Chamonix: Encyclopedia - Chamonix

Chamonix

² Population sans doubles comptes, i.e. not counting those people already counted in another commune (such as students and military personal).

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 - Geography

Chamonix-Mont-Blanc is located at 45°55′8″N, 6°51′55″E. The Chamonix valley runs from N.E. to S.W., and is watered by the Arve, which rises in Le Tour. The Arve is joined by the torrent l'Arveyron, which rises in the famous Mer de Glace just above Chamonix. On the S.E. towers the snowclad chain of Mont Blanc, and on the N.W. the less lofty, but rugged chain of Le Brévent (2525m) and of the Aiguilles Rouges. A number of villages and hamlets stretched out along the valley belong to the commune including Les Bossons (1012m), Les Praz (1060m), Argentière (1252m) and Le Tour (1462m). The valley is connected via the Col de Montets (1461m) to Martigny (Switzerland) in the Rhône Valley.

Chamonix - Mountain sports

Chamonix is a popular winter sports resort in France with one 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 refers to the fact, that 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.

Chamonix is also a mecca for advanced skiing and snowboarding. The Vallée Blanche glacier runs down from the Aiguille du Midi mountain - attached to Mont Blanc - to the town. This spectacular route can be skied or snowboarded, although it would be insane to do it without a guide due to all the crevasses. Aside from that, the valley has about six separate ski areas including Le Brévent, La Flégère, 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. However the disjointed nature of the resort makes it inconvenient for beginners, or groups of differing ability.

Chamonix - History

The valley is first heard of about 1091, when it was granted by the count of the Genevois to the great Benedictine house of St Michel de la Cluse, near Turin, which by the early 13th century established a priory there. But in 1786 the inhabitants bought their freedom from the canons of Sallanches, to whom the priory had been transferred in 1519. In 1530 the inhabitants obtained from the count of the Genevois the privilege of holding two fairs a year, while the valley was often visited by the civil officials and by the bishops of Geneva (first recorded visit in 1411, while St Francis de Sales came there in 1606). But travellers for pleasure were long rare. The first party to publish (1744) an account of their visit was that of Dr R. Pococke, Mr W. Windham and other Englishmen who visited the Mer de Glace in 1741. In 1742 came P. Martel and several other Genevese, in 1760 H.B. de Saussure, and rather later Marc Th. Bourrit. The growth of tourism in the early 19th century led to the formation of the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix in 1821, to regulate access to the mountain slopes (which were communally or co-operatively owned), and this association held a monopoly of guiding from the town until it was broken by French government action in 1892; thereafter guides were required to hold a diploma issued by a commission dominated by civil servants and members of the French Alpine Club rather than local residents. From the late 19th century on, tourist development was dominated by national and international initiatives rather than local entrepreneurs, though the local community was increasingly dependent upon and active in the tourist industry. The commune successfully lobbied to change its name from Chamonix to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in 1916. However, following the loss of its monopoly, the Compagnie reformed as an association of local guides, and retained an important role in local society; it provided the services of a friendly society to its members, and in the 20th century many of them were noted mountaineers and popularisers of mountain tourism, for example the novelist Roger Frison-Roche, the first member of the Compagnie not to be born in Chamonix. The holding of the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924 further raised Chamonix's profile as an international tourist destination. By the 1960s, agriculture had been reduced to a marginal activity, while the number of tourist beds available rose to around 60,000 by the end of the 20th century, with about 5 million visitors a year.

Chamonix - Sightseeing

• Montenvers Railway (Cog railway from Chamonix to Montenvers, above the Mer de Glace)
• Mont Blanc Tramway (Cog railway from St. Gervais to Nid d'Aigle at Mont Blanc)
• Telepherique d'Aiguille du Midi
• Panoramic restaurant at the top station of the Brévent cable car (impressing view to the Mont Blanc Massif)
• Alpine Museum Chamonix
• Statue Horace Bénédict de Saussure (initiator of the first ascent of Mont Blanc)
• Statue Michel-Gabriel Paccard (together with J. Balmat he was the first who ascended the Mont Blanc)

Chamonix - Miscellaneous

The valley is mentioned in Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, as the scene of an encounter between the doctor and his monster. The valley is the set of the Alias episode After Six. Sydney and Vaughan need to break into a chalet in Chamonix by getting through a lethal response system built by Toni Cummings, played by Vivica A. Fox.

See also

• The Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt
• Mont Blanc Tunnel

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Chamonix", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki