Chamonix-Mont Blanc and Les Houches France January 2013

Chamonix’s formal name for the town is Chamonix-Mont Blanc. It is one of the oldest ski resorts in France and the site of the first winter Olympics in 1924. To this day there is some dispute between France and Italy as to whether the dividing line is over the top of the mountain or around the back side of the base of the mountain. Chamonix dates back to 1091 when land was given to the Benedictines to build a priory. No one really visited this area except a few religious officials to check up on the monks until the mid-18th century. Until that time only about 1800 people lived in the valley. The first successful ascent of Mont Blanc was in 1786 by Micheal-Gabriel Paceard and Jaques Balmat. Since then many more people have come through and the population has swelled to 9000 permanent residents due to tourism.

 Les Houches is a smaller town about 6 km away from Chamonix. Its ski area is used every year for the Men’s Downhill World Cup Ski Championships. The French National Ski Team uses these runs as their training grounds as well as the Ski Club of Great Britain. Currently Les Houches is a favorite ski area of many from Great Britian and Ireland. We stayed in a wonderful Bed and Breakfast “Hotel Slalom” which is run by a British ex-pat. She serves the best breakfast anywhere and really understands the subtleties’ of her guests. She says she keeps ketchup for Americans who want it with their eggs, has some baked bean for the Brits, knows that the French usually take croissants and confiture, and still politely asks the Spanish if they would like anything to eat, knowing full well that they usually only take coffee before noon. We were made to feel welcome, given some of the best advice for local dining and encouraged us to meet some of the local characters.

Serge Cachat-Rosset is a local who is an extreme skiing legend. Extreme skiing is defined as skiing that can only take place on a 50 degree slope and the opportunity to fall off the side of the mountain must be ever present. On the front of his ski shop are several black and white poster sized shots of him making the first descent down the face of Aiguille Verte on August 1, 1973. Wearing a sweater, ski knickers and a pair of sunglasses, he was dropped out of a helicopter and made the descent in five hours. He’s an unassuming man and he greets everyone who comes into his shop with a guess of your boot size. He was spot on with ours. He will also select your skis and point you to the right gear you need, and nothing else. His advice for me when I told him I was falling a bit was to ski near some trees and use the branches to pull up! I will take that under advisement. 

Les Houches has two other claims to fame; the first is for a famous physics summer school program “l’Ecole de Physique des Houches” which was started by Cecli DeWitt-Morette. Two dozen Nobel Prize winners have been either students or instructors at this summer school.

The second claim to fame for Les Houches is that it is the traditional starting and ending point for the Tour du Mont Blanc. This summer event is a seven plus day walk around the base of Mont Blanc covering areas of France, Italy and Switzerland. At 170 km long, it is considered to be one of the classic long distance walks in the world. More recently, the annual Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc is a mountain marathon which the participants cover the same ground usually in under 24 hours. The winning time is generally ~20 hours long. At that pace one would have a hard time enjoying the scenery or get a chance to have fondue!

Fondre is the French verb to melt. The original fondue is described in a cookbook published in Zurich in 1699 under the name “Kass mit Wein zu Kochen” meaning to cook cheese with wine and serve bread for dipping. That about describes it! Fondue is claimed by the Swiss, French and Italians in the region, but it has been the Swiss who have done the most to promote it as their national dish. The Swiss Cheese Union took up the cause in the 1930’s and continued by organizing kits to be sent to all military units so that they could always eat fondue. In 1950 a Swiss restaurateur, Konrad Egli introduced fondue bourguignonne (meat cooked in hot oil) at his Chalet Suisse restaurant in New York City. Konrad Egli did not stop there, in the mid-1960’s he invented chocolate fondue as part of a promotion for Toblerone chocolate.  

Cheese fondue is made by blending several grated cheeses, wine and seasonings. The emulsion is stabilized by adding a little bit of cornstarch. The temperature is held such that the cheese stays melted, but does not burn. If this is done correctly, at the bottom of the pot, there will remain a crispy layer called “la religieuse” the nun in French. This is lifted from the pot, broken into pieces and eaten. Certain etiquette applies when one eats fondue: if a man loses his bread into the pot, he buys a round of drinks for his table. If a woman loses her bread, then she has to kiss the person next to her. Of course there is no double dipping, and you are supposed to use your fondue fork only to dip the bread and bring it to your plate, not bring the dipped bread directly to your mouth. Your dinner fork should transfer the dipped bread to your mouth! Next time I will know!