Our Multi-day Treks – Enjoy staying overnight on the mountain

Our Hybrid Treks give you a great chance to experience the adventure of overnight stays in mountain without missing out on the luxury and relaxation of our catered chalets in Samoëns.

Our multi-day mountain treks give you the chance to access even more remote beautiful spots in our local mountains around Samoëns, and the Giffre valley.

Off the beaten track

Heading off with a backpack for more than one day offers the perfect opportunity to explore deeper reaches of the mountains. Departing from the valley floor, our first day is spent walking up to our first overnight mountain hut, or refuge. Our climb takes us up towards the Alfred Wills refuge with the last kilometre or so through a spectacular boulder field.

The refuge found at 1,807m gave us the warmest welcome and, after a long and enjoyable day on the hill, some extremely hearty and delicious food. I enjoyed an incredible fondue after a delicious warming vegetable soup. Yum!

After an evening playing cards and reminiscing over the day’s activities, we all enjoyed a good night’s sleep before setting off after breakfast for the next stage in our mountain adventure. Looking back from the slopes above the refuge we were rewarded with views over the Fiz mountain range and the remote mountain huts nestled into the plain below.

After some high-level snow a few days earlier, there was still a scattering remaining as we climbed higher to the Lac d’Anterne. The dusting of white added to the already breathtaking views in this remote glacial valley.

With the remoteness comes an increased opportunity to spot some of our diverse mountain wildlife. At times we were almost totally surrounded by marmots going about their daily business and ibex (or bouquetin in French) who clung to impossibly steep rock faces.

Later in the day we also saw the elusive chamois and mountain foxes in addition to plenty of smaller and no less impressive alpine critters!

We had various options in order to reach our next mountain refuge and chose the more adventurous route there – the Breche de Derochoir. This climb took us through a remote boulder field to the foot of a 150m cliff equipped with ropes, cables and rungs. This route is certainly for those who love an adventure and with a bit of support from the group we even saw one of our lovely guests, a recent victor over her fear of heights, scamper up this steep terrain.

The climb was truly worth it as the clouds broke over the Mont Blanc Massif to show us the highest peak in Europe in her full glory! It was only our party on the ridge and we took a well earned rest after the climb to enjoy the unparalleled beauty of the most impressive alpine peaks.

We descended then to our next mountain hut, the Refuge de Sales, again welcomed warmly, well fed and entertained for the evening. After a second night in a shared dorm our band of mountain lovers set off on day three of our adventure that would ultimately take us back down to the village and the comfort of the luxury Samoens chalet. This wouldn’t happen without bagging a couple of peaks along the way though…

We climbed up from the refuge towards Flaine admiring the expanse of the limestone pavement rock formations (one of the largest in the world) before a brief climb up to the Tete de Pelouse for those in the group with the appetite for another summit. After time for a couple of team photos of the hard-core summiteers, our descent via the Lac de Gers to Samoëns started.

On arrival in Samoëns, the afternoon tea was waiting to be enjoyed (hurrah for tiffin cake!) whilst relaxing before a lovingly prepared three-course dinner.

And on Wednesday? A well earned rest day!

Do you want a mountain adventure?

If you are interested in one of our Hybrid treks, take a look here – Guided Treks in the French Alps. Why not sign up to our newsletter on the right? Our 2013 calendar will be announced shortly.

These Photos & More

You can see all of our photos on our Flickr photo page and this particular set of photos by clicking on the images below.

Until next time…