Times of seasonal change are signaled by those hazy spring skiing days. After an exhilarating morning on the pistes, you are rewarded by an alfresco lunch on your favourite warm sunny terrace. Layers shed, bare t-shirt arms are soaking up those magnificent Alpine rays. Gone are the days when these hours were spent gripping onto a vin chaud for dear life in the attempt at defrosting fingers. You can say goodbye to the frozen gloves and hello to the ice cubes merrily clinking their way around your wine glass.
As winter awakens into spring and summer, so do the sights and sounds. That sensory overload of seasonal change is spellbinding. The Alps are transformed from a fairytale winter wonderland to a myriad of wild flowers dancing in the verdant meadows. If there is any resort that embraces summer quite so enthusiastically, it is Chamonix.
The skis and snowboards may have seen their final storage wax but there is a near infinite list of endorphin inducing sports to start to look forward to instead. As the snow melts, ceaseless hiking and biking trails reveal themselves, criss-crossing Chamonix’s jagged landscape. Those craving adrenalin never have to feel that end of season disappointment again. Hiking, mountaineering, mountain biking, road cycling, trail running, rock climbing, paragliding, rafting, kayaking, tennis… Chamonix certainly deserves its reputation as a summer Alpine mecca.
With an increase in temperatures, comes a decrease in layers. Chamonix’s car-free center and cobbled streets are lined with tantalizing equipment shops. The months of sumptuous down jackets and high performance salopettes are replaced with a dazzling array of athletic wears. With your retail therapy senses overloaded, it is time to grab your lift pass and run free. Many of Chamonix’s ski lifts are open in the summer, ensuring easy and affordable access to the high mountains.
However, if you are feeling breathless just reading this, let us quell such rising panic. We understand that not everyone’s perfect day is ranked by the number of thrills, spills and spikes in adrenalin levels. Chamonix and Mont Blanc will welcome the whole family with open arms come the summer. When winter may be the season when the family is torn between thigh deep powder and an exotic sun lounger, summer is the time to reunite.
Everyone’s idyllic day will start with a lazy breakfast on your chalet’s perfectly sunbaked terrace. You are guaranteed that your chef knows the true meaning of breakfast setting you up for the day. Firstly though, make sure you pull up an extra chair at the table. You will need it for the tumbling glacier that is looming above you.
If your day closer resembles packing sunglasses, a comfy spare pair of shoes and some extra Euros rather than a helmet, body armor and tire pump, you can rely on Chamonix to be your favourite week of the summer. Tear yourself away from the majesty of Chamonix’s awe inspiring scenery and find yourself on a day trip to Geneva or Annecy, affectionately known as the Venice of the Alps or head through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Courmayeur. Whether your day trip be lazing by the beaches at Lake Annecy or Lake Geneva, indulging yourself in a thermal spa or finding your inner Italian on a wine and cheese tasting tour across the border. Who said thrills can only be achieved from vertical, hair-raising activities?
For even the youngest members of the family, unable to appreciate the Alps in all its earlier winter glory, Chamonix is ready to kick start their love for the mountains. Only a half hour drive from your luxury chalet is Lac de Passy, warm enough for even the smallest future skiers to mess around in during the summer months. After all, it isn’t every day that your lifeguard on duty is a range of soaring snowy peaks.
If, like many a parent, you have spent countless hours persuading the smallest members of the family that marmots are not mythical creatures, it is time to pay a visit to Merlet Animal Park. This nature reserve of alpine pastures, above the village of Chamonix’s Les Houches is a sanctuary to eight different Alpine species. Allowed to roam free, I sense a game of I Spy With My Little Eye Something Beginning With “M” starting…
With a wealth of activities for every generation to enjoy, your daily dilemma, apart from whether to have another delicious pastry, is what to spend today enjoying. One thing is for certain though. As your friends in high places, you are guaranteed to return home at the end of each action packed day to one of the most luxurious chalets in the Alps.
Winter was spent eyeing up what felt like an Olympic distance from the comfort of the wellness suite to the welcoming heat of the hot tub. Let the gauntlet of slippered feet through a snowy path be a distant memory. In these glorious summer months, relish the hours where champagne welcomes you home and canapés will be served by the poolside. These are the hours that summer was made for.
Go on. It is time to embrace those precious months of summer idyll before Mont Blanc once again shudders under the next throes of winter.