The Shifting Sands

I like Chamonix.   Despite the ageing lift infrastructure, I like the mountains and I like the town but one thing I don’t like is the food.   Given the proximity to Lyon and the wonderful Savoie cuisine, there seems to be far too many places serving British pub food and ordinary ethnic restaurants (Indian, Thai etc). Chris at the excellent Christiana on the slopes at Courmayeur Work had taken me to Paris for two weeks so I took the train to Cham planning to catch up with a friend of a friend.   Chris Warner knows Damien, my school friend and climbing partner from Chomotang. Chris is a rope gun who was now living in Cham so we connect and organised to catch up for a ski. Goat stew and polenta. They even added in a couple of sausages I dropped my stuff at Gite Vagabond in the rain, not a good sign given it was mid-night. The next morning when I met Chris the weather was no better in Cham but there were reports that it was snow...

It had been four years since my last trip to Chamonix when I skied the Haute Route. The town has a special feel and, from my perspective, Chamonix is the soul of European alpinism. I wasn't doing anything special or particularly interesting, just a couple of days of down hill skiing over a weekend that would have otherwise seen me in Paris.  Unfortunately, Paris was deep in mourning over the Charlie Hebdo and other associated terrorist attacks and the unification rally in response to the attacks was planned for the weekend. It seemed like a good time to leave the City. The view across to the Aiguille du Midi I had been in Paris while the attacks occurred and it was all a little surreal.  Paris is a city I know well and love but it has also had a long history of revolution and violent protest. Despite this history, I have many proud Parisian friends and they were struggling to come to grips with the attacks and a number viewed the attack as fund...