Tête de Prapator (Prapator head)

Start: From the car park at the southern exit of Le Lavancher.

(S/E) From the car park (altitude 1350m), go up the track and take the path to the right, signposted "Le Chapeau". You enter the forest and continue to follow "Le Chapeau". There are already some fine views of the Chamonix valley and, on the right, the Aiguilles Rouges massif. You continue through a beautiful spruce forest, with the 'Prapator' signposting taking shape.

(1) A little higher up, you leave the carriage path on the left and follow the path on the right (sign with stylized walker); you climb gently on a "staircase" path of rocky slabs. There's already a fine view of the Frêtes des Charmoz and the Aiguilles de Chamonix. You can make out the Montenvers train line on the right, on the slope of La Jorasse, the Rochers des Mottets and the Gorges de l'Arveyron (this is a very fine gash 100 to 200 m high carved into the Rocher des Mottets by the waters of the Mer de Glace.)
You can already see :
- the Aiguille du Dru on the ridge in the distance to the left (made up of two neighbouring summits, the highest point, the Grand Dru, and the Petit Dru.
- Mont Blanc (4810.45 m) with Dôme du Goûter and Aiguille du Goûter on the right, and Aiguille du Midi.
We continue through a rather chaotic forest lined with beautiful boulders. The birches and larches are beginning to make their presence felt; there are also juniper, rowan and raspberry shrubs. We pass a large boulder; a few cairns on its flat surface create a restful, almost Tibetan atmosphere. We climb a little further and after a pretty little torrent, the superb Chapeau waterfall (rock climbing cliffs) and a beautiful rocky setting, we reach the Chapeau refreshment area (1576m).

(2) Make a round trip to the "Point de vue sur la Mer de Glace". The trail leads through a rather wild environment to a promontory (1590m) with a breathtaking view.

(3) Return to the "Le Chapeau" fork.

(2) Follow "Prapator par sentier escarpé". The path twists upwards and becomes quite steep. As you gain height in the Combe du Torrent du Chapeau (Chapeau Chalet), you can admire the view over the valley and the aforementioned peaks at your leisure (probably the widest vantage point on this hike, especially from a small grassy ledge on the edge of the forest). The spruces give way to superb, bright-green larches. The slope becomes quite steep, as you pass a torrent and a concrete dam before climbing into the forest. This is followed by a short section with a ladder to climb, but without any difficulty. We cross a small combe before entering the forest again; here, the climb is quite steep. We descend a short distance along the rock face; the passage is equipped with handrails, but be careful: there's a small sheer drop to the left. A final climb (with some fine views of the Mer de Glace, the Aiguilles de Chamonix, the Aiguille du Midi and Mont Blanc) and we reach the foot of the Tête de Prapator, altitude 1844m, where we just pass by because there's nothing to see!

(4) Start the descent through a superb forest of larches, some of impressive size, spruces, ashes, with a superb bed of ferns, bilberries and soon, rhododendrons. Lovely views of the Aiguilles Rouges, with the Émosson dam and Pic de Tenneverge in the distance. Leave the forest for a moment to find a fork in the path and the Grand Balcon Nord trail. On your right, the Montagne de la Pendant.

(5) Turn left (Le Lavancher); the path descends gently at first, then becomes quite steep. For a while, you'll be on a track suitable for motorized vehicles, in a rather impressive forest that must not have been spared by the elements: uprooted trees, a mess of branches, scattered rocks, fairly dense vegetation in places - in short, on a foggy day, it must be quite an atmosphere! On the slope, a large number of stone retaining walls have been erected, some of which have become one with the scenery and are beginning to disappear under a beautiful moss. Continue downhill on the path (white markings on the trees) for about a kilometer.

(6) After a hairpin bend in the path, you join a dirt track on the left which winds through a much less dense forest. This section of the route is a bit strenuous, but it's the way to go! Follow the "Le Lavancher" signposts until you return to the outward route.

(1) Take the same route back down to the parking lot (S/E).

Start: From the car park at the southern exit of Le Lavancher.

Numerous possibilities from Chamonix, summer and winter alike.

(3) View of the Mer de Glace:
The Mer de Glace, with the front of the glacier and two small pro-glacial lakes that are only a few years old (they were formed following the retreat of the Mer de Glace and are being filled in by the collapse of the Mer de Glace's permanently collapsing right lateral moraine. The Mer de Glace covers an area of 40km2, is 7km long and up to 400m deep. Three glaciers unite to form the terminal tongue of the Mer de Glace: the Glacier de Leschaux, the Glacier du Tacul, which unites the Vallée Blanche and the Glacier du Géant, and the Glacier du Talèfre (http://glaciers-climat.fr/Mer_de_glace/L...). The retreat of the Mer de Glace glacier has accelerated in recent years, a concrete consequence of global warming.)
See: La Mer de glace..

Aiguille du Dru, famous among other things for its famous West face; a granite wall with a massive, triangular silhouette, 1000 metres high, with pure, slender lines, it is among the steepest in the Alps, and therefore one of the hardest technically, Catherine Destivelle: "Les Drus, une ascension diabolique". This is the mountain in René Frison-Roche's "Premier de cordée").

The Aiguille de l'M, the Grand Charmoz, the Aiguille du Grépon, de la Blaitière and du Plan (to name just a few of the peaks in the Aiguilles de Chamonix range); the Dent du Géant in the background, with the Grandes Jorasses on the left; the nearby Rochers des Mottets, with their superb granite walls.