to south-west alignment between Col Ferret and Col du Bonhomme, and stands head and shoulders above all its near neighbours. The Franco–Italian border runs along its crest, and on the summit of Mont Dolent is also joined by that of Switzerland. Around it flow seven principal valleys that effectively define is limits. Listing anti-clockwise from Chamonix, these are: the Vallée de l’Arve, Val Montjoie, Vallée des Glaciers, Val Veni, the two Vals Ferret – one Italian, the other Swiss – and the Vallée du Trient.
Vallée de l’Arve
The most important of these, in terms of size, development and tourist infrastructure, is the Vallée de l’Arve, the ‘Vale of Chamouni’. When William Windham, with Richard Pococke and several companions, entered the valley in 1741 they did so with exaggerated caution, being fully armed against what they feared would be a savage peasantry, and accompanied by servants and pack horses loaded with food and camping equipment. But on arrival in Chamonix they found it a surprisingly hospitable village and the valley well established with a public market that had already been held for some 200 years under the protection of the Dukes of Savoy. While the surrounding peaks were considered by locals to be Les Montagnes Maudites (the accursed mountains), the valley itself was devoted largely to agriculture, with sheep and goats grazing the upper pastures. Almost 20 years later de Saussure made his first visit and was suitably impressed by the ‘fresh and pure air ... the good cultivation of the soil ... the pretty hamlets ... [which] give the impression of a new world, a sort of earthly paradise ... enclosed by a kindly Deity in the circle of the mountains.’
Since Windham’s and de Saussure’s visits the valley has seen massive development. Mont Blanc has had a tunnel scored right through it to take heavy road traffic into Italy. Cableways have been strung from valley to mountain top and even across the glaciers to La Palud on the south side. Rack railways wind up hillsides and the hospitable village of Chamonix has grown into a town of major significance. It has, quite simply, become the world’s premier mountaineering centre.
The Vallée de l’Arve begins in a small cirque above Le Tour, where the Col de Balme (2191m) marks the border between France and Switzerland. A privately-owned stone-built refuge occupies prime position on the broad, grassy saddle of the col, and enjoys a magnificent view over the whole valley, with Mont Blanc and the aiguilles forming the left-hand wall and the Aiguilles Rouges a rocky crest on the right. As R. L. G. Irving once said: ‘If that view does not thrill you you are better away from the Alps.’
The tiny Lac Flégère above the Grand Balcon Sud
All the way down the valley, from Le Tour to Les Houches, glacial avenues open from the left, serving as drainage channels from the Mont Blanc heartland. First of these is the Glacier du Tour, upon whose right bank sits the Albert Premier Refuge (2702m). This very popular hut, given by the Club Alpin Belge to the CAF in 1930, is named after King Albert I of Belgium, a distinguished mountaineer who was killed in an abseiling accident in the Ardennes in 1934. The hut not only forms a base for climbers tackling peaks at this northern end of the range, but makes a worthwhile destination in itself for walkers anxious to gain a close view of the arctic world of high mountains without facing the tribulations of glacier travel. A path leads to it from Col de Balme, joining another from Le Tour shortly before the hut is reached.
Le Tour is far enough away from Chamonix to maintain an independent existence. Although small, it has both hotel and dortoir accommodation, and the neighbouring hillsides are immensely popular with skiers. The village receives more winter snowfall than any other in the French Alps, and part of its attraction to skiers is the number of cableways that now string the slopes above. As a result the summer walking potential is somewhat devalued by the existence of bare pistes and a clutter of tows and gondola lifts.
At Montroc, below Le Tour, the narrow-gauge railway from Martigny emerges from a tunnel under Col des Montets. That col, squeezed by the Aiguilles Rouges and Montagne des Posettes, provides road access from the Rhône valley in Switzerland and is heavily used. The col forms a boundary of the Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve, and there’s an alpine garden on either side of the road as it descends towards the Vallée de l’Arve, where the first framed views of the massif give a foretaste of things to come.
Grand Balcon Sud
The attractive little hamlet of Tré-le-Champ lies just off the Montets road; little more than a huddle of chalets, including a gîte, set in small, neat meadows and with a footpath that descends to the bed of the valley at Argentière. On the other side of the road from the hamlet a path climbs the slopes of the Aiguilles Rouges, first among pinewoods, but then out in the open to tackle a series of metal ladders fixed against a line of cliffs. Mounting these ladders is safe but exhilerating work, as there’s a degree of exposure with the valley now several hundred metres below. At the top of the ladders you emerge to a natural terrace that runs along the face of the mountain, and there join another trail that has come from Col des Montets, the junction marked by a huge cairn and fantastic views across the valley to the Mer de Glace. This trail is known as the Grand Balcon Sud, one of the most spectacular balcony walks in all the Alps, and one that has been adopted by both the Tour du Mont Blanc and the longer but less well-known Tour du Pays du Mont Blanc.
To follow the Grand Balcon Sud in its entirety from Col des Montets to Les Houches, is to sample a day or two of mountain walking at its very best. The complete walk could be achieved in a single day; a full and demanding day, it’s true, but quite feasible for a strong walker, well acclimatised to the Alps. But it’s much better to devote two days to it in order to have time to savour the panorama which takes in the full panoply of Mont Blanc’s great northern wall, its upper snows, aiguilles and snaking icefields seen across the depths of the intervening valley. Along that balcony trail it’s possible to enjoy such a panorama hour after hour as the sun drifts across the heavens and casts a new light, with new shadows, in a procession of delight from dawn to dusk. And then at night too, perhaps graced by a full moon and a sky thick with stars to add another dimension to a scene that defies description.
Where to stay? Along the balcon there’s a refuge at La Flégère which is also reached by cable-car from Les Praz de Chamonix, and above that, another refuge at Lac Blanc (2352m) linked to La Flégère either by a steep footpath or by a combination of the Index chairlift and connecting mountain trail. Both provide unforgettable views across the valley to the Mer de Glace, with Aiguilles Verte and Drus, Grandes Jorasses, Dent du Géant, Grands Charmoz, Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc itself. With its additional height, Lac Blanc is rightly considered one of the prime viewpoints from which to study the massif, while La Flégère offers no less grandeur, though the scale and perspective may be slightly different.
A partially paved trail winds up the hillside from Montenvers to the Signal viewpoint, overlooked by the Grands Charmoz
Farther along the Grand Balcon Sud, below and to the west of Le Brévent, another private mountain hut perched on a steeply plunging hillside is worth considering for an overnight’s accommodation. Although Refuge de Bellachat may lack the direct view along the highway of the Mer de Glace enjoyed at La Flégère, it has a more frontal aspect of Mont Blanc and the Bossons glacier with the toy-like buildings of Chamonix over 1000 metres below. From the communal dining room the full stature of Mont Blanc is on show, from summit dome of ice and snow to the greenery of the valley at its feet; an altitude difference of almost 4000 metres.
Midway between Refuge de Bellachat and the summit of Le Brévent, and reached by a short footpath spur off the Grand Balcon, lies the little Lac du Brévent, a lovely tarn to sit by on a bright summer’s day and contemplate the abundance of good things that nature has supplied close to hand, while above
