Mont Blanc – APASSION https://www.apassion.com Live life with APASSION Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:07:01 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 https://www.apassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-Mountain-Motif-Grey-32x32.jpeg Mont Blanc – APASSION https://www.apassion.com 32 32 A ride on the Tramway du Mont-Blanc! https://www.apassion.com/a-ride-on-the-tramway-du-mont-blanc/ Sun, 06 Jul 2014 09:22:50 +0000 https://www.apassion.com/?p=6851

Wow!  What an incredible train ride that has to rate amongst the best in the world! 

Having been on the Rocky Mountaineer through the Rockies in Canada we all agreed that this has to surpass even that!   The views were absolutely phenomenal.

The Tramway du Mont Blanc, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last summer, is a miracle of alpine engineering and is the highest rack railway in France.  It’s creators’ dreamt that one day it would reach the top of Mont-Blanc!

We caught the train from Le Fayet, just outside of St-Gervais, from where it climbs steeply to the open pastures of the Bellevue plateau passing villages hidden in dense pine forest before eventually terminating at the Nid d’Aigle at 2,380m. The Nid d’Aigle (or Eagle’s Nest) is the starting point for the classical ascent of Mont Blanc hence the rugged and heavily laden climbers on the train!  From here you have the option of a 1 hour return walk taking you to the Glacier de Bionnassay, or the shorter 10 minutes ‘hike’ to the well equipped Refuge du Nid d’Aigle, which must make for one of the most panoramic lunch stops in the Alps.

Aside from the walks from the Nid d’Aigle there are a number of hikes commencing at the different stations along the line ranging from around half an hour to 4 hours.  There are also a couple of restaurant options where you can disembark from the train and have a drink or a spot of lunch – we tried the Le Courant d’Air at the Col de Voza and enjoyed some traditional Savoyard cuisine, Croutes and Tartiflettes.

As a day-out the Tramway du Mont Blanc definitely rates as a must see when you next come to Samoens!

]]> Our first night in a refuge – Moëde Anterne https://www.apassion.com/our-first-night-in-a-refuge-moede-anterne/ Wed, 18 Sep 2013 07:24:07 +0000 https://www.apassion.com/?p=6267

The walk to the Col d’Anterne had come highly recommended and for added excitement it involved an overnight stay at a refuge – a first for Vicky and I, so we weren’t too sure what to expect!

For morale support, a little bit of ‘Dutch-courage’ and an excuse for some catch-up time we partnered up with friends Sam, Steve and their (almost) 2 year old son, Barney, for the over-night hike. We dropped 1 vehicle off at La Fardelay before driving up to the start of the walk at Le Lignon with the target of reaching the Refuge Alfred Wills for lunch.

The track follows a section of the GR5, a walk that stretches 1500km between the Netherlands and the Mediterranean and which passes through the heart of Samoëns in the Giffre Valley before heading through the Passy National Reserve and into Chamonix in the Arve Valley.

Whilst our ‘grande randonnee’ was only going to be a small sample of the route, the alpine section of the GR5 is considered to be one of the most beautiful and rewarding hikes in the world and with perfect blue sky forecast for our walk we were all in high-spirits and looking forward to some spectacular views.

The track from Le Lignon to Refuge Alfred Wills initially climbs 600m to Collet d’Anterne (1796m) from where you are rewarded with your first views of the snow capped peaks of the Mont Blanc range. After an extremely leisurely lunch at the refuge we continued to follow the GR5, climbing a further 350m, to reach the Lac d’Anterne at 2150m. The setting for the lake is truly stunning being flanked by the vertical 800m high wall of the Rochers des Fiz on one side and the ridge of the Fretes de Moëde on the other. As we relaxed on the shores of the lake, surrounded by the characteristic squeals of marmotte and the ringing of sheep and goat bells we really felt at one with nature – just a shame we had another col to climb before we could reward ourselves with a mountain fondue and a few bottles of beer . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . but what a col the Col d’Anterne turned out to be – at 2257m and just over 10km away from Mont Blanc we just stood, stared and smiled at the beauty of the truly breath-taking views of the peaks and glaciers of the Mont Blanc range.

After realising that we’d started to get cold and that dinner time wasn’t far away we headed down the ridge to our over-night stop at the Refuge Moëde Anterne from where we were able to watch the changing colours of the sunset reflecting off the snow whilst re-hydrating on a few bottles of Mont Blanc Beer and some rosé.

After almost missing breakfast as a result of a lie-in (only until 7.30am!) we packed-up our rucksacks and re-traced our steps back over the Col d’Anterne and past the lake before taking an alternative route back into the Giffre Valley. Leaving the route of the GR5 we headed up and over Le Petit Col d’Anterne (2038m) before dropping down into the stunningly beautiful Cirque des Fonts for a well deserved lunch at the Refuge des Fonts! Donning our packs for the last time we then headed back to our van at La Fardelay. A truly exceptional walk with magnificent scenery and one that we’ll certainly be doing again – hopefully with the accompaniment or Sam, Steve and Barney!

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