The village resort in the Chamonix valley [ LES HOUCHES]

Location -The hamlets - History of the village
The sustainable land development plan - Ski area
Agriculture and Les Houches - Les Houches from above
Les Houches town hall web site

LOCATION

The village resort of Les Houches is located in the Chamonix valley in the Haute Savoie, only 6km from Chamonix, the world capital of skiing and mountaineering. Les Houches lies in the heart of the Mont-Blanc region which is made up of 13 other resorts: Chamonix, Servoz, Vallorcine, Megève, St Gervais, Les Contamines, Praz-sur-Arly, Combloux, Cordon, Domancy, Passy, Sallanches... Situated at an altitude of 1000 metres and lying at the foot of Mont-Blanc (4807m), Les Houches offers an exceptional panorama of the peaks surrounding Chamonix.
The village is made up of a number of hamlets, with oratories, chapels, old bread ovens and farms bearing witness to its past and being the objects of particular attention today.

Surface area: 5000 hectares
Population: 2900 inhabitants (known as 'Houchards')
Altitude from 800m, the hamlet 'du lac' in Servoz and the Plaine St Jean, to the Dome du Gouter at 4304m.
The village of Les Houches is situated at an altitude of 1000m.

THE HAMLETS - THE HEART AND SOUL OF LES HOUCHES

Spread out over 5000 hectares, the village of Les Houches is comprised of numerous hamlets which give the resort its richness and contributes in conserving its quaint village aura in the Chamonix valley. Each of these hamlets presents a real cultural, sporting or tourism interest.

Download the street map of Les Houches and its hamlets: PDF format 450 Ko click here

1. The Lake and the Plaine Saint Jean
Visitors go here to discover the Gorges de la Diosaz, and end up staying longer for many other reasons: the chapel at the lake, the Saint-Michel castle ruins, the rock climbing and the famous St Bernard dog breeding kennels. It is also the point of departure for the hike up to Pierre Blanche.

2. Vaudagne
Making the short detour to this hamlet meansdiscovering a past rich in cultural heritage where chapels and old bread ovens give witness of bygone days. It is also the present day location of the husky kennels, the Compagnie des anes (donkeys) and Marial Bourlot's workshop, as well as the departure point for hikes to the alpine meadows of Charousse and Prarion. For the brave hearted Vaudagne marks the starting point of the annual bike race 'La Houch'hard'.

3. Les Chavants and Maisonneuve
Well known for their sporting links, these hamlets offer rock climbing, cross-country skiing, fishing, a children's park, beach volley, tennis, the 'Kid Aventure' tree tops obstacle course, and woodland walks to keep the mind and spirit in shape. The holiday day care centre and recreational centre are found here as well as a snow garden in the winter. Les Chavants and Maisonneuve are the departure points for the Prarion gondola ski lift and the Maisonneuve chair lift, with a landing area for paragliders in Les Chavants. From here starts the hike towards the Col de Voza.

4. Les Trabets and the village centre
As you would expect, all the main public services are found in the village centre: the town hall, the tourist office, the post office, the library, and many other attractions: the Olca village hall, the mountain museum, the boulodrome, theski jumping site, ice rink and skate park. The departure points of the Bellevue cable car and the coupedu monde' chair lift are found in Les Trabets as well as the finish area of the world cup ski slope la Verte. Climbing fanatics can enjoy the all year round indoor climbing arena Mont-Blanc Escalade. The famous Tour du Mont-Blanc on foot starts from here.

5. Coupeau
The great outdoors is something this hamlet lives and breaths for it harbours the Merlet animal park, the adventure park la forêt du Mont-Blanc and the Carlaveyron natural reserve. We also find cross-bow ranges and the gigantic statue of Christ, as well as the departure point of the hike towards the Aiguilles des Houches.

6. La Griaz, Saint Antoine, Les Granges and the bridge at Taconnaz
This group of hamlets with their calm and tranquil airs invites serious contemplation. Taking the footpath from the village, stop and admire the chapels and oratories, and finish your walk with a fishing session on the appropriately named lac de Clair Temps. The hike to the old part of Chavanne starts here.

