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Evasion Mont Blanc (St G/Megeve/Les Contamines etc) 2021/22

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
OK it is far too early and I'm really just finding an excuse but....

I got to Les Contamines last week! First time since Feb 2020. Was lovely being back and our flat was fine.
The idea was for a mate of mine to do some hiking and easy climbing.
Most of the huts are shut from the end of September which kept us off the major peaks but we still got plenty done (helped by nice weather most of the time although we did get snow).

A few snippets:

The village was very quiet as you'd expect. The supermarkets were open and two bars. One sports shop opened at the weekend. Tourist info was open.
We saw occasional people on the hiking trails (including a few doing the TMB camping) - busier than that at the weekends.
Two huts were open - Tres le Tete (privately owned) and a NEW REFUGE - Refuge Le Pres which is at 2000m below the Col de Fenetre and Col de Siecle - ideally placed for lunch if you have skinned up from the lifts and are skiing down to the Roman Road (or going up again for another lap). Also a good place to stop for a night en route to say Pain de Sucre via Lacs Jovet

We ate well self catering and alternated trail walking days with peak bagging days. We traversed AIguille de Roselette via its ridges from Col de Fenetre. Climbed Les Aiguilles de Prenaz from Col de Bonhomme (descending via the same route as we struggled a bit with route finding to the 5 abseil pitches due to incompetence not helped by snow and mist). Climbed Mont Tondu from Lacs Jovet and descended the Combe Blanche. If you consider doing the same descent DO ASK ME for tips - was a bit of an escapade. That was a 14 hour day starting and finishing in the dark but a solid effort (2000m of ascent from the valley). We were completely new to alpine climbing in the shoulder season and learned a lot - unconsolidated snow makes the climbing trickier and the route finding more of a challenge (especially when you are the only person who has been up there for a few days). A proper adventure!

We sussed out a few skitouring routes around Mont Tondu. The Combe Blanche would be amazing! IN DESCENT ON SKIS. Not so much on foot!
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Great to hear your flat was ok, we are heading off the StG tomorrow so hoping for the same, although we will mostly be sampling the parc thermals & drinking coffee rather than climbing.
Still looking forward to some nice walks thou & generally just being there.
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@jedster, thanks for the news - that was some hiking!

When we walked to Lacs Jovet in the summer we noticed a new sign indicating Refuge Le Pres (Les Pres?), and when we looked back down the valley from the ridge we thought we could see a new building roughly where the path forks to either Col de la Fenetre or skirting around the East side of Aiguille de Roselette. Is that it, or further along somewhere?

Anyway, good to know it remains open in the autumn, might facilitate a loop with lunch next year.

Can't see on my map where Combe Blanche is, but pretty impressive to go over Mont Tondu. (There is a Glacier de la Lee Blanche and a Vallee Blanche on the Italian side, but that would be serious mountaineering out of season). When we visited Lacs Jovet I noticed that the map shows a ski-touring route over the back and then over the Glacier de Tre la Tete - there can't be many up to doing that.

For avoidance of doubt we are not ski tourers, just impressed by others' exploits.

Sounds as if Les Contamines was quieter than St Gervais where quite a few of the restaurants were open last week and the one before, even if not every day of the week. Fingers crossed for the ski season.
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@Jonny996, have a good time. StG is pleasantly chilled out of season, but most things open.

One item of slightly concerning news, the barman said the owner of Le Grange is trying to sell the business. There is a risk someone might have plans to do something else with the site.
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@j b,

You are spot on with the Refuge Le Pres - it's very smart and the guardienne is very friendly. We peaked at the rooms - very nice rooms with two bunk beds not a classic alpine shelf. Plenty of hot showers! We stopped off for a couple celebratory beers.

The descent to the Glacier Tre La Tete is via the Pain de Sucre de Mont Tondu. I've skied it. We skinned up from the Tre la Tete. It's a good ski and not too steep if you follow the glacier down. There are steeper lines of course. You need to be equipped and competent for glacier travel on the G TlT of course. We were with a guide.

The Combe Blanche descends from a similar place but down to Laya and Nont Boran in the Monjoie valley. It is next to the Combe Noir (the huge combe that is the outflow of the TlT glacier.

And yes St G was busier than Les C when we passed through. Thought about popping down for dinner but we had three head torch finishes and
were a bit tired the day after each so cooked at home.

