La Chapelle d'Abondance

La Chapelle

Route: La Chapelle d’Abondance

Area: Chablais Alps, France

Date of walk: 17th August 2018

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 9.8 miles

Ascent: 2,700 feet

Weather: Sunny at first then clouding over with rain and thunder

Today’s walk would be a linear one from Abondance to our next hotel further along the valley in La Chapelle d’Abondance. A gentle meander along the valley floor is possible, but we decided to opt for a high level route around the spectacular Mont Chauffé via the Col d’Ubine. Thanks to Inntravel our bags would be transported via taxi and would await us when we reached our destination

We set off early, as rain was forecast in the afternoon, and walked out of Abondance past the old abbey following the road uphill. After a short while we turned off up a stony track which took us up through the forest. The varied but easy climb took us over the Col de la Plagne into the beautiful Ubine valley, dominated by the huge rock face of Mont Chauffé. The section along the valley up to the Col d’Ubine was the scenic highlight of the walk. As we headed up to the col we could hear the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance, but ominously getting louder the higher we went. We quickened our pace, as we were aware that the descent from the col is steep and potentially slippery when wet

Beyond the col we traversed the mountainside and were lucky to have passed the most difficult section before rain started to fall, quite heavily at times. When we reached Chalet de Mens we started a long but very easy descent to our destination – the Hotel les Gentianettes in La Chapelle d’Abondance – where it was a relief to change into dry clothes. It had been a fantastic walk despite the rain on the descent

Click on the icon below for the route map

Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow

Previous walk: « | Next walk: »