Les Houches

Les Houches
The church and surrounding buildings in Les Houches The church and surrounding buildings in Les Houches
Coat of arms of Les Houches Coat of arms
Les Houches
Location within Rhône-Alpes region Les Houches
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Haute-Savoie
Arrondissement	Bonneville
Canton	Chamonix-Mont-Blanc
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Patrick Dole
Area1	43.07 km2 (16.63 sq mi)
Population (2006)2	3,100
• Density	72/km2 (190/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	74143 / 74310
Elevation	796–4,280 m (2,612–14,042 ft) (avg. 1,008 m or 3,307 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Les Houches is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.

Overview

It is a ski-resort, and is located 6 kilometres from Chamonix with a ski domain which extends from an altitude of 950 metres up to 1900 metres. The skiing combines long descents through tree-lined slopes, with impressive views of the Mont Blanc massif and the Chamonix valley. The village is twinned with the Russian villages of Sochi and Krasnaya-Polyana, which it has been chosen by the International Olympic Committee to assist organise the Winter Olympic Games in 2014. The pistes of Les Houches are regularly used for international events most notably the 'Kandahar' run is used annually for the Men's Downhill World Cup Ski Championships. Les Houches provides a training ground for the French National Ski Team and the Ski Club of Great Britain. The skiing area consists of 1 international black run, 12 red runs, 5 blue runs and 4 green runs, cross-country trails, and two snow parks. Extensive artificial snow coverage is provided by a new network of 67 snow canons covering 19 hectares. There are nursery slopes at Le Tourchet in the centre of the village itself, a Jardin du Neige for very young children skiers next to Lac de Chavants, and a new nursery area at the top of the Prarion lift.

There is a famous physics summer school here (l'École de Physique des Houches) that was started by Cécile DeWitt-Morette. It has been attended by two dozen Nobel prize laureates as teachers or students before they received their prize. Also, the Les Houches Accords were written here, which are important in high energy physics.

Les Houches is the start/finish of the popular Tour du Mont Blanc, A 7-10 day walk around the base of the Mont-Blanc Massif which takes in France, Italy and Switzerland.

Coupeau and La Flatière

Across Les Houches but part of the town, (across the river l’Arve) is a little village called "Coupeau." A windy road climbs high through the village and lead all the way up, 3 miles or so, to the foot of its own mount; l’aiguillette, at the foot of which another little village resides, called; "La Flatiere" well known across the valley for its panorama sites, and a little Christian hermitage. From there many path wander through the mountain. One scenic path leads to an old sheepfold, called Chailloux.

Coupeau has sun all year long, whereas Les Houches for the most part, stays in the shade in the winter. At the heart of the village of Coupeau, is an animal park called "Merlet", which