate clothing. I would advise anyone thinking of going mountaineering in Chamonix to visit Maison de la Montagne (next to the church in the tourist office town square). They not only offer guides for glacier or mountaineering expeditions but also upstairs they have a weather centre which receives up to date weather forecasts and satellite readings. The centre is manned (or wo-manned?) by an expert on the areas micro climate and can offer useful meteorological and safety advice to anyone thinking of heading on a trip whether it be an afternoons trail walk or 4 day trip up Mont Blanc.
It should be a good week ahead in Chamonix – Saturday sees the start of the International Climbing Championships taking place on the wall built by the running track (opposite the ice rink). At stake are the French National Championship and also the World Cup of climbing so expect to see some spiderman-esque feats over the next 5 days - check out the link to see clips of last years championship. Sunday of course is the world cup final so expect an evening of excitement and possibly relentless celebrations if France go all the way and beat Italy. Thursday sees the Cham-Biere festival at the Micro Brasserie de Chamonix , this marks the end of the climbing championships and with BBQ's, fireworks and 35 different beers (ales, lagers, and fruit and spiced beers) from 10 local breweries – seems like an evening not to be missed. Hang-overs are inevitable but fear not as Bastille Day is on Friday (a bank holiday) so expect a slow day around town before more partying in the evening.
Enjoy the weekend but save some energy for 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