Would be great if we can manage to put faces to user names this winter (and @Jonny996, )
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@jedster, yes definitely, I’m guessing you’re going to be the tall slim man with all that impressive climbing.
I’ve already had the pleasure of a beer with @j b, .
@j b, I had a feeling the it was Le Grange that was up for sale, I seen a bar for sale on right move
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Never been tall and seldom accused of being slim but I did shed 2kg last week!!!
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@jedster, now found Combe Blanche, I was looking the other side. Presumably your hiking line avoided the glacier.

@Jonny996, intrigued that you are looking at businesses in StG! Or is it just idle daydreaming about upgrading to a chalet?

Both, yes a meet-up would be good. It all seemed so easy 2 years ago.
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j b wrote:
@jedster, now found Combe Blanche, I was looking the other side. Presumably your hiking line avoided the glacier.

@Jonny996, intrigued that you are looking at businesses in StG! Or is it just idle daydreaming about upgrading to a chalet?

Both, yes a meet-up would be good. It all seemed so easy 2 years ago.


Yes, we'd climbed up from Lacs Jovet close to the ski touring route marked on the IGN. It involved a couple of awkward passages through grassy, snow-dusted buttresses with no protection and high consequences. We were keen to avoid that in descent if we could. So we down climbed a long gulley into Combe Blanche
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Well that was a lot easier than on paper.
Drive down to tunnel was a shocker but as soon as we were in France, sunshine & empty roads, complete breeze.
StG is actually busier than I thought it would be. Turns out our neighbours studio is up for sale, not a bad thing as I’ve never meet them & they are the only Airbnb in the block, everyone else is more owners or friends only.
Went for a stroll around town & noticed some improvements especially over the old bridge road.
The ski hire shop we always send friends to had a handy storage locker, it’s now a nice looking pizza place.
The new apartment have a very Uber cool looking bar under them & the Oz bar is. Now called “the last” & looks very British (don’t think I’ll be there much)
Also the tour is coming to town next summer 12th July, so I guess we’ll all be here for that
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@Jonny996, glad you had a decent trip, like you we found preparing all the paperwork was the irritating bit - provided you had it there were no problems entering France.

Yes that TdF visit is exciting, we will have to plan to incorporate that date. When the route was announced I just saw Morzine to Megeve and assumed they would do the climb via Sallanches or Domancy (which was in this year's version) so it is pleasing to see StG featuring.
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Is the tour finishing up in Bettex again? I watched the finish there a few years ago
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@jedster, no, Megeve Altiport.

It looks quite a long day, though they are saving the big climbs to follow. Start Morzine, up to Evian then loop back to the Arve valley, along the bottom to Le Fayet then up the St Gervais road, cross the bridge and follow the road round to Megeve before heading up to the Altiport. Viewing points are likely to get quite congested in StG.

(Unless I got it wrong from the thumbnail map and they will actually go through the town and over the old bridge, lots of space for spectators around the market square).
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You know it makes sense.
That’s the reverse route the Dufaine ( or what ever it’s called) took summer 2020) over the new bridge
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We had hoped to get to st g to watch the tour this year through megeve, didnt realise it was going through again, must get some accommodation booked
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 Poster: A snowHead
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I've got an apartment booked in Les Contamines in January... Haven't been there since 1991 when I did the TMB.
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It’s been stunning weather this week and a lot busier than I expected
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@Jonny996, yes, I've been enviously checking the webcams. Hope you have a good trip home.

We've decided to gamble a booking on crossings straight after Christmas despite the risk of a repeat of last winter, it is possibly the only option for our daughter to get some skiing.
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@j b, we’re flying over 26th December, so maybe a beer & meet Mrs 996
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Just heard that Les Contamines is (partly) opening early this weekend! I won't be there but that is a pretty encouraging start to the season
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Forecast for Les C is looking pretty amazing (wepowder). We should be there from Sat 18 Dec for nearly 3 weeks- fingers crossed the encouraging start happens and continues.
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jedster wrote:
Just heard that Les Contamines is (partly) opening early this weekend! I won't be there but that is a pretty encouraging start to the season

Just teasing you, as you can’t get a flight into Geneva just now. Happy
I’m still on course to get out 16th for a cheeky 3 days pre Christmas slide
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
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@Jonny996, just hoping post-Christmas trips are still viable. Plus pre-Christmas for you. If so, looking forward to that beer.

