Hike to my favourite viewpoint via le Pendant

Living in Argentière means we’re a little bit protected from the hordes of tourists that Chamonix gets during high season. That was extremely noticeable today on our hike that included a small part of a popular hike, the hike from Chamonix to the Buvette du Chapeau (even more so since it’s Sunday and they have brunch on the weekends).

But most of the hike was much less busy. We started in Argentiere along the Petit Balcon Nord, and took the zig-zag trail that starts just above the camping ground in Chosalet. Around 1700m of elevation, there’s a turn-off to the right, to the Alpage de Pendant, which we took, passed the alpage, and continued on to the Tête des Prapators. A little past that, we got to one of my favourite view points in the entire valley: you have the Mer de Glace in front of you, if you turn to the right, you have most of the Mont Blanc chain (without the big guy himself), and if you turn further, you get the Aiguilles Rouges. If you look down, you see the Dalles du Chapeau and those of the Mottets. It is such a glorious view, and someone helpfully put a bench there! Though I prefer sitting a few meters in front of the bench on the ground for an even better view.

After a lunch break there, we headed down towards the Buvette du Chapeau (I slipped in the mud on the way which I could mostly wash off at the Buvette), continued to Le Lavancher, and timed it perfectly to get to the bus stop about two minutes before the bus did.

All in all, a beautiful half-day hike (we started very late, around 10:30, and were in the bakery in Argentiere before 3pm.

Amount of trash collected: more than I expected on such an empty route.