The snow is really here this time...
After the snowfall on 9 October, that was it.... Until Saturday 3rd December when it started again. And it has not stopped since. Tonight (Tuesday 6 December) is a very cold snowy stormy night. Best to keep in front of the log fire then and toast the toes.
The snow is forecast to stop before the weekend with a return to blue skies and the opening of the Grands Montets ski area on Saturday. Thats the way Autumn should be, all the wind and cold and wet stuff over in a week, not dragging out over three months.
Salomon Jib Academy 14 January 2012
Le 14 Janvier prochain, les graines de Champions du Freestyle s’affronteront sur le Snowpark des Grands Montets. Le principe du
Salomon Jib Academy est simple : des freestylers prometteurs âgés de 12 à 16 ans effectuent plusieurs passages devant un jury intransigeant. Tricks, back, front … autant de figures qui devront séduire les membres du jury et montrer le niveau exceptionnel de l’épreuve.
Nissan Freeride World Tour 21 to 27 January 2012
Du 21 au 27 janvier 2012 venez vibrer devant les exploits des meilleurs freeriders du moment, qui dévaleront
les pentes de l’Hôtel sur le domaine du Brévent. Le Freeride World Tour est une compétition internationale en 6 étapes
dont celle de Chamonix qui est une étape très attendue et très médiatisée pour son niveau exceptionnel et son cadre
grandiose.
Kandahar, Coupe du Monde de Ski Alpin 4 & 5 February 2012
Les 4 et 5 février 2012, le Kandahar, Coupe du Monde de ski alpin messieurs s’installe dans la Vallée de Chamonix Mont-Blanc, sur la Verte des Houches, le 4 pour la Descente et le 5 février 2012 pour le Super Combiné. Un spectacle à ne manquer sous aucun prétexte. Venez admirez les pointures du ski alpin mondial dévaler les pentes de la station à plus de 100Km/h !
Black Weekend (Black Crows skis) 8 to 11 March 2012
Du 8 au 11 mars 2012, la Vallée de Chamonix fait la fête ! Toute la journée, animations sur le domaine des Grands Montets avec tests de ski, mise à disposition de guides et Dj. Pour l’après ski, retour dans les rues du centre de Chamonix avec projections de films et concerts puis rendez-vous dans les bars de la Vallée pour continuer la soirée.
First Snow 9 October 2011
Actually not the first snow this year as the UTMB runners had slightly above zero conditions and fresh snow on the ground at the end of August, and we had another dump mid September which quickly melted due to temperatures in the high 20's through to the 7 October.
But it seems this time it is here to stay thus creating a good base for future snow after a very long hot and barren summer. Here is the view this morning after the clouds cleared.......
Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc 9th Edition August 2011
Yet again the weather intervened into the UTMB and CCC with extreme weather conditions making an already daunting proposition even more difficult for the runners.
The TDS set off in good conditions on the Thursday morning as did the CCC on the Friday morning, but participants already running the CCC on the Friday afternoon and those preparing to depart on the UTMB received text messages from the organisers warning of extreme weather and course changes that evening.
Bang on schedule on Friday evening the storm clouds built up followed by the pre storm gusts of wind tearing down the valley and over the mountain passes. This was quickly followed by torrential rain and snow above 1800 metres.
The UTMB eventually started at 11.30pm in heavy rain, a time of day and weather conditions more suited to sitting in bed with a glass of wine, not running 166 km through the mountains.
Meanwhile the runners in the CCC were faced with a serious diversion due to one of the aid stations being destroyed in the storm. ...They only had to run down to Martigny and back up again before carrying on with the planned route! All in driving rain, cold and high winds..
The finshers in the CCC started arriving back in Chamonix late on Friday with the last runners making it in by Saturday midday.
In the meantime the UTMB was still going strong, but with around a 50% drop out rate due to the cold and snow/rain. The first runners arrived back in Chamonix on Saturday evening with the final survivors arriving on Sunday evening.
