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On a walk from the cable car station at Le Brévent to the Refuge Bel Lachat. (R) View beyond the Chamonix valley, with the Lac du Brévent in the foreground.
Fortunately this time the refuge was open! After a nice lunch, we descended to the valley via the Parc animalier de Merlet. The wildlife refuge is situated in an “alpage” high up the valley (1563 m). The farming of such high pastures by “montagnards”, who would make cheese, called locally tomme, from their cows, has largely disappeared. The site was bought in 1967 and developed as a tourist attraction.
Glacier des Bossons
(L) The Chalet du Glacier des Bossons is conveniently sited at the top of of télésiège from the hamlet of les Bossons (between Chamonix and Les Houches), and has good views of the terminus of the Bossons glacier. At the end of the 19th C, the glacier extended down to the valley, threatening the road up the valley, but has since retreated by 1.2 km!
(L) The lac des Gaillands, next to the bus stop on the way back to Chamonix. (R) The “temple” of the Eglise Reformée in Chamonix.
The wonderfully sited Refuge du Plan d’Aiguille, on a return trip to the Aiguille du Midi.
“Aiguille” the marmot, enjoying a return visit to his home town: (L) at the Plan de l’Aiguille, with Mont Blanc in the background, and (R) a quick expresso at the Brévent cable car station.