Lac Blanc from La Flégère

Lac Blanc is a pair of small lakes at 2,352m in the Aiguilles Rouges, the range on the north side of the Chamonix valley, looking across the valley to the Mont Blanc chain. It lies inside the Réserve naturelle nationale des Aiguilles Rouges, created in 1974 and reclassified by a decree of 27 January 2010. The refuge beside it is the second: the first, built at the water’s edge, was carried away by an avalanche in 1986, and its replacement stands a little apart, under a rock buttress, French Wikipedia records.

The usual way up starts at the top of the Flégère gondola, which the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc runs from Les Praz, between Chamonix and Argentière; the tourist office reckons the lift saves 800m of uninteresting ascent. From the top station the path drops into the Combe de la Chavanne, climbs past the chalets and lake of La Flégère at 2,027m, and runs under the Tête du Aubuy to join the path up from Argentière. That path starts at Tré-le-Champ, above Argentière, and climbs a series of fixed ladders on the rock walls near the Aiguillette d’Argentière; Randos-MontBlanc calls them secure but warns they can be insurmountable for anyone afraid of heights, and gives 8km and 990m of ascent for the round trip.

From La Flégère the tourist office gives 7km, 500m of ascent and about three hours there and back, and grades it difficult for its gradient. Two rules follow from the reserve. Swimming is prohibited in Lac Blanc and the Lacs des Chéserys. Dogs are banned outright: the decree forbids domestic animals, with exceptions only for guide, working and rescue dogs, and the reserve’s managers put it plainly, even on a lead.

It suits a walker with a lift ticket and half a day who wants Mont Blanc seen from water; the way in on foot from Tré-le-Champ is longer, and climbs ladders. It is not a walk for a dog owner, since no dog may set foot on it; the Chalet de la Floria, where the regional tourist board accepts dogs on a lead, faces the Aiguilles from 1,337m, and the Brévent lift takes a dog on a lead up to the same view from 2,525m.