The following link gives a fascinating and graphic account of the 2011 UTMB.
http://run100miles.com/race-reports/utmb/
And here is some footage of the race during one of the breaks in the weather on Saturday morning. Hi to Nattu and Karen who were out on those mountains somewhere. Also two extra videos of the UTMB.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFWDUsvLCoE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St49BdhuA8c&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=4ysdd1R_wOQ
Finally and most importantly congratulations to the ladies Lizzy Hawker for winning the UTMB again and even bigger congratulations to Camilla for third place in her age group and eleventh lady home in the CCC. What a woman.....
Montreaux Jazz Festival July 1 to July 16 2011
Montreaux is around an hours drive from Chamonix and is home to one of the biggest and most established music festivals in the world.
This year you could see Santana, John McLaughlin (who actually played in Chamonix a couple of years ago), Paul Simon, Ziggy Marley, George Benson, Randy Crawford, Ricky Martin, Dr John, Youssou N Dour, BB King Liza Minnelli amongst many others plus Deep Purple revisiting (Smoke On The Water anyone?)
http://www.montreuxjazz.com/2011
World Cup Climbing in Chamonix 11 to 13 July 2011
This free event took place over three days and was an amazing spectator event. The final night also coincided with the Bastile Day Celebrations with the obligatory firework display and beer festival.
Le Trophée National Poussins et Benjamins
- La Coupe d'Europe de vitesse jeunes
- La Coupe du Monde de vitesse
- La Coupe du Monde de difficulté.
http://escalade.chamonixsport.com/
Roller Coaster opened on 25 June in Chamonix
The Alpine Coaster opened on 25 June 2011. This is a replacement for the summer luge and is a cross between a luge and a roller coaster. One of the advantages apparently is that it can run in wet weather and as it is elevated above the ground can run in the snowy winter too.
There is a host of other activities for the kids and big kids including rope adventures.
http://www.chamonixparc.com
Cosmo Jazz Festival 2011
Chamonix centre resident, celebrated Jazz musician and Pop Idol Nouvelle Star Judge, André Manoukian organised the second Cosmo Jazz Festival from the 27th until the 31 July.
Concerts took place both in the Chamonix town centre and in high altitude locations such as Montenvers and Lac Blanc.
With : Erik Truffaz , Trio Chemirani, Aziz Sahmaoui, Ibrahim Maalouf, Elina Duni Quartet, Creole Choir of Cuba, Dhafer Youssef Quartet and many more...
http://www.cosmojazzfestival.com
And unlike the Montreaux Jazz Festival this one was all free....
Ultra Golf
Chamonix, home of the Ultra Trail and numerous other 'Ultra' records and 'Ultra' sports now is home to Ultra Golf.
Set in one of the most breathtakingly scenic golf courses in the world.
2 days, and 54 holes.
http://www.ultragolfdechamonix.com
Cham'au Feminin 2011
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All Mont Blanc Unlimited lift passes (minimum 3 days) bought online from 1st to 15th April will be sold at a promotional price and for an extra 50 EUR you can also take your pick from a choice of extra activities including:
5 non-skiing activities of your choice (afternoons only)
1. Culture & Heritage
1 x half-day tour of Chamonix with a guide. Explore the town and discover its heritage dating back more than a century.
1 x half-day museum tour. Take a look around the Alpine Museum and the Espace Tairraz Exhibition centre with a guide to talk you through the various exhibits.
*You will also be given a Cham’Val card which gives access to the swimming pool and ice rink.
2. Zen & Well-Being
1 x half-day admission to the spa including unlimited use of the heated outdoor swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, hammam (steam room), herbal tea rooms, fitness facilities and relaxation room.
1 x half-day admission to the spa and 1 hydro jet (massage on a water bed).
*The spa half-days are courtesy of Deep Nature Spa.
