Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Le Brévent:
This lift is a steep 10-minute walk up the road above Chamonix's TI. It
takes two lifts to reach Le Brévent's top. The first lift to Planpraz, with automated eight-
person
télécabines,
runs every minute. Sit backward and watch Chamonix shrink below
(round-trip to Planpraz-€15, one-way-€13, nice restaurant, great views and good hiking
options, see Hike #2 in the next section).
ThesecondgondolatoLeBréventstationleavesfromPlanprazandrunsevery20-30
minutes. At the top, you get 360-degree views, more hikes, and a good view restaurant.
For most, Planpraz is best (round-trip from Chamonix to Le Brévent-€29, one-way-€22;
daily 8:45-17:00, July-Aug 8:15-18:00, last return from Planpraz one hour after last as-
cent, closed late April-mid-June and Oct, tel. 04 50 53 13 18).
La Flégère:
This lift runs from the neighboring village of Les Praz to La Flégère
station; to go higher, take the lift to L'Index (La Flégère round-trip-€15.50, one-way-€13,
L'Index-€21,daily8:15-17:00,summer8:00-17:45,lastreturnfromLaFlégère15minutes
after last ascent, closed late April-mid-June and mid-Sept-Oct, tel. 04 50 53 18 58). Hikes
to Planpraz and Lac Blanc leave from the top of this station (see Hikes #2 and #3 in the
next section).
Understanding the Alps
The Alps were formed by the collision of two continents: About 100 million years
ago, the African plate began pushing north against the stable plates of Europe and
Asia. In the process, the sediments of the ancient Tethys Ocean (which occupied
thegeneralrealestateofthemodernMediterranean) becamesmooshedbetweenthe
landmasses. Shoving all this material together made the rocks and sediments fold,
shatter,andpileontopofeachother;overmillennia,thisgrowingjumblebuiltitself
up into today's Alps. Up in the mountains, look for folds and faults in the rocks that
hintatthisimmensecompression,whichisstillhappeningtoday:TheAlpscontinue
to rise by at least a millimeter each year (while erosion wears them down at about
the same rate).
The current shape of the mountains and valleys is the handiwork of at least five
ice ages over the last two million years. Glaciers flowed down the mountain val-
leys,scoopedoutbeautifulalpinelakes,andcarriedrocksfarawayfromwherethey
formed. The Alps were the first mountains extensively studied by geologists, and
many of the geological terms that describe mountains originated here. Once you
learn how to recognize a few of the landforms shaped by glaciers, you can easily
