Your Guide will take care of the weather, the itinerary and the reservations: set off in the mountains with a group or with your own friends ...
The Esprit Montagne team wishes to take you off the beaten tracks in small groups, you will never be more than 10 people with your Guide so that you can tackle more difficult trails and your Guide can help you improve more quickly in the mountains, in order to become autonomous in the fairly easy passages!
At the feet of Mont Blanc and near Annecy, the Guides of our team will help you discover Hidden Heaven a little further away from the classic routes!
Leave Chamonix to hike in the Aiguilles Rouges Reserve, this Trek is quite alpine with some aerial passages which are sometimes equipped with cables and ladders to facilitate the ascent or descent. You will sleep facing the Mont Blanc massif, right next to the magic Lac Blanc (White Lake). Ibex are never very far from the refuge near the lake or hidden behind the rock blocks. You will follow the Chaîne des Fiz to reach the Mont Blanc des Dames, which is known as Mont Buet. This summit at 3,096 meters has a magnificent viewpoint over Mont Blanc and the Fer à Cheval Circus! The English ladies used to come regularly to make this summit, which has since then been named as the Mont Blanc des Dames (the Ladies Mont Blanc).
This easy trek allows you to leave from Saint Gervais train station and trek along Mont Joly to take your marks in the mountains, this trek is accessible for families with children over 12 years old.
It is surely the most famous trek in the Alps, which crosses three countries: France, Italy and Switzerland. You will love the Mont Blanc massif, the northern part is largely in France with Chamonix as Skiing and Mountaineering capital. In Italy we will find Mont Blanc southern side, with the highest walls of the Alps. The Aiguille Noire de Peuterey soars skyward before descending towards the Dames Anglaises, then the Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey continues before reaching Mont Blanc summit. A Face more than 3000 meters high which stretches for nearly 40 kilometers in Val Veny and Val Ferret. In northeastern Switzerland, mountains are still great even if Mont Dolent does not exceed 4000 meters. The Aiguilles Dorées massif, with the Saleina and Trient Glaciers, are well known for their beauty. Here the "Chamonix - Zermatt" ski touring route is world famous!
Near the Mont Blanc massif a limestone chain rises, which begins above Sallanches and extends towards Samoens: here we can admire great limestone cliffs with immense waterfalls. In this Karst massif you have to remember to bring a lot of water, because during the Crossing of the Platé Desert you will not be able to find it easily. The water runs along the laps and faults, to the delight of speleologists, who can follow the underground galleries. The Lake Anterne is one of the only lakes in this massif. This massif is now well known to trailers with the Trail des 6 Refuges!
The Aravis are a great limestone massif, which begins at the Annecy Lake and ends in Sallanches. This massif is very steep, with many limestone cliffs. The first are located above the Annecy Lake and form the Dents de Lanfon. Paragliders know well this massif, which is one of the most overflown in France thanks to its great cliffs, which generate powerful thermals all along the mountain range.
The Alpine massif, which stretches from Slovenia, near the Adriatic Sea, to Monaco, in the Mediterranean, is the most important mountain range in Western Europe, with the summit of Mont Blanc at 4,809 meters above sea level.
Many treks are known, all with different charms and landscapes:
The Triglav Park and its peak at 2864 meters is one of the most beautiful places in the country near the Italian and Austrian border.
Many treks are known, the Dolomites Massif is one of the best known with the Tour delle Tre Cime.
The Monte Rosa Massif is the second highest massif in Europe, with the Punta Dufour at 4634 meters. The Monte Rosa Tour is wilder and more difficult than the Tour du Mont Blanc, it is worthy of some Himalayan Treks.
The Tour des Dents Blanches is fairly well known, above the Geneva Lake, but the two most beautiful tours are the Matterhorn Tour and the Monte Rosa Tour in Valais: for these two treks, half of the route is in Italy!
The Massifs are not lacking for Trekkings and hikers can easily browse:
It is a massif with a lot of mountain pastures and fields, you must know Beaufort cheese! It is a massif with easy paths, normally with many natural or man-made lakes to generate electricity. The walk is generally easy, except when approaching summits such as the famous "Pierra Menta", which, according to legend, was planted by the Giant Gargantua while passing at the level of the Parozan breach: he would have tripped while hitting the mountain, causing the Breach and the Pierra Menta!
Mountaineers took a long time to climb the Pierra Menta, which was only climbed on July 6, 1922: it was one of the last peaks in the Alps to be climbed, its rock is a very dense conglomerate with very few cracks, which does not allow artificial climbing and its ascent is very difficult.
This massif is very high, despite the lack of 4000 meters summits, Mont Iseran was only a legend: the Englishman Mattews climbed the Grande Casse and Mont Pourri during his visit in the 19th century. The Vanoise National Park has 107 peaks over 3000 meters, it is the first protected area in France which was created in 1963.
It is a destination that allows many itinerant stays, thanks to the refuges of the Vanoise National Park, the flora and fauna are very rich here. You can easily observe many marmots, eagles, chamois and ibex. The Tour de la Grande Casse and the Tour des Dômes de la Vanoise are the two most frequented tours, with stunning landscapes.
It is the only French massif to have a summit at 4000 meters, outside the peaks of the Mont Blanc Massif. The massif is very steep, with fairly difficult terrain, the vertical drops are often very important. This massif allows you to escape into unknown land still being in France, it is surely the wildest massif with the Haute Maurienne, which is not far away. Treks in this massif are always difficult, sometimes very difficult.
We continue down south: the valleys are very wild with a very special atmosphere, larches are very numerous and the mountain pastures are only eaten by sheep, the grass becomes drier and cows are much rarer. You will surely come across the Patous dogs who guard the herds: be careful not to get too close, their behaviour is sometimes aggressive.
The Barcelonette valley and the Serre Ponçon lake are a superb mountainous region in the Southern Alps. Here nature is preserved, with villages that already have the imprint of the South, the Verdon gorges are not very far. The valley still has a strong military footprint, with the Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpin in Barcelonette.
This is the last massif before returning to the Mediterranean Sea, the Vallée des Merveilles should amaze you with its superb valleys and lakes. Drawings and engravings are protected and still visible! If you cross the Alps, arriving at the Nice refuge will really have a special flavor. The last nights in a refuge are often starry, to make the most of these moments of plenitude.
We wish you a safe mountain trip, it often starts during preparation, so make sure to well prepare your backpack well in advance to enjoy your vacation!
