Hanne and I are contemplating booking a chalet in Vallorcine for a week during the CMC meet sometime between 7th and 16th July. The chalet we have been looking at has three spare bedrooms, all with at least a double bed, and would love it if anyone would like to join us.

The main party are planning to camp, however if any club members (with non club partners should you wish) fancy a cheep self catering holiday in luxury accommodation, can you please let us know ASAP as we would like to get this sorted quickly. We would like a small contribution towards the cost of about £99 per room for the whole 7 days.

Andy & Hanne

07900 933 339

Notes on Vallorcine
Weather in English: http://chamonix-meteo.com/chamonix-mont-blanc/weather/

Tourist info is in Vallorcine itself and has free WiF

Fuel, arrive with a full tank. Carrefour in Chamonix is cheapest. Argentiere expensive.

Shops: supermarket in Argentierre but cheaper in Cham. Basic shop in Vallorcine for essentials. If you take a container up to the farm you can buy fresh milk and cheese after 6.30pm. For climbing gear Sportec in Argentiere or Snells in Cham. The book shop opposite Snells is best for Maps and Guide books in English.

Eats
Arete Bougnette at the station is great, lovely family, good food.
Cafe Comptoir behind station is pricey but good for a special meal, reservations essential.
Hotel du Buet, great ambiance. Eat in the bar 7.30 – 8.30 need to book for food.
Moon Tine, nice for a beer in the afternoon. Sometime open in the evening for food.
Stone Bar Argentiere, great Pizzas

Walks
From camp site walk up to Col des Montets and then traverse the Aiguilette de Posettes. Great little summit and a good mountain restaurant at the Alpages de Balme – need to book. Berard Valley is a good walk either just up to the Refuge Pierre a Berard for lunch or keep going to the Col de Berard or Col de Selenton or all the way up Mont Buet 3096m. Nice Buvet at the Cascade a Berard worth also returning via Sur les Roches and Grange.
The Tre-les-eaux valley is an interesting walk with bits of scrambling. Nice walk up through the forest to Loriaz (avoid the land rover track). Loriaz is the alp up above the camp site and a great spot for lunch. A fun day out is to take the train to Chatelard then the funicular up to the Emosson Dam and walk back via the col de Passet and Loriaz. Cheaper I think if you stay on the train to Finhault and get the bus up to Emosson. The walk to do in Cham is from the Plan de l’aiguille to Signal Reilley. Take the Midi telepherique (mega queues) up to the mid station and walk the balcon sud to the signal and then get the train back from Montenvers

Via Feratta / Via Corda
The via Ferrata “La Via des Evettes” is a short walk from the Flegere telepherique. It is very good with a few short steep sections and a Himalayan bridge. There is a “via corda” continuation. https://www.chamonix.net/english/news/via-ferrata-route-la-via-des-evettes   A via corda is basically a scrambling route with occasional bolts and belays. There are several very popular routes on the Roches de Mottets. Nice scrambles with a cafe at the top.  https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/56065/en/rives-de-la-mer-de-glace-rocher-des-mottets-viacorda-alpina  I did the Voie Colline with Pete last year just using a single 30m rope and 6 draws.

Easy Climbs
Vallorcine crag is very good but the easy single pitch routes can get very busy. Early morning is best before the sun hits it. There are several variations on Vallorcine Pillar at the right hand end of the crag; all four or five pitches around 3+/4 you can walk off the top clipped into a cable and then ladders.  Barberine has several easy-ish routes on the Dalles en Bas but this is proper friction climbing and the bolts are not as close as they look! At the right hand end of Barberine is Cocoa Girls 5+/6 one of the most popular routes in the valley. Folk normally finish before the 6+ crach at the top and descend Barberine gulley. https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/360972/en/chatelard-gietroz-cacao-girls  There are dozens of really good routes in the valley in the harder grades. On Barberine Autoroute Blanche is very popular at 6c. There are lots of great routes on the walls below the Grand Perron. Acqua Concert on the Van is still on my to-do list https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/297226/fr/aiguilles-du-van-acqua-concert  A must for anyone climbing 6a is in to the wild on Oreb https://www.camptocamp.org/routes/189327/en/mont-oreb-into-the-wild  brilliant route but the descent is tricky so suss the rap points below the roof on the way up. The Vaudale valley behind the Perrons has a lot of new routes. Walk up from the Emosson dam.
Info in the newAiguilles Rouges guide book. If its super hot consider the routes below Brevent using the ‘frique to get up. (Don’t miss the last one
down!!) If the weather is rubbish consider a trip through the tunnel to the Aosta Valley, lots of crags there. If you buy a team abonnoment for the tunnel it will save you lots. A single trip through the tunnel is about €45 but a book of 20 is less then €200. If the weather is coming from the SW then think about dropping down into the Rhone valley. There a good crags near Martigny for example. A good list of easier moutaineering roues was put together by Gus Morton who lives down in Les Houches there is a link here: https://www.thebmc.co.uk/less-difficult-classics-in-the-mont-blanc-massif

