Parc National de la Vanoise
Posted by Sam Harrison on August 20, 2013 at 11:35.
alpine mountaineering alps pralognan vanoise
We got back from the Alps at 3am last Wednesday morning and after a chaotic week of catching up with work whilst trying to sort out things before I go away on a summer school to Grenoble next weekend, I've eventually got the time to write a bit about it. I'll split the holiday across a few blog posts, starting with this quick summary.
When looking at our options for travel, it transpired that the cheapest way to do it would be via coach from Lancaster to Paris, and then train down to the Alps. So that's exactly what we did. This way, it worked out at a little over £100 return each - pretty good value for money! Upon arriving in Pralognan-en-Vanoise at 9:15am on the Sunday morning, completely worn out after the 31-hour journey, we were regretting that decision. The sleeper train we caught from Paris to Moutiers was quite enjoyable and rather comfortable, but the coach part was completely the opposite, the highlight of which was our driver (who didn't speak a word of English or French) being threatened by UK border patrol: "If you drive through this checkpoint, the police will come after you".
We stayed on Camping le Chamois in Pralognan for the two-and-a-bit weeks we were there, which at roughly €5 per night made a nice change from the expensive campsites of Switzerland we experienced the year before. The municipal campsite was just what we wanted - modern(ish) facilities, cleaned regularly and with friendly staff. It's just a few minutes walk from Pralognan itself, which has two grocery shops - a Sherpa and a Petit Casino. The latter is actually quite big, and you won't struggle finding all you need food-wise. Camping Gaz was hard to find, and the only place stocking it was a souvenir shop named "Les Campanes". There are many gear shops in the town, as well as eateries of all different shapes and sizes - I recommend "Le Restaurant du Tourisme" for take-away pizzas at around €10 each. Importantly, there is a Bureau des Guides, who will give information about route conditions and who also sell climbing guides for the local area, usually in the form of photocopies of hand-drawn route descriptions (everything from local sport crags to multipitch rock routes in the mountains).
The weather we had was mixed: The first week consisted of heatwave temperatures in the valley reaching the mid-thirties and perfectly clear skies with only the odd shower; The second week was considerably wetter and we had a good few days of solid rain. All this meant that we only managed two Alpine routes (both in the first week), but this didn't really matter as we did some fantastic walking, climbing and running in the second week:
When looking at our options for travel, it transpired that the cheapest way to do it would be via coach from Lancaster to Paris, and then train down to the Alps. So that's exactly what we did. This way, it worked out at a little over £100 return each - pretty good value for money! Upon arriving in Pralognan-en-Vanoise at 9:15am on the Sunday morning, completely worn out after the 31-hour journey, we were regretting that decision. The sleeper train we caught from Paris to Moutiers was quite enjoyable and rather comfortable, but the coach part was completely the opposite, the highlight of which was our driver (who didn't speak a word of English or French) being threatened by UK border patrol: "If you drive through this checkpoint, the police will come after you".
We stayed on Camping le Chamois in Pralognan for the two-and-a-bit weeks we were there, which at roughly €5 per night made a nice change from the expensive campsites of Switzerland we experienced the year before. The municipal campsite was just what we wanted - modern(ish) facilities, cleaned regularly and with friendly staff. It's just a few minutes walk from Pralognan itself, which has two grocery shops - a Sherpa and a Petit Casino. The latter is actually quite big, and you won't struggle finding all you need food-wise. Camping Gaz was hard to find, and the only place stocking it was a souvenir shop named "Les Campanes". There are many gear shops in the town, as well as eateries of all different shapes and sizes - I recommend "Le Restaurant du Tourisme" for take-away pizzas at around €10 each. Importantly, there is a Bureau des Guides, who will give information about route conditions and who also sell climbing guides for the local area, usually in the form of photocopies of hand-drawn route descriptions (everything from local sport crags to multipitch rock routes in the mountains).
The weather we had was mixed: The first week consisted of heatwave temperatures in the valley reaching the mid-thirties and perfectly clear skies with only the odd shower; The second week was considerably wetter and we had a good few days of solid rain. All this meant that we only managed two Alpine routes (both in the first week), but this didn't really matter as we did some fantastic walking, climbing and running in the second week:
- Pointe de la Réchasse (voie normale, F).
- Dome de Sonnailles (from Ref de Vallet, PD).
- Walks/runs up Petit Mont Blanc, Crete du Mont Charvet, Col de Napremont and Pointe de la Véliere.
- Multipitch sport climbing at La Fraiche.
After arriving at the campsite on Sunday morning. Petit Mont Blanc can be seen in the distance.