"Alpine Firechick" firechick's Profile

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Aiguilles de Chamonix f/ Balcon de la Mer de Glace

Quoi de Neuf?

Home sweet home...

This year, the ski pass in Chamonix called the 'Unlimited' includes Chamonix skiing (including top station at Grandes Montets), Aiguille du Midi top and unlimited access to Courmayeur Italy and reduced prices on the Tunnel of Mt Blanc which connects the 2 resorts by car. There are daily free buses at fixed times to Courmayeur which leaves from the SNCF train station in town, but must be booked 1 day in advance.

For summer, the lifts are opening a bit earlier this year and a bit closing later. Reflection of global warming, but good for the hikers who want to come out and avoid the crowds of July and August.

Recently updated pages include:

Chamonix

Annecy

And one of my favorite pages is one that almost no one seems to look at, which is a small town in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland which is great for hiking.
Lauenen

Where I Live Now

Aiguille du Midi in winter

I live in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc France with my husband and our Bernese Mountain Dog mix.

We are both rock climbers and skiers, and do a fair amount of hiking too.

He's from the UK and I am ...eeek, an American (lived in Chicago for 12 years....)

I maintain another home page that usually gets updated every 1-2 months with information about what we are doing in Chamonix lately.

http://www.geocities.com/genyphyr1

Keep Trucks out of the Mont Blanc Tunnel!

Protest against Trucks

The french central government has acted against the wills of the people of Chamonix and the surrounding cities by allowing large trucks back through the Mont Blanc Tunnel.

Why they stuck a tunnel through the biggest mountain in Europe is beyond me, but they did. It was closed for 3 years after nearly 40 people were killed in a fire when a truck and car collided.

Now, no one wants the trucks back except the French and Italian central (not local) governments (A referendum in Chamonix where 99% voted AGAINST the return of trucks were declared 'illegitimate' by the departmental government).

The people in both Italy (on the other side of the tunnel - Val d'Aosta) and France don't want it. The pollution generated in this narrow valley by the hundreds of diesel trucks is awful and is ruining this beautiful valley!

See the website! The Association for the Respect of the Site of Mont Blanc has updates on the struggle to get the freight transported via rail (train) instead of truck. Mostly their website is in French again which is too bad. Previously they appeared to be trying to reach out for more support worldwide by also having their site in Italian (Italy is at the other side of the tunnel so duh!), English (a good 30% of Chamonix is English-speaking) and German (to appeal to the Swiss and Austrians who also have alpine tunnel issues to fight). Now that's gone for some stupid reason. Oh well. I gave my donation this year anyhow and probably will next year, unless a better organization comes along.

It's not going so well as a political struggle now, as the ARSMB has had it's main leader leave last year due to political differences in the group. He was the driving force and organized the best protests, so now all the protests have rather stopped, which is too bad.

If you visit town, go into the Patagonia store or the book store on Rue Paccard (the one with all the anti-truck literature in their windows!)to sign any new petitions.

Originally the government claimed they were only allowing alternating truck traffic (one direction for heavy goods trucks, changing to the opposite direction in a few hours).

Now that decision has been reversed, and 2 way heavy goods trucks are allowed. The tunnel is more narrow than modern ones and the trucks pass quite close. The ARSMB has some pollution statistics posted to show what's happening.

Intro Updated Jan 15, 2009
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Comments (39)

Donna_in_India Sep 25, 2009 at 8:46 PM Report Abuse

Hi Jennifer - sending birthday greetings from India. Have a wonderful day!
lnalba Aug 26, 2009 at 2:58 PM Report Abuse

Hi, thanks for the update, I'll have to get round to updating my pages. Lovely homepage, fantastic photos!
vinc_bilb May 13, 2009 at 7:30 AM Report Abuse

Bonjour, merci pour vos pages extrèmement sympathiques et intéressantes ... La vie est belle ?
Fullmoonfever Dec 26, 2008 at 5:13 AM Report Abuse

Hi, Merry Christmas!
nyperose Sep 27, 2008 at 10:28 PM Report Abuse

Love your pages. I agree with you...walking in the mountains is a wonderful experience...the higher you get the better:-D
mary2u99 Sep 26, 2008 at 1:17 AM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday to you. :-)
Leemckenna Mar 20, 2008 at 8:14 AM Report Abuse

Like your page. I am going to Chamonix to ski next week , spending 3 days in Paris , I was wondering what was the best way to get there . TGV to Annecy and then by local train to Chamonix or by plane to Geneva from Paris and then by bus . Thanks Lee
Toshioohsako Nov 15, 2007 at 1:14 PM Report Abuse

Your photo of Chamonix draws me back into my memories of skiing there. Good phtos. greetings.
Aprl24 Jan 9, 2007 at 3:37 AM Report Abuse

Hi from Minnesota! I am considering a trip to Chamonix between June and September and I thought I might pick your brain to see when you consider would be the best time to visit. Thanks in advance, and I love your page! *Kate*
KiKitC Sep 26, 2006 at 3:42 AM Report Abuse

I was in Chamonix was I was MUCH younger, yet it remains a magical memory. Have a happy birthday!