We booked a newly and very nicely renovated studio apartment on the sixth and uppermost floor of the apartment building in Roche Béranger in Chamrousse 1750 for three night this past weekend. We drove there early Friday evening and returned this Monday morning so that we could have two full days of hiking. While apartment was relatively well equipped, clearly its best asset was the view, especially at sunset.
Just an hour before we left on Friday the host told us that she had forgotten to inform us about a major event, Fête des transporteurs de montagne, taking place near the apartment and making a lot of noise on both Saturday and Sunday. She gave us three options: first, to stay at the apartment we booked; second, to stay at her other apartment; and third, to cancel and be reimbursed. We really wanted to escape the heat in our valley so the third was not an option, but we agreed to check the other apartment, which was located in an other resort village, Chamrousse 1650. It was not nearly as nice as the place we booked and had no great view, so we retained the original plan. The host’s response and the fact that we found a welcome note in that other apartment, made us smell something fishy …
The event? It was more like a fancy truck gathering, like those of old classic cars, with exhibitions and demonstrations. We were not interesting in the event, nor the trucks, but I took some pictures of the most impressive ones (see below). They were not the average trucks you see here on the roads and highways (many of which are Polish or Romanian), but more like hobbies (like classic cars), given how meticulously guys and girls were polishing their cabs.
And the noise? A couple of hours only on early Saturday evening when the trucks arrived honking and making all sorts of sound effects. Once they were at their place, there were no further disturbance from the event.
We did a couple of non-spectacular, but somewhat tedious hikes during the weekend, both mostly in the forest. The first one, to Marais de Seiglières, was little shy of 20 kilometers with about 1200 meters of ascent and descent, and it took us almost 6h30 to finish, and the second one, from Lac Luitel to Col de la Madeleine and back, was a little less than 10 kilometers with about 550 meters of ascent and descent, and it took us a little more than three hours.
What made the first hike especially hard was that towards the end of the hike we climbed about 600 meters in just four kilometers on a forest trail that was completely churned by forest work. The second hike traveled on nicer trails but also had some tricky and steep climbs, and a lot of bugs that kept bothering especially me.
Because of the truck show there were a lot more visitors in the ski resort in the evening, and the next morning; it was difficult to find a parking space near the apartment after our Sunday hike.
On our last morning in Chamrousse we went for a short and easy run to the Plateau de l’Arselle, a peat bog that serves as a Nordic skiing station in the winter. In the summer one is not allowed to enter the bog because of its delicate ecosystem, so we ran on the trails around it.
And finally the trucks, first them arriving viewed from our apartment, and then the next morning when most of the drivers were still sleeping in their cabs. We did not count but there was supposed to be between 60 and 100 trucks depending on the reporting source.