THE HISTORY OF LES HOUCHES

Between 8500 and 5000 BC the territory of Les Houches -from the Celtic word Olca meaning arable lands - was the first to be released from the glaciers which still covered the upper part of the Arve valley in 1500 metres of ice.
In the Neolithic period (around 3000 BC) agro-pasters , the first temporary occupants in the area, sculpted cupules stones which were discovered at the end of the 19th century, on the Coupeau slopes.
Following these farmers, the pre-Celtic Ceutrons people intensified the seasonal use of the mountains. They were perhaps the first people to exploit the mountain meadows.
The Romans who ruled the Allobroges Celts in 122 BC, established themselves at Passy until the fifth century. They were not interested in the upper part of the Arve valley above Servoz.
During the following four centuries, the degradation of the climate provoked mass depopulation of the Chamonix valley.
At the end of the 11th century, the entire territory between Servoz and the Col de Balme was given to the abbey of St Michel of Cluses (in Piemont, Italy) by the Count of Geneva who was concretising an act of piety.
In the 12th century, a few Benedictine monks came to the valley and established the priory of Chamonix where they henceforth practised their spiritual and temporal callings.

This small religious community encouraged the local inhabitants to get the most out of these new cultivated lands which included the alpine meadows.
In 1355, the Chamonix priory, like all the Faucigny area, was integrated into the State of Savoie founder of the kingdom of Piemont-Sardaigne in 1718.
In 1519, the Canons of the religious order of Sallanches became the new lords of the upper Arve valley and remained so until the Savoie was returned to France during the period of the French revolution in 1792.
At the beginning of the 18th century the small community of Les Houches, made up exclusively of farmers, requested its separation from the parish of Chamonix, to whom it had been dependant upon since the creation of the priory.

Les Houches became an independent parish following the construction of its Baroque church around 1730, and then an established village with its own governing body in 1787.
At the same time, the first tourists arrived from Geneva, traversing Les Houches to visit the glaciers in Chamonix.
In 1786, two men from Chamonix (or 'Chamoniards') called Jacques Balmat and doctor M G Paccard succeeded in making the first ascent of Mont-Blanc.
After the period of the occupation during the revolution and the first empire (1792-1814), the Sardinian monarchy was restored until the definitive handing over of Savoie to France in 1860.
Life was difficult in Les Houches and many 'Houchards' moved to the big cities or even across the Atlantic. The growing development of tourism in Chamonix had not yet touched Les Houches in the middle of the 19th century.
Nor were they allowed to join the Compagnie des guides de Chamonix which was created in 1823.
Major developments decades later accelerated the mutation of rural society. The construction of the new road from Le Fayet to Chamonix (1860-70) and especially the train which arrived in 1901, favoured the development of summer tourism: Les Houches became a small holiday retreat. The first hotels and holiday homes began to appear. After the First World War this tendency grew.
The resort opened up to winter tourism with the construction of the Bellevue cable car in 1936-37. From the 1960s the intensification of tourism development provoked a construction boom including new lift systems and the upgrading of the leisure centre in Les Chavants. The digging of the Mont-Blanc tunnel (1959-65) and the construction of the Route Blanche motorway (1985-90), opened the village resort of Les Houches up to the rest of Europe.

Visit the mountain museum in Les Houches

Yves Borrel - President of the 'Les Houches dans l'temps' association

THE SUSTAINABLE LAND DEVELOPMENT PLAN

In 2004, the council elaborated its PADD which in effect has defined the development and urbanism policies for the next 10 years. The challenge was to define a development project which is compatible with preserving the natural surroundings, urban development and the necessity to maintain an economic tool in an increasingly competitive market.
The objectives of this PADD revolve around the following axes:
- the stabilisation of the demographic growth of the village to around 3100 inhabitants
- the preservation of the village identity
- the preference for permanent habitations by regulatory measures
- the response to the lack of social housing
- the mastering of urbanisation and protection of the natural zones
- the preservation of agricultural zones and the contribution to their economic viability
- the abandonment of flat out progression in favour of sustainable tourism
- the development of a public transport policy within the local communities
- the development of public footpaths
- the development of qualitative tourism instead of quantitative, aiming towards refurbishment rather than replacement of existing sites.

