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Chamonix, Annecy and grand balcon hikes at Mont Blanc.

Posted by (Netherlands) on

Hello All,

We are due to travel to Chamonix end of this week for 4 days (4 nights) and we are interested in the nature trails or hikes.

one of the days we will visit Annecy for a day trip and walk / cycle around the lake and hikes/visits for some viewpoints.

on 2 other days we have 2 hikes -
one day top of Mont blanc (Aiguille Du Midi in Chamonix) and combine that by the grand balcon nord hike.
on day 2 - the grand balcon sud and lac blanc hike.
We are moderately active people but not trekkers - so are these hikes easy to moderate or do these hikes involve a lot of steep ups and downs?
For the grand balcon nord we plan to do - plan-de-laiguille-to-montenvers
For grand balcon sud + lac blanc - cable car to planpraz - walk to La Flégère (grand balcon sud) then chair lifft to Index then hike/walk to lac blanc and on to La Flégère and then down by the cable car.
Will 2 consecutive days mont blanc multipass be better or is there any other pass / tickets better for these 2 days?
Or do i do 1 mont blanc multiday pass and 1 Les Praz - Index return pass?

With the recent covid cases rising, any recent experiences or tips that we should look out for other than the known - social distancing, sanitizing and washing hands, masks in public transports/public places etc?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by
1117 posts

Wish I could help you but haven't hiked there. Just wanted to wish you bon voyage. Chamonix and the Aiguille du Midi are wonderful.

Posted by
771 posts

I also have not done the hikes you have mentioned, but we were in Chamonix in 2018 and 2019.
In late May 2018 the lift to the Aiguille Du Midi was closed for repair. The lift going up the other side, to Le Brevent only went as fas as Pranplaz (from where we had beautiful views of Mont Blanc and there is a restaurant there.) We walked a little bit of the Grand Balcon Sud trail heading towards La Flégère, but it was long, steep, going down and long, steep, going up. We also had to cross some snow fields. We hadn’t really set out to do a hike, so turned back and watched the para-gliders taking off from there.
Two couples on our Rick Steves tour did the hike starting in La Flégère (they took a bus there.) They were moderately experienced hikers and while they enjoyed it, they felt it was more than the “relatively easy” label that RS gave it in his book. Also, he lists it as about 2.5 hours, so while they had water, they didn’t have much food. It took them closer to 4 hours.
Rick rates the La Flégère to Lac Blanc hike as the most demanding hike he describes. ...”climbs steeply and steadily over a rough, boulder strewn trail for 1.5 miles to snowy Lac Blanc. Some footing is tricky and good shoes are a must.” But he likes the trail because you can see peaks you don’t see from other hikes.
The tourist office website has information: www.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office in town can help with planning hikes that fit your comfort level..
In 2019 we were there in June for 2 nights on a different RS tour and Mount Blanc was covered with clouds and the lifts weren’t even running since there was nothing to see. We got lucky the morning we were supposed to leave and the clouds cleared, and we went up the first cable cars going up. Finally!
What did we do on the rainy/drizzly day? We wrote postcards—yes, we still do that for a few family members—then did the river walk along the Arve River to the next town, Les Praz. It’s a flat, easy walk through a wooded area. We walked through the town to a small pizza restaurant and had lunch, then walked back. It’s about an hour each way.
The hotels and many stores have a live-cam on top of Mount Blanc so you can see the weather on top.
Hopefully, you’ll have beautiful weather and all the lifts will be running. I would just caution you to not plan more than you can do in terms of the hikes. If you need a cable car to get down after a hike, pay attention to when the last car goes down.

If you want more of Rick’s description of the hikes, you can PM me.

Posted by
57 posts

Thanks for the replies. Indeed the lac Blanc hike was strenuous and time consuming. We have done some hikes before including the pulpit rock, but this was a little bit more "hiking" than that as well.
We did make it to the lake, but it took us about 3 hours to get to the lake from the Index lift (with 30 mins in total for photos spent along the way). So it took us much longer than suggested on the website (of Chamonix). Also the walk back to the Flagere lift was not all that easy (with some steep declines on gravel/boulder paths). i agree it is more than "easy"; it seems like a moderate hike.
We were able to only do the lac blanc and doing grand balcon sud with lac blanc isnt possible i think or is too ambitious. Also the next day we wanted to do the grand balcon nord but decided against it since it was similar in difficult level and we were tried from our 5.5 hrs hike the previous day. We ended up doing the Mer de glace ride/visit instead which was worth it as well.
The rest of the days we enjoyed strolls and the villages around the area and also visited Annecy as a day trip.

All in all a good trip, but hiking in the area needs more days to pace it out! Definitely needs another visit :)

Stay safe!

Posted by
771 posts

Thanks for letting us know how it went. I hope you had great weather and were able to enjoy the views all over. I would be happy to go back when everything fell into place--lifts working, the weather--and try one of the easier hikes. We were happy we were able to get to the top and do the hiking that/walking that we did.

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