Chamonix_2026

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Chamonix, France 2026

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The day was spectacular! The blue sky only had a few wispy clouds. The sun on the freshly snowed upon surrounding peaks were stunning in their contrast. As I waited for the train at the St. Niklaus station, I watched a local tram climbing up an invisible cable until it was so high up on the mountainside I could just barely make it out. It wasn't a tram for skiing, but for local access to a cummunity.

On the train ride down to VISP I was able to see during the daylight what I didn't see at night when riding to St. Niklaus. The dramatic gorge and steep sides of this valley makes one wonder why anyone in the past chose this as a route to Italy. Once at the VISP train station, I only had to wait about 15 minutes for a train toward Martigny. I enjoyed the the many vineyards and houses high on the steep valley sides along the route. There were snow covered peaks to take in and the Tourbillion Castle in Sion.

The Eurail app was showing the trains from Vernayaz to Chamonix as canceled except the trains later in the afternoon. Evelyn had said the pass on this route had been closed for days due to avalanche risk after a couple of big storms in the last week. I started to re-route myself through Geneva, but with the dangling carrots of trains still showing as scheduled starting mid afternoon, I decided to stick with the original plan.

The trains on the mainline to Geneva do not stop in the town of Vernayaz, Switzerland where the cog rail train leaves to head to Vallorcine, France. So I exited the train in Martigny and boarded a shuttle bus service. I was pleasant surprised to see a train waiting for us at Vernayaz which everyone on the bus boarded.

This cog train climbs an incredibly steep route up the side of a mountain the looks more like a cliff face. It made several stops included one where skiers exited the tiny train. The track continues along such a steep mountainside that if you have acrophobia this is not a ride for you. It clanks and squeeled as it slowly climbed and weaved it's way up the valley until stopping at Chartland Frontière, the last stop before the Swiss-French border. And here it remained. The transfer to a French train takes place at Vallorcine, France, the next stop less than 2 miles away. Charland Frontière is a tiny ghosttown at this time of year.

Needless to say there were plenty of conversations taking place between the handful of passengers and two train employees. The avalanche danger was deemed too high a week after the last major storm. Both the road and the train tracks were closed. There was the train in a valley north of VISP earlier in the week that had been derailed by an avalanche. A derailment in this valley, depending on the location, could send a train plunging hundreds of meters to the valley floor.

Evelyn offered an adventuresome proposal. If I could get a ride to Vallorcine I could ski into France and catch a bus or train there. Theoretically, that was very doable. I tried soliciting a ride, but the road closed beyond Vallorcine there was nobody going that way. This person standing there with me from South Carolina tried for an Uber with no luck (big surprise!). There was British family with a plane to catch in Geneva; they took the train back down we'd just come up. After comtemplating the situation further, I decided the sure bet was to head back to Martigny and travel through Geneva.

(Ned also suggested getting to Vallorcine, feigning an injury on the ski slope and requesting a helicopter to the Chamonix hospital. Yeah, Ned has a fun sense of humor!)

The fun part of all this was I got to sightsee that death defying cog rail ride back to Vernayaz! Once back at Martigny it was only a 20 minute wait for an express train to Geneva then a trainsfer to a train to Saint Gervais-Les-Bains where Evelyn graciously picked me up for a 20 minute ride in the car to their place in Les Houches. After checking in at my accommodations, we enjoyed a cheesy dinner at a place in main section of Chamonix.

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I spent the morning wandering about Chamonix before reconnecting with Evelyn. We did shopping together and she fixed a delcious meal at their place. I then caught the local bus back to my place.

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I was on my own today as Evelyn and Ned had an invite to ski the Valleé Blanche and then Evelyn's mom and stepdad were due to arrive in the afternoon. I chilled at the house and did a little more wandering about town.