SKI AREA

The ski domain of Les Houches offers a large diversity of slopes through the forests, for all the snow disciplines, from beginners to world class skiers who meet on the famous 'Verte' piste for the men's Alpine World Cup downhill and slalom events.

Lift systems:
1 cable car
1 gondola lift
4 chair lifts
12 drag lifts
The Tramway du Mont-Blanc train

Slopes:
1 black (The 'Verte')
12 red
5 blue
4 green

Artificial snow machines :100 canons
Covering 900m of vertical drop

For full information on the ski domain : click here
The ski domain in Les Houches is run by two societies: the SEPP and the THP

The 'Verte' piste in Les Houches is green in name only, for this famous slope is in fact a black run of 3343 metres in length with 870 metres of declivity. The best skiers in the world race down the slope in just under two minutes. With its series of technical passages and jumps, including La Cassure and le Goulet, the Verte is one of the most beautiful downhill slopes in the world.
For over 60 years now, Les Houches had been welcoming international competitions. Each year the Verte hosts the Kandahar downhill and slalom events on the world cup circuit. Since 1988, Les Houches also hosts the telemark world cup.

AGRICULTURE AND LES HOUCHES

In the cadre of the elaboration of its Local Urbanism Plan (LUP), the community of Les Houches approached the Chamber of Agriculture in the Haute Savoie requesting an agricultural diagnostic. This report brings out the perpetuity of agricultural exploitations in the village.

Even though the village has lost two thirds of its farms over the last 20 years, it still counts 11 of which five have their registered offices in the community. Only five of these businesses were taken into account in the Chamber of Agriculture study.
Like numerous other mountain villages with a large tourist industry, the multiple professions of these farmers, whose average age is 40, is the norm rather than the exception: ski instructor or ski patrol staff, they almost all have another profession beside that of farmer.
These five businesses have breeding animals: 50 dairy cows, 44 heifers, 15 meat bovines, 310 sheep, 450 lambs and 10 donkeys. They are made up of two dairy herds, one tourism beef herd (Herens cattle), one sheep farm and one tourism donkey farm. Strict health and hygiene regulations put these farms under various constraints, such as the length of time that effluents can be stocked, or the distance at which muck spreading must be kept from housing. The breeders exploit a total of 940 hectares of which 450 are located within the village boundaries. Grazing is principally found in the alpine prairies which represents 84% of the agricultural lands or 790 hectares, of which 300 are in Les Houches and 490 are in Chamonix and St Gervais.

The two dairy farms produce 100 000 kg of milk, or 42% more than an average dairy sector. The milk production is delivered to the 'Cooperative du Mont-Blanc' and is used to produce Reblochon cheese, which implies the strict adherence to AOC Reblochon norms, notably the obligation to feed the herd mainly with forage from their local area. The pastures are therefore strategic for these dairy herds, for they allow the harvesting of forage for the winter and the grazing of the animals in the summer. The diminution of these lands for forage and pasture could entail the loss of the AOC appellation and lead to the economic menace of the herds concerned.
The outlook for the bovine and sheep herds is assured thanks to local shops and customers, as well as the Savoie Lamb Cooperative.
Two projects for new farms are under consideration, one dairy herd and a second beef herd to complete the agri-tourism.

The study showed that the farms are sustainable and recommends the disposition in the LUP for assistance, by maintaining a minimum of 150 ha for winter forage and summer pasture lands.
For the village, the challenges involved in maintaining or expanding the agriculture plan are numerous: the economic role, the maintenance of natural sites, the image and attraction of the resort, the tourist product in agri-tourism. In the cadre of it LUP, the community will have decisions to make in order to resolve the classic conflict between agriculture and urbanism. The LUP will no doubt have consequences on the autonomy of lands for forage and therefore on the economic viability of these operations, on the continuity of agricultural lands, on the possibility of the creation of new business operations or the taking over of existing farms by young farmers...
Numerous tourist resorts in the mountains tempt to put into place policies and means to help the revival of a form of agriculture that is quickly disappearing. Les Houches has this chance to keep its young and dynamic farmers. Beyond the future of each of these agricultural operations in the community, it is the very soul and traditions of the village at stake in the elaboration of local policies. The very name of the community comes from the Celtic word 'Olca', signifying arable lands.