Walking in the Alps. Kev Reynolds

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      The tiny Lac Flégère above the Grand Balcon Sud

      All the way down the valley, from Le Tour to Les Houches, glacial avenues open from the left, serving as drainage channels from the Mont Blanc heartland. First of these is the Glacier du Tour, upon whose right bank sits the Albert Premier Refuge (2702m). This very popular hut, given by the Club Alpin Belge to the CAF in 1930, is named after King Albert I of Belgium, a distinguished mountaineer who was killed in an abseiling accident in the Ardennes in 1934. The hut not only forms a base for climbers tackling peaks at this northern end of the range, but makes a worthwhile destination in itself for walkers anxious to gain a close view of the arctic world of high mountains without facing the tribulations of glacier travel. A path leads to it from Col de Balme, joining another from Le Tour shortly before the hut is reached.

      Le Tour is far enough away from Chamonix to maintain an independent existence. Although small, it has both hotel and dortoir accommodation, and the neighbouring hillsides are immensely popular with skiers. The village receives more winter snowfall than any other in the French Alps, and part of its attraction to skiers is the number of cableways that now string the slopes above. As a result the summer walking potential is somewhat devalued by the existence of bare pistes and a clutter of tows and gondola lifts.

      At Montroc, below Le Tour, the narrow-gauge railway from Martigny emerges from a tunnel under Col des Montets. That col, squeezed by the Aiguilles Rouges and Montagne des Posettes, provides road access from the Rhône valley in Switzerland and is heavily used. The col forms a boundary of the Aiguilles Rouges Nature Reserve, and there’s an alpine garden on either side of the road as it descends towards the Vallée de l’Arve, where the first framed views of the massif give a foretaste of things to come.

      Grand Balcon Sud

      The attractive little hamlet of Tré-le-Champ lies just off the Montets road; little more than a huddle of chalets, including a gîte, set in small, neat meadows and with a footpath that descends to the bed of the valley at Argentière. On the other side of the road from the hamlet a path climbs the slopes of the Aiguilles Rouges, first among pinewoods, but then out in the open to tackle a series of metal ladders fixed against a line of cliffs. Mounting these ladders is safe but exhilerating work, as there’s a degree of exposure with the valley now several hundred metres below. At the top of the ladders you emerge to a natural terrace that runs along the face of the mountain, and there join another trail that has come from Col des Montets, the junction marked by a huge cairn and fantastic views across the valley to the Mer de Glace. This trail is known as the Grand Balcon Sud, one of the most spectacular balcony walks in all the Alps, and one that has been adopted by both the Tour du Mont Blanc and the longer but less well-known Tour du Pays du Mont Blanc.

      To follow the Grand Balcon Sud in its entirety from Col des Montets to Les Houches, is to sample a day or two of mountain walking at its very best. The complete walk could be achieved in a single day; a full and demanding day, it’s true, but quite feasible for a strong walker, well acclimatised to the Alps. But it’s much better to devote two days to it in order to have time to savour the panorama which takes in the full panoply of Mont Blanc’s great northern wall, its upper snows, aiguilles and snaking icefields seen across the depths of the intervening valley. Along that balcony trail it’s possible to enjoy such a panorama hour after hour as the sun drifts across the heavens and casts a new light, with new shadows, in a procession of delight from dawn to dusk. And then at night too, perhaps graced by a full moon and a sky thick with stars to add another dimension to a scene that defies description.

      Where to stay? Along the balcon there’s a refuge at La Flégère which is also reached by cable-car from Les Praz de Chamonix, and above that, another refuge at Lac Blanc (2352m) linked to La Flégère either by a steep footpath or by a combination of the Index chairlift and connecting mountain trail. Both provide unforgettable views across the valley to the Mer de Glace, with Aiguilles Verte and Drus, Grandes Jorasses, Dent du Géant, Grands Charmoz, Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc itself. With its additional height, Lac Blanc is rightly considered one of the prime viewpoints from which to study the massif, while La Flégère offers no less grandeur, though the scale and perspective may be slightly different.