The building entrance is on the main Chamonix high street, but the flat itself is along the river, so it is calm and quiet inside. There is large balcony on the beautiful glacially fed Arve river with great views of Mont Blanc and the Aiguille du Midi. The balcony catches the morning and early afternoon sun. It sleeps 6 people.
We are open to considering a seasonal winter rental from after 1 January for a period of not less than 4 months. Contact us before August if you are interested for the following winter season.
Layout:
There is a master bedroom with a double bed, a family bunk room with 2 bunk beds (4 single beds) as well as a double pull out sofa in the living room. Each bedroom has plenty of room to walk around and ample storage in closets and wardrobes.
There are two WCs (separated from the bath facilities), one shower room (off of the master bedroom), and one bath tub/shower (off of the family bedroom).
The open plan living/dining room has a beautiful cast iron and glass working fireplace which helps to heat the apartment on cold winter nights.
The galley style kitchen features a tall fridge/freezer, oven and 4 burner vitro-ceramic stove top. There is no dishwasher and no microwave, as we prefered to give over space for storing food and dishes in the kitchen.
You will be only a 5 minute walk to the popular Aiguille du Midi lift (and the famous Vallée Blanche ski run) or about a 10 minute walk to the Brèvent lift station.
You are also a 250m walk to the Chamonix centre Bus stop which brings you quickly to all the Chamonix valley lift-served ski areas. You are also a short 5 minute walk to the nearest train station (Aiguille du Midi) or 10 minutes from the Chamonix centre train stop. The SNCF train and the local buses are free with presentation of your guest card (provided at check-in).
Unlike other apartments in Chamonix town center, the Residence Anna Bouclier is very quiet - it has metre-thick original stone walls and is in a small building with only 3 other apartments, set back from the street level on the river bank. You will not need to worry about getting good night's sleep before your ski, trail run, hike or climb.
The glacial river keeps the apartment cool in the summer, and the enclosed cast iron and glass fireplace helps keeps it toasty warm and inviting during colder weather. There are additional electric radiators in the apartment.
Skiing. Chamonix offers runs to challenge every level of skier from the beginner to the expert. It is best for skiers of a moderate ability and higher, though certainly there are several ski hills for beginners.
The closest ski lifts to the flat are the Brèvent, the Aiguille du Midi and the beginner lifts at the Planards and the Savoy. All are walking distance. The off piste high mountain runs off of the Aiguille du Midi do require hiring a mountain guide before attempting these routes.
We are also just a few doors down from several sports rental outlets to rent skis, bikes and other gear for your adventures.
The free Chamonix ski bus or the SNCF trains will take you quickly to the other ski areas of Chamonix, and the main bus stop is only a hundred metres from the flat, near the Office of Tourism.
Most of the ski areas are unconnected, except the Brévent-Flégère. Free buses run between all the areas, and each area is big enough that normally it is best to pick one and ski there for the entire day, rather than switching between them.
The local ski areas are:
Le Tour (Domaine de Balme) at the Swiss end of the valley - with plenty of great wide blue and red pistes and lovely rolling off piste terrain. The groomed runs are great for carving and if you are trained in avalanche awareness, the off-piste is heaven.
Le Brévent - on the sunny side of the valley. You can get a skiing warm up by walking 10 minutes from the apartment past the church and up the small hill to the bottom of this lift. There are several beginner and intermediate runs here and an air bag to practice your jumps as well as some challenging red and black runs and some mini couloirs. This area has a liason lift to the Flégère. In bad weather the trees in these two area make it easier to continue skiing the pistes. There is expert level off-piste on several steep faces at Le Brèvent.
La Flégère, on the sunny side of the valley - lots of rolling and steep off piste and easy couloirs to test your mettle along side a gentle green beginners area and many wide intermediate pistes. The Flégère can be accessed via the Brèvent ski area lifts or directly from its own parking, and so is also technically walking distance from the apartment if you use the liaison lifts. If you choose to descend the Flégère's black-run ski out run rather than return to the Brévent, a bus will zip you back to town centre in a few minutes.
Les Grands Montets - the crown jewels of many of Chamonix's off-piste challenges are found in this ski area. This ski station has intermediate runs and expert runs (this area has no true green runs so is not recommended for beginners or timid intermediates) and is generally steep. The blue runs at this area may be labelled red runs in other places ! The off-piste at the Grands Montets is what it is all about though, and many official runs are left un-groomed but avalanche controlled so that you can build your off piste abilities without worry. Bumps abound in times without frequent snowfall, and when there is fresh, the powder runs are outstanding. Respect closures.
The top station is closed for the 2019/2020 season due to a fire that destroyed the mid-station. If enjoy ski touring, you can still access the top station and all the Argentère basin glaciated itineraries (mountain guide strongly recommended).
Much of the off piste at Les Grands Montets is not avalanche controlled and therefore a mountain guide is highly recommended for anyone not fully trained and qualified in glacier travel and avalanche awareness and search and rescue techniques. In fact, you will be out of fashion on this ski hill if you do not carry (and know how to use) your avalanche transceiver, shovel and probe. Fat skis are will feel at home here.
Le Savoy - this is a lovely beginners area with a couple of drag lifts and some sledding hills. This is walking distance from the flat and starts at the bottom station of the Brèvent. Access from in back of the church.
Les Planards - this is another family beginner hill that is walking distance from the flat (near the Montenvers train station) with some very flat greens and one chair lift with blues and a red. It also has the alpine coaster that goes down from the top of the ski hill and is usually open year-round. You can also take a ski bus to the start of the lifts if the little ones do not want to walk across town.
