It was time to re-attempt the Parmelan, known to some as the Parmaham, others as the Parmesan. Here was the flyer :-
Dear GinHikers,
For this upcoming Thursday 17 July I am proposing to visit David’s old favourite, not the hard cheese normally grated, but – The Parmelan. The weather forecast looks to be dry.
Le Parmelan
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Altitude: 1,832 m
- Ascent: 2 hours 00 min via the Grand Montoir
- Descent: 2 hours 00 min via the Petit Montoir
- Elevation Gain: 750 meters
- Round-trip: 9.0 km
- Map: IGN 3430 OT
- For viewers :- Richard found this YouTube video showing the itinerary:-
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlvRxdUu9Hg
Parmelan is one of the must-sees of Haute-Savoie. Visible from the surroundings of Annecy, its imposing cliffs dominate and make it a panoramic viewpoint that will amaze any hiker. The ascent by the Grand Montoir is delicate, with passages exposed to heights on a narrow and steep path. Although entirely secured by chains and ramps, the passage can scare people with a fear of heights; I thus advise the use of a rope.
The route I propose describes a loop which starts at the Bois Brûlé parking lot and descends smoothly through the Petit Montoir. The plateau of Parmelan is very sculpted by erosion as chasms and fissures form the lapiaz.
Starting Point: 45.952219, 6.222312
Ascent
On the right of the parking lot, the path gets into the forest and becomes quite steep very quickly. Follow the direction of Chalet Chappuis reached in 20 minutes and already offering a beautiful view of Lake Annecy and Dents de Lanfon. Turn left to reach the junction with the road coming from La Blonnière, and continue again to the left. After a good walk, the trail gives the right to admire Parmelan’s cliffs and runs down to the bifurcation of the Petit Montoir where you take a right towards the Grand Montoir. By entering the Grand Montoir, vigilance is in order: the pathway, although secure, is still difficult.
Indeed the weather was set fair with early clouds forecast to disperse leaving a clear and sparkling day.
Richard had some fore-knowldege of a buvette on the top, which might have attracted more punters, but after receiving many apologies and excuses, some tendentious, some robust, five of us and a dog turned up at the Divonne parking at 9.10am, with Richard joining us later at the start. At the last minute MikeH pulled out for medical check reasons.
Attending : Mervyn, Nathan, Ralph, Steven (Ralph’s brother – a photographer from Blighty and who has been on previous hikes (Incl Le Salève)), me and Kobie with Richard meeting at the Parmelan parking.
As we approach the mountain a herd of cows gave an opportunity to take this shot from the car:-
As we drove up the zig zag mountain road, cars in front and behind foretold that there would already be a number there and indeed it was a pretty crammed parking lot (at 1167m) as we arrived, but there was room for us all. Clearly the Parmelan was going to be busy today, but I saw this as a good sign in that here is a hike really well worth doing.
Richard arrived shortly after us and we assembled for the task ahead, 700m of up, steady at first but getting steeper and a little tricky in the Grand Montoir. The weather was perfect and the team were in high spirits, including Kobie who was pleased to be back in the peloton.
At Chalet Chappuis the views are expansive and give only a hint of what is to come. We continued steadily up stopping for a drink at the 1500m level before the path bifurcates, Grand Montoir to the right, Petit Montoir (and our descent route) to the left.
There are notices here that the paths are dangerous in winter when the gulleys are snowed up, as when twenty five years ago or more I recall they were badly verglassed and Jill and I retreated.
And so to the crux section of the Grand Montoir and I fixed Kobie on his leash. There were a number of parties ahead of us, but all moved steadily up in good humour.
The path steepened and some exposure began to be felt. A stout wire was available for pulling on or just for balance.
We zig zagged up the steep trail, passing some, allowing others past us.
We all regrouped after the main section and took the final steep section at leisure – well almost. Soon at the col, Kobie looked for shade while we regrouped again.
A notice stated that dogs should be on a lead as the chickens thereabouts are aggressive, so I retained him on the leash. The team all looked in good shape and I think had enjoyed the mild excitement of the steep path cut in rock. So we tootled up the remaining 80m to the hut at the top – the Chalet Hôtel C.Dunant, next to the Croix de Blondet.
There were quite a number of folk at the top, enjoying the fine views. As Richard had predicted the restaurant/bar was open and we went inside to escape the sun. Ralph ordered large beers for us all which were cool and refreshing.
Suitably refreshed we set off to conquer the actual summit of the Parmelan, not far off.
It was time for lunch and we found some suitable rocks close to some shade for Kobie. Some red wine was shared and we did toast absent friends. They were missing a real classic. Kobie benefitted from Richard’s suasage and apple.
We all agreed that the fluid from Richard’s bottle was indeed excellent. Sirin Lingonberry liqueur from Finland.
Well refreshed and in a merry mood we upped sticks and set off back down to the col. An alternative but longer route traverses the lapiaz, but this was not needed today.
We had some astounding views over to the big hills, with Pointe Perćee not too far off. It was warm and Kobie, having escaped from the aggressive chickens, took time to shelter from the sun.
We stopped as Steven expressed signs of cramp, and he took on some mag tablets. This would not have been of interest for this record but for what happened shortly afterwards. We set off back down the trail towards the Petit Montoir and within 5 minutes or so at the front I heard news from the back that Steven had turned back; he had left his camera on a rock when we had stopped. Very shortly after a young lady appeared holding Steven’s camera. We thanked her profusely. (Richard believed she had looked at the photos in the camera and recognised us from crossing us in her ascent).
All that was needed was to recover Steven. We called him by phone and he was soon reunited with his beloved camera, relieved if not over the moon.
The trail descends gradually and then traverses back under the cliffs to the junction with the path up the the Grand Montoir. It was here that the kind lady gave Kobie some water from her pouch. We moseyed on down to the Chappuis Chalet where chickens were wandering among the hikers.
On the final trail Kobie took an early bath.
We were soon back at the car and rehydrating. It had been a warm hike, getting hot finally.
We said farewell to Richard and all the other fellow hikers we had been meeting on the trail, before driving back to Divonne (1 hour, no trouble) and then over to Mervyn’s for some cool beer in the garden.
A super hike in great weather, fantastic views and great comapny. I had 701 m (not 750m ?) and 11.5km (not 9km ?). My monitor also showed I had got my heart into level 5 (145 bpm and over) for 30 seconds. This rarely happens on hikes…. And Kobie slept well that night. Thanks for the fun everyone.
