Chamonix - French Alps

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nx4737

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Hi All,

I've been looking at planning a trip to the Alps, I've seen a Thomas Heaton video where he visits Mer De Glace in the French Alps in Chamonix (link below), has anyone else been to the area, any tips, is it worth a visit, other suggestions?

Thanks all.

View: https://youtu.be/jwWd0RMjC34
 
nx4737 said:
Hi All,

I've been looking at planning a trip to the Alps, I've seen a Thomas Heaton video where he visits Mer De Glace in the French Alps in Chamonix (link below), has anyone else been to the area, any tips, is it worth a visit, other suggestions?
Click to expand...


Bobsyeruncle said:
@SFTPhotography might be familiar with this area....
Click to expand...

Very.

If you can

1. Take the ride on the cable car to Aiguille du Midi. The views to Grandes Jorasses is epic. Better in the afternoon

_DSC2233 - Version 5 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

_DSC2200 - Version 4 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

2. Take the cable car to la Flegere. Brilliant views over to the mont blanc massif. Here starts the staging post for the walks to Lac des Cheserys and/or Lac Blanc but you can take mega telephoto shots from the refuge with virtually no hiking.

Like this - all from the refuge

Morning

_DSC2884 - Version 2 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

Evening

_DSC2993 - Version 2 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

_DSC2841 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

_DSC3002 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

1hr along the trail sign posted for Lac des Cheserys - you'll get this

_DSC2929 - Version 4 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

_DSC1297 - Version 4 by Stephen Taylor, on Flickr

3. By all means go to Mer de Glace on the Montenvers railway. Good shots of the Glacier but I'd like to see it with snow. It would be my lowest priority though if I could get to La Flegere or Aiguille du Midi
 
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Chamonix is a great place. I've been there many times and each visit has been better than the last.

The views are spectacular when the weather is clear, but due to the nature of the terrain; it's often overcast.

DO NOT however, go walking/trekking on your own. Sadly, I lost a friend there about twelve years ago who did - his body was never found. :(
 
Sky said:
Chamonix is a great place. I've been there many times and each visit has been better than the last.

The views are spectacular when the weather is clear, but due to the nature of the terrain; it's often overcast.

DO NOT however, go walking/trekking on your own. Sadly, I lost a friend there about twelve years ago who did - his body was never found. :(
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your friend.

I might add to that - for the places I posted there is no walking involved to get these shots bar the lakes. They are well sign posted and the trails well worn and market to get to them - if you stick to them you should be ok.

However if you go for the sunset to Lac Blanc or Lac de Cheserys and decide to walk back to the car park at Le Praz it's a good old walk down so take a head torch as it will be pitch dark for a duration of the walk. I head torched it back from Cheserys to Flegere ok...but I stuck to the path and the weather was clement - and it was predicted to be by 3 different forecasts. I found it very liberating walking along that path in the dusk - but it was a balmy September evening.
For Aiguille du Midi if you're not in the last cable car down your are toast, its over 11000 feet high, very cold and it's ice axe, ropes and crampons time to get to a refuge. It's a mountaineers spot, not a hill walkers place.

For Lac Blanc there is a refuge open in the summer and there's a nice one at La Flegere - I stayed there in September 2018 and based my walk to Lac des Chesery's from there and had a delightful time taking telephoto landscapes from the grounds of the refuge itself - shooting the breeze with other walkers, photographers and having a nice lunch/drink just waiting for the light. If that's not the OP there is a well worn forestry track down to Le Praz where the car will be parked. During the winter this is not open - and you'll either have to Ski down or get the last cable car down. I think that is probably very unsafe.

And aye - watch the weather like a hawk. It can be extremely dangerous in the UK when it closes in and our mountains are midgets compared to these things. As a landscape it rewards far higher than anything in the UK...but it comes with a greater degree of risk and much more care, planning is required. As always, head torches, warm clothes etc are a must and let someone know where you are if you are hiking alone so they can alert the authorities if you don't check in when you are meant to.
 
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SFTPhotography said:
Sorry to hear about your friend.
Click to expand...

Thanks, we weren't close; we'd just been working together through the summer. He was from Africa, so certainly not experienced in cold weather survival. He just went off for a stroll one afternoon when the weather closed in and was never seen again. He was only in his thirties too.

As you say, there are plenty of places that are perfectly safe to go and common sense should keep you safe. I've spent a lot of time walking, skiing, climbing and flying (hang gliders and paragliders) there. Flying a paraglider off L'Aguille du Midi after a hike up with crampons in the mid-nineties is something I'll never forget (or be able to do again).
 
It's a fantastic place and very friendly to Brits.
You are in the heart of spectacular high scenery but since the resort started in Victorian times it is relatively easy to access without being superfit.
The one downside is it's not always sunny and if you have a cloud lid on the valley with everything you want to see higher up in cloud it can last several days.
 
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