Haute Savoie Mont Blanc Mountains offer a different experience once the snow melts, shifting from a winter playground to a summer destination for leisurely adventure. Down at the ski lift, a group of very small children rides miniature mountain bikes with full face helmets, occasionally crashing into each other as they prepare to ride the lift up the mountain. It is a school day, and the class is about to descend by mountain trails, looking like a much more fun option than the school trips the author remembers from their own childhood.
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The snow that provided such superb skiing all winter in this corner of Haute-Savoie, close to Chamonix Mont Blanc, has retreated to leave meadows now lush with green grass and ablaze with wildflowers. It’s a walkers’ and hikers’ paradise at this time of year, with the sun shining hot out of a clear blue sky, but the elevation above sea level is keeping the air pleasantly fresh, while the views are never anything but breathtaking. Up in that clear air, paragliders soar like technicolour eagles, while down on the ground powerful electric mountain bikes for adults can be hired in most towns and villages for private rides or rides with a guided group up mountains or around vineyards.
Swap skis for pedals I tried the latter out, and even at my age, sixty-seven, I found the climb from the village up the lower parts of the mountain fairly easy, thanks to the five-stage electric motor and nine classic gears. It was hair-raising, yet enormous fun, on the descent. The heavy bike yearns to go fast, but on the slippery stones it’s best to rein it in or face a tumble. Plus, you want to take frequent stops to be able to drink in the ever-changing vertiginous views of this unique setting. It’s odd to see familiar places like Chamonix denuded of their snow. Many visitors who ski have never seen this side of the region, and that’s a shame.
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Out of ski season, the area has a whole different feel, the locals and visitors more relaxed and less ‘good time’ focused. It’s a season to be active, but in a relaxed way, on bikes, on hikes, on water rapids and on climbs, to visit vineyards, linger over lunches of local cheeses, hams and beer, and even to go to the ‘beach’ by the lakes for sunshine and cool bathing.
Villages like Samoëns in the Giffre Valley of Haute-Savoie are quiet and pretty. The name is said to come from ‘seven mountains’, referring to the towering limestone peaks that surround it. Here you can hang out in the traffic-free centre with timeworn stone buildings and cobblestone streets, where a coffee and gorgeous cake in the shade is a reward after a visit to the Alpine Botanical Garden Jaÿsinia, with its 4,500 mountain plants, divided into 2,500 species over 3.7 hectares (9.1 acres). This beautiful garden, created in 1906 by Marie-Louise Cognacq-Jaÿ, rises almost vertically up a limestone cliff, but its meandering paths make the ascent easy. Entrance through the original wrought iron gates is free and guided tours will take you up to the top. Here, its ruined mini-castle once defended the elegant town and its 16th century Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption church, the work of the world-famous Masons of Samoëns (frahans), limestone stonemasons who once made up nearly all the men of the village.
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Back in Chamonix, I was lucky enough to get a quick preview of the newly remade Musée du Mont-Blanc that was just a week away from opening. There were still people pulling wires through conduits and balancing precariously on stepladders, but I saw enough to appreciate what a very modern museum it is, with all the interactivity you’d expect. The museum celebrates Alpinism and the people who were brave, or perhaps foolhardy, enough to first ascend the heights and discover new routes. The Alps of course dominate the region.