But I think all our bookings are moveable if need be ...
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Jonny996 wrote:
jedster wrote:
Just heard that Les Contamines is (partly) opening early this weekend! I won't be there but that is a pretty encouraging start to the season

Just teasing you, as you can’t get a flight into Geneva just now. Happy
I’m still on course to get out 16th for a cheeky 3 days pre Christmas slide


I'm contemplating that too. Get my boy back from Uni the weekend before so would be nice trip for the two of us
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Well with the latest news on testing requirements I’ve decided to pull my cheeky 3 day pre Christmas slide, it was just me & we’re back over on Boxing Day with family anyway, so not worth the hassle, risk & cost
Hopefully you all get over
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ditto - the testing costs kill weekends for now
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@jedster, @Jonny996 and St Gervais experts - a lovely colleague of mine is spending the season their (well not that lovely really as he's getting a season in while remote working Evil or Very Mad ) and has invited me over for a few days. I've had a quick Google and can't work out which is the best public transport route from either Geneva or Lyon or maybe even get the train from London. Any pointers greatly appreciated thank you Very Happy
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Flexibus from Geneva airport to StG , runs every 2 hours & costs 20 euro.
@j b, is our in house public transportation expert, he’ll be along soon
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Plenty of buses to st G ofvthe train to le Fayet and either get him to pick you up from there or taxi only a couple of miles, can even walk up along side the tram line, we did several times but wasnt snowy
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I think the easiest route is GVA then flexibus. If you are based near London then Eurostar to Paris, train to Le fayet plus bus or taxi up the hill works well and is pleasant but slower
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 Poster: A snowHead
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Given what @Jonny996 said about me I thought I should find the winter bus timetables. They are here: https://www.auvergnerhonealpes.fr/264-haute-savoie.htm

The main local bus is the number 84 which runs Sallanches - Le Fayet - St Gervais - Les Contamines. The other bus which can be useful is number 82 (Chamonix - Le Fayet - St Gervais - Megeve - Praz sur Arly) but they don't seem to have put the winter timetable online yet despite it starting the end of this week.

Flixbus from Geneva Airport ( http://www.sat-montblanc.com/horaire-timetables/ligne-internationale-geneve-chamonix.aspx ) drops you off in Sallanches to connect to the 84 service. Both bus routes provide a link between the train station in Le Fayet and the town if you want to use the railway alternative (or indeed, travel entirely by rail via Paris) but the last bus up is 1930.

The walk up from the train station is not one to do with luggage, or in the snow, or in the dark (unlit steep track).

From the airport, an alternative in the past has been an Alpybus shared transfer - the ones to Megeve do a fixed drop-off at the gondola station. I hope they will be running via StG again this year, it isn't on the website but they have posted the Megeve timetable including a map indicating the StG stop ( https://www.alpybus.com/megeve ).


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 14-12-21 16:34; edited 2 times in total
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@j b, thank you so much!

Flixbus is a bit of a revelation they seem to go all over Europe, one to remember.
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@j b, that beer will have to wait AGAIN but don’t go looking for Le Grange, it’s now Les 3 Mousquetons.
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@Jonny996, but in the same location I presume? I hope it maintains the same ambience.

Who knows what the rest of the winter will bring? I am (optimistically) hoping the French restrictions will be short-lived, but wiping out Christmas/New Year trips. For us the planned trip was tightly timed, allowing Christmas with elderly mother-in-law then the opportunity for our daughter to ski before returning to her University obligations. We have the benefit of being retired, so I am hoping we will be able to seize a travel opportunity at short notice (we have a cat-feeder lined up!) as long as we can dodge some anticipated medical appointments. Almost certainly driving despite the distance being a pain, our booked EasyJet flights at the end of January were so much cheaper than the tests needed to use them that we may well give them up to benefit from the flexibility of a car.

(And of course, if you had flown out today, you would be feeling very smug but your family very jealous).
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@jedster, wondering about Les Contamines for a long weekend, got flights into GVA 3rd->6th March. I seem to recall you saying OP/touring options all good around there, local ski school for a guide if needed.

I'm working on around an 80min drive from Geneva late on a Thursday evening, does that sound about right?

Do you have any recommended places to stay? Happy with AirBnB or something simple and a few nights out in the village! We stayed one summer and rented an S/C apartment in the Cimes d’Or building.
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