3. Fitness
2 x 2 hour sessions of physical training and fitness coaching with a qualified professional
Get ready for summer with a programme of sessions focussing on balance and rediscovering your body, regain your fitness without gaining bulk and improve your general well-being. Discover fartlek – a Swedish form of interval training that uses a range of exercises to regain balance using natural movements; a gentle cardiovascular workout that will build on your muscle strength followed by a stretching session to warm down. The introduction to fartlek will allow you to repeat the sessions at home without any equipment and at a very low cost. You can vary the level of intensity according to your strength and fitness, so this type of exercise is aimed at everybody and all levels.
4. Nature & Ecology
1 x half-day seminar on the history of the Montenvers glaciers
1 x half-day seminar on interpreting the landscape of the Aiguille du Midi
Guided by glaciologist Luc Moreau, you will explore the outstanding and unique environments of the Montenvers glaciers and the Aiguille du Midi to Montenvers. The sites are easy to reach courtesy of the Aiguille du Midi cable car, the highest in Europe and the famous red train on the Montenvers rack railway. You will learn about mankind’s relationship with the mountains, how glaciers live, what the effects of global warming are and what the future holds for our unique environment. Discover, understand and learn the stories behind Mont-Blanc!
5. Artistic Expression
2 x half-day courses in drawing and painting for beginners and improvers
Taught by Catherine Kartal, a local and well established painter and art teacher who will bring out your hidden talents. Either in the open air or in her studio, she will encourage you to give free rein to your creativity and expression.
Skiing activity (mornings only)
1. 2 x half-day lessons (taught by a female instructor) with the opportunity to test skis and equipment designed especially for women by Dynastar.
The offer is valid on all Mont Blanc Unlimited lift passes of 3 days or more bought online between 1st and 15th April, to be used between 16th April and 1st May. Please contact the Compagnie du Mont Blanc for further details.
As part of the bid for the Winter Olympics in 2018 600 local children and a hot air balloon formed part of a display for visiting Olympic officials. The officials also viewed Planards ski area, one of the proposed venues and took a trip up the Aiguille De Midi cable car. Feb 2011.
225 Million viewers watched this on TV over the weekend of 29 and 30 January 2011. Those who were lucky enough to be in Chamonix watched it live.
It is being held again in 2012 so be there next time....
http://www.chamonixworldcup.com 
Trail Des Aiguilles Rouges 2010
51km and 3900metres of climbing and descent. Always very popular and fully subscribed, this year after the poor weather stopped the UTMB the final places in this race were snapped up in a few hours.
However the weather caused problems yet again, this time in the 48 hours before the race started the weather closed in with snowfall down to around 1500 metres. The race route was reorganised to avoid some of the higher mountain sections, at the same time adding another 2km to the route. It started on the Sunday morning at 4.30 am under a moonlit sky, but the trailers soon found themselves running in the clouds and snow showers with several cm of snow underfoot.
Out of 713 runners subscribed for the race only 585 set off and 493 finished including 66 ladies and one V4H (70 year plus male).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V0BuRmf0Rs&feature=related
http://www.aiguillesrouges.fr/
Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc 2010
There are actually four very prestigious races (plus two children's races) which take place over a period of several days at the end of August.
La Petite Trotte a Léon (PTL): Teams of three people run 240km over 18,000 metres of climb and descent (to put it into context Everest is 8840 metres high from sea level and Snowdon in Wales 1085 metres above sea level). The teams are tracked by gps, but unsupported, in other words they have to run with all their equipment for the entire trip. This is not strictly speaking a race. There is no ranking. Finishing is all that matters. The race starts and finishes in Chamonix.
Sur Les Traces Des Ducs De Savoie (TDS): Is an individual race which covers 111km and 7000 metres of climb and descent. This starts in Courmayeur on the Friday at midnight and finishes in Chamonix. The race is only semi supported.
