Ski Holidays in Chamonix France
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Chamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a town and commune in eastern France, in the Haute-Savoie département, at the foot of Mont Blanc.
Chamonix is a popular winter sports resort in France with some of the best skiing runs in the world. The 1924 Winter Olympics were held here. As the highest European mountain west of Russia, Mont Blanc holds a special allure for mountain climbers, and Jon Krakauer, in an essay in his collection Eiger Dreams, described the town as "the death-sport capital of the world." This is because Chamonix serves as an ideal playground for almost all types of outdoor activity, especially in their more extreme variants like ice climbing, rock climbing, extreme skiing, paragliding, rafting, canyoning.
Chamonix is famous for its spectacular cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi (3842m). Constructed in 1955 it was then the highest cable car in the world. Together with a cable car system going up to the Point Helbronner (3462m) from Entréves in the Aosta Valley (Italy) it is possible to cross the entire Mont Blanc Massif by cable car.
In the summer months Chamonix is the mecca for alpine mountaineers, drawn to the town by brilliant challenges like the North face of the Dru, Frendo Spur on Aiguille du Midi or more accessible challenges like summitting Mont Blanc (by a multiple routes).
Chamonix is also a mecca for advanced skiing and snowboarding. The Vallée Blanche glacier runs down from below Mont Blanc du Tacul and the Aiguille du Midi to the town. This spectacular route can be skied or snowboarded, though care should be exercised due to crevasses. Aside from that, the valley has about six separate ski areas including Le Brévent (a short but steep walk from the town centre), La Flégère (at Les Praz), Les Planards (ski area for beginners and early intermediates), Les Grands Montets (at Argentière) and Domaine de Balme (at Le Tour). Many of these provide wonderful terrain, especially off-piste, with runs down to Switzerland.
Chamonix is connected to the valley by a highway and a small railway line. It is also connected to Italy by road via the tunnel under the Mont-Blanc.
In the winter there are TGV lines that go directly to St. Gervais-les-Bains, where you can switch to a small local train to ride up into Chamonix. There is also a TGV that leaves directly from Charles-de-Gaulle airport to Lyon, and you can transfer to St. Gervais-les-bains from there.
The Chamonix valley can be considered everything between Sallanches and the Swiss border, or the towns of: Servoz, Les Houches, Chamonix, Les Praz, Argentiere, and Vallorcine.
If you plan to fly to Geneva and hire a car, the route to Chamonix is relatively straight-forward, covering a distance of 88kms. Chamonix is located 80kms southeast of Geneva, Switzerland, and driving time is about one hour via the Autoroute Blanche (A40) motorway. Chamonix is 226kms from Lyon and 612kms from Paris.
There is a regular coach from Geneva airport.
Information provided by Wikipedia
Courchevel | Chamonix | Val d'Isere | Les Houches | Morzine | Avoriaz | Tignes | Val Thorens
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