Chamonix hike to Lac Blanc & Chalet Floria: Trip to France 24/28

I woke up to a beautiful blue sky day. I was surprised since there was a thick low-level cloud cover yesterday evening, but it had complete dissipated!

I had a creekside table for hotel breakfast, which was quite good. There was a creamy Brie/Brie-like cheese that I resolved to eat exclusively the next day.

I headed out to the bus stop, intending to take the bus to the La Flégère lift for a ride to the start of a 5 mile loop hike to Lake Blanc and others. I left my phone in my room and when I came back, a woman who had been sitting on the bench was gone. Shoot! I guess I missed the bus.

Since the next bus was in half an hour, I decided to walk. Of course, two minutes later, a shuttle passes me. There’s a chance it was a bus for a different route, but I swear, I need to stop thinking that buses in France are as precise as Japan or Switzerland.

The walk was gorgeous though. It was a path alongside the creek that went by the hotel. The yellow-leaved trees and the rushing water sounds made it a sensory delight.

I arrived at La Flégère. The first thing I noticed was that there were lineman on the towers of the lift, working in the rotors. Hmmm, that does not seem compatible with the lift working. Then, I noticed everything was shuttered and there were about three other groups of hikers looking somewhat sad/checking their maps and phones, presumably for other ideas.

I really wanted to do the Lac Blanc hike. I had downloaded All Trails, so I looked up the route to the top of the lift. Before heading off from the golf course parking lot, I stopped at a little shop in town for provisions. Although blog posts I had read talked about little mountain restaurants great for a post-hike beer, I had low confidence that anything would be open.

There wasn’t a lot to choose from. I remembered my sister’s story about her Swiss friends very seriously eating Ritter sports bar before skiing, so I figured that would be a reasonable choice.

Then, it was time to start the hike! It started from the golf course parking lot. It was 4.5 miles with 4379 feet of gain. This was a lot! My deep thoughts on the hike included how easy it would be to downhill ski the route. I also thought about telemark skiers going up the mountain and they usually look like they are suffering. I didn’t feel like I was suffering, but I was pretty happy when I got to the lift. Which was moving. WHAT? I still don’t totally get what happened or if they were just testing it. I don’t think I want to know. In any event, it soon stopped so I didn’t feel too badly.

I headed counter-clockwise on the Lac Blanc loop, 5 miles and 1925 feet of gain. The view of the Mont Blanc mastiff was stunning. On the first half of the loop, it was to my back but I would sometimes stop to look.

I got to Lac Blanc and, at risk of sounding like a total brat, was completely underwhelmed. I had seen really blue pictures on Instagram and I guess I was thinking of that or a Crater Lake blue. Instead, it looked kind of like a big puddle. I know! So rude to a natural wonder.

I sat for a bit, then continued on. I thought Lac Chéserys was a bit more photogenic.

The trail was really well maintained, but still rugged. There were granite steps, as well as a few boardwalks and ladders.

I got back to La Flégère, where everything was still shuttered and the restaurant that would have a great post-hike beer was decidedly closed.

Also, on the second half of the hike, I got really low on water. But that’s ok because I had my LIFE STRAW!! SMS makes fun of my low-key prepper tendencies, one of which is to try to always have a LifeStraw on me. Look, a natural disaster could happen anytime and you know what your most urgent need will be? Water. It’s science.

I walked back towards Chamonix, heading towards Chalet Floria, a small Summer/Fall restaurant. I had low hopes since I had already had so much logistical bad luck. This was the right attitude because it was also closed. Tuesdays are the one day of the week it’s closed. Sad!

I got back to Chamonix and felt a little pooped. In total, I hiked about 15.5 miles. I decided to do a sauna back at the hotel. It felt pretty good. I was a little too warm to start because I had taken a shower prior to sauna-ing.

Then, I went out for a beer and French Onion soup. The bar was completely disgusting in that there were fruit flies everywhere once I had my beer. I felt like I was Pig Pen from Charlie Brown. Was it me? I was also slightly concerned that maybe I was hallucinating bugs as a sign of over-exertion. But no, I had pushed my empty beer glass away and by the time the waiter came to collect it, it had about 15 fruit flies inside on the sides. Disgusting.

Anyway, I went back to the hotel and read for a bit in the lobby lounge areas. I had Chartreuse as a digestif, which I wanted to try before comitting to buying some to bring back to the States. It’s a lot more available and cheaper here! I liked it so it will be part of my France souvenir haul.