Courmayeur Champex Chamonix (CCC): Is an individual race which covers 98km and 5600meters of climb and descent. This starts in Courmayeur at 10am on the Friday and finishes in Chamonix whilst going the other way around the Mt Blanc range. The race is supported with stops every 20km or so which offer food and drink..
The Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc (UTMB): This race starts and finishes in Chamonix and covers 166km and 9500 metres of climbing and descending and departs at 18.30 on the Friday.
So this year the build up to the races including the departure of the PTL took place in excellent sunny weather, but sadly that all changed on the Friday morning as the CCC started in a thunderstorm and torrential rain. Later in the day there was a short period of sun before the rain and wind really set in towards the early evening for the runners who by this time were about half way around the course in the Champex area in Switzerland. Meanwhile back in Chamonix the UTMB started at 18.30 just before the weather closed in too on Chamonix. The race was in progress for a couple of hours in the pouring rain before the organisers were forced to stop the race for the runners safety. Over 2000 wet, cold and heart broken runners had then to be returned back to Chamonix from St Gervais and Les Contamines. Crossing over to Courmayeur in Italy many of the runners of the TDS were already on the way to the start of the race which was due to commence at midnight before this race too was cancelled due to the weather.
Back to the CCC, although many runners out of the initial 2000 starters had already dropped out due to fatigue and the terrrible weather there were still several hundred men and women battling through the cold, wind, rain and mud (and darkness plus zero visibility due to the clouds and mist of course) at altitudes of up to 2500 metres to get from Champex, via Trient and Vallorcine before the final push up into the Aiguilles Rouges mountains and then down to Chamonix. Around 2am on the Saturday this race too was shut down for safety reasons, preventing any surviving runners from leaving Vallorcine. Despite the conditions 445 runners out of over 2000 starters still made it to the finish in Chamonix, the last runner arriving at 8.18 in the morning.
There are two interesting accounts on the following links. One from Maud Giraud, the French Trail Champion and winner of the CCC and and the other from Kami Semick, a top American trail runner and the holder of third place.
http://www.petzl.com/en/outdoor/news-1/2010/08/28/2010-utmb-part-ii-rain-rain-go-away
http://kamisemick.blogspot.com/2010/09/finishing-ccc-was-that-hardest-or.html
The organisers having already spent a vast amount of effort in reorganising the courses and returning the stopped runners thoughout the night, then succeeded in organising a replacement course for some of the UTMB and TDS runners which departed on the Saturday morning from Courmayeur and followed a shortened version of the CCC over about 88km. The weather conditions by this time had much improved, but the trails although no longer flooded were still pretty wet under foot. This time 1128 runners made it back to Chamonix, the last one arriving at 14.01 on the Sunday.
Of course finally do not forget the volunteers and organisers who were manning the check points in the outrageous weather conditions and the runners in the PTL who were out in the worst.
These races are the dream and peak of achievement for all the worlds professional and amateur trails runners alike and are always heavily oversubscribed. Places on the 2011 races will only be in demand more than ever due to the events of 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_503868&v=ELlCDQZsGcw&feature=iv
Friday afternoon on the CCC at Arnuva in Italy during a rare break from the rain
Off Piste Skiing Deaths
Monday 8th March 2010 saw Chamonix centre witnessing a dramatic rescue on the Pre De Rocher which is close to the lower section of the Aiguille De Midi telepherique. A group of skiers mistook their route and one of them finally fell 80metres to his death down an icy couloir. The helicopter team recovered the body and also rescued the rest of the group bringing them safely back to Chamonix. It was a tragic day and illustrates that you need to take a mountain guide when skiing or boarding off piste even when so close to the town centre.
On the same day a snow boarder died after falling down a crevasse on the Valleé Blanche and a skier died in Megeve after suffering a cardiac arrest.