VTT Mountain Biking
Downhill, you can get a day ticket in Vallorcine and take your bike up on the lift. Lift served single track above Charamillon. The footpaths in the Chamonix Commune are closed to bikes in July and August and you can’t use the Chamonix lifts. That said, there are lots of good single track paths in Vallorcine and they are often very quiet. A useful facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/chxmtb  Trail forks is very good for routes. See for example the classic loop up to Loriaz: https://www.trailforks.com/trails/loriaz-loop There are several routes down to Trient e.g.  https://www.trailforks.com/trails/balme-a-trient-par-la-croix  but be prepared to get off and walk the steep bits unless you are very good! A nice day out is to ride to Finhault, best route is up behind (Chatelard to Gietroz) then descent the Chemin de Dilligence to Verneyaz via Salvan. Cafes in Salvan. You can then get the train back from Verneyaz (expensive + 50% for bikes) or cycle into Martigny and come back up to the Forclaz through the back roads and vineyards. Map here http://www.valleedutrientvallorcine. com/data/documents/General/VeloVTT/Plan_TourValleduTrientenVTT.pdf   Description here: http://www.valleedutrient-vallorcine.com/tourisme-nature/tour-vallee-trient-1709.html   If weather is not playing check out the trails in Verbier on trailforks or just head through the tunnel and enjoy the trails/coffee/food/wine etc. in Italy !

Alan Scrowcroft

Four of us enjoyed the walk, although sadly the skyline was mostly absent due to low mist. The company was good and  we saw grouse – on the limestone of Moughton, with only a bit of heather cover, so a bit unusual and we heard lovely skylarks.

Chris H

Dear All,

One of the candidates for the forthcoming BMC presidency election, Les Ainsworth,  has asked for the message below to be forwarded to all affiliated club members. Please see below FYI. He also sent a pdf prospectus of his manifesto – I have sent this out by email (get back to me if you did not receive it and would like to get it).

Jon.

“I am standing for President of the BMC and so I am sending this e-mail to all the affiliated clubs. I have already sent out a personal statement, but this was limited to two pages, so I have now prepared a more detailed prospectus which provides more details of my policies and my approach to the ORG etc.

By now all club and individual members should have received an e-mail with details of voting. This can be done on-line before midday on Thursday June 14^th,or in person at the AGM on Saturday the 16^th. If voting details have not been received it will be necessary to contact the BMC by phone quoting a membership number and they should be able sort things out. However, please note that due to concerns expressed by some members the voting forms are being amended and anyone that has already voted should be contacted by e-mail and given an opportunity to recast their vote. I would urge all members who are contacted to check and if necessary use the amended voting process.

The attached prospectus provides a relatively detailed description of my policies and approach and so I would be most grateful if you could distribute it to your members. I would like to thank those of your members who give me their support, and together we may be able to turn the BMC into a more democratic organisation that listens to its members, rather than telling them what to do.

All the best

Les Ainsworth”

If you haven’t sorted out your summer holiday then look no further….

We have 7 people definitely going (Pete Corrigan, Paul Fairburn, Shirley Emptage, Andy Barton, Hanne Barton,  Dave Hunter, Jon Lury) and another 4 potentials. I get the impression that most people would like to do “a bit of everything” including walking, biking, rock, classical alpinism, VF, eating a lot, lying in the sun, etc, if the opportunity arises.

Campsite website:  http://www.camping-montets.com/vallorcine

Guidebooks: For the walking the cicerone walking guide by Hilary Sharp has got lots of superb walks starting more-or-less from the campsite. For the rock and alpinism the recent rockfax guidebook is great and has fantastic photos, and there is climbing near the campsite. For easy alpinism there is a lovely book called “Mont Blanc – easy ascents and glacier hikes”.  IGN 1/25000 map 3630 Chamonix covers pretty much everything we need.