Chamonix is the spiritual home of all things extreme. Host of the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and hemmed in by glaciers, this place is dripping in history and the scenery will take your breath away, as will the Aiguille du Midi cable car which transports hordes of skiers from the edge of town up to the start of the famous 24km-long Vallée Blanche run, or the Grands Montets cable car above Argentière if you like your terrain steep and deep. ...
A selection of books relating to Chamonix
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Mont Blanc, at 4,810 meters, is the highest mountain in Western Europe. Nestling some 3,800 meters below Mont Blanc’s summit lies Chamonix. The wildlife here has adapted to the extremes of altitude and the corresponding weather and terrain.
As you progress up the valleys, then up the mountains, past the tree-line and finally towards the barren windswept peaks, you’ll find at each stage a variety of plants and animals that have created a ...
Just how dangerous is Chamonix? Where are the most deaths?
We've compiled data from this Pistehors research. Just taking figures from the Haute Savoie section, here's the Chamonix area death stats from 2002-2009.
Death by Location
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Death by Type
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Deaths over time in the Mont Blanc Massif
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Can you imagine yourself in the Chamonix valley during the glorious months of summer when the sun shines brightly and warms you as you hike, bike, golf, paraglide, climb mountains, go canyoning or play tennis?
And in those summer months, the mountains stand majestically and tower over all who walk or ride beneath their brownish-black mass. Seemingly forever covered in a serene layer of pure white snow, they never cease to amaze even the most ...
Not far from the Chamonix valley await some of Europe’s finest and most diverse cultures and attractions. There are pristine lakes located at the foot of the snow-drenched Alps, and ancient old towns with awe inspiring Chateaus. If you enjoy music, there is a world-renowned jazz festival every year in Montreux. And who can forget skiing or snowboarding when visiting a region that contains the Alps? Europe’s finest ski resorts and mountains ...
Les Houches is a small traditional alpine village, just a few kilometres outside Chamonix. It is a ski resort in its own right, and offers a diverse range of skiing, including some of the best tree skiing in the area. It has its own cable car (the Bellevue), and the ski lifts at Le Prarion have recently been upgraded to a faster more comfortable system.
Skiing is often possible in Les Houches when the weather in Chamonix makes skiing ...
Check out this live webcam view of the Chamonix Valley.
Image courtesy of webcam-montblanc.com
Note: during darkness the last daylight image is displayed ...
One of Chamonix’s many attractions is how easy it is to reach: you can wake up in London and be on the slopes of Le Brèvent by lunchtime. Below are details of the various ways of getting yourself to the mountains.
Overland to Chamonix
The most common starting place for any journey by car to the Alps is Calais. You can reach Calais from the UK by the Eurotunnel or ferry. It is then just under 600 miles (a little over 900km) from Calais ...
In medieval times the Matterhorn in Switzerland was believed to contain a ruined city inhabited by the souls of avalanche victims.
We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the centre of an avalanche.
Montroc in the French Alps was hit in 1999 by a 60mph avalanche made up of 40,000 tons of snow. Twelve people were killed.
90% of people caught in avalanches start them themselves.
In world war one the Germans realised ...