New Watersports Centre and Spa for Chamonix
Chamonix is to get a new 5-8M Euro watersports centre and spa. The planned centre will sit behind the existing sports complex and concentrate on well-being and body-care, in contrast to the existing sports centre's focus on activities and physical recreation. The complex will consist of three areas: a recreational area with thermo-aqua pools, Jacuzzi whirlpool baths and another spa area with a sauna steam-room and a third area focused on the care of the body. The complex will be heated with biomass boilers. The lakeside area will have a new restaurant to complement the recent development around the lake and new outdoor pools.
Servoz Restaurant in Michelin Guide
Marc Serres and his team from their new restaurant "The Gorges Diosaz" in Servoz in the Chamonix valley have entered the Michelin Guide in 2010. (He already received the same distinction when he worked at Chamonix in the "Panier des 4 Saisons").
In the restaurant he uses very good quality fresh seasonal products and new techniques. The lunch time menu costs 18 euros (starter, main course, dessert and coffee), a dinner menu is 26 euros and a gourmet menu 36 euros.
www.hoteldesgorges.com
2010 Coupe De France Handisport De Ski Alpine.
If you think skiing is hard then try it with one leg, or perhaps with no legs; or maybe with limited or no sight. Then try skiing a slalom in a snow storm at night. Well thats what these guys and ladies were doing at Planards one evening last week prior to heading off to Vancouver for the Olympics.
Free Ride World Tour 2010.
The Free Ride World Tour consists of a handfull of Free Ride competitions held in the top ski areas of the world. Two of this years stages were held in Chamonix.
The worlds best free ride skiers and boarders hike through deep powder to the top of a mountain and take the best route back down again. The climb takes up to two hours and the descent under five minutes. The competition was halted at one stage to allow a helicopter rescue of one of the competitors who damaged a limb on a landing after jumping a cliff, but otherwise all went to plan including excellent pre-competition snowfall and blue skies on the day.
http://www.freerideworldtour.com
October Holidays 2009.
The October school holidays take place in the last week in October and part of the first week in November. This year we celebrated the holidays in the sunshine with a multi-activity week. Day One was a walk from Montenvers via the Signal to the Aiguille De Plan in warm sunshine but with snow underfoot. Day Two was an afternoon at the swimming pool. Day Three was spent playing tennis at the Courts in Les Houches. Day Four was an afternoon on the bikes from Chamonix up the valley via the river with a stop off at Paradis Des Praz. Day Five was spent climbing at La Fayet and Day Six was back in the mountain again with a walk up to Lac Cornu and back down via Charlanon. Day Seven (November 1st) saw the kids playing tennis in the park again while we took what was probably the last high mountain run of the year from Planpraz, up to the top of the Brevant via the Col De Brevant and on to L'Aiguillette Des Houches before descending down to Les Houches. It was quite surreal running in shorts and trail shoes in the sections of snow, particularly to the rear of the Brevant where the path normally turns into a rock scramble with sections of via ferrata, the snow and ice made the scramble particularly spicy in trail running shoes, an ice axe and crampons would have been more appropriate in places. Addtionally the top of the Bozon black piste was covered in snow, making it more suitable for skiing down than running up.
All changed that evening with snow down to about 1300metres overnight and at the time of writing on Tuesday 2nd November there is no sign of it stopping. We'd better get the skis waxed up and put the running shoes away......
Picnic in the snow at Col Cornu on Halloween.
The last major event of the Summer took place on the 27th September, the course involved running 52km over a combined ascent and descent of 3200metres. Over 600 runners started in the dark and rain at 5.00am in Vallorcine and followed a difficult and remote route through the Aiguilles Rouges Mountains before emerging back in the Chamonix Valley at Servoz.. The route did not finish there however as the weary runners had to then run another 12km out of Servoz up a steep hill to Vaudagne and on to Les Houches, before the final circuit around the lake to the finish. (The rest of the day was dry, clear and beautiful. Like Camelot, it normally only rains at night in Chamonix).
http://www.aiguillesrouges.fr/
Runners in the Aiguille Rouges Trail on the Aiguilette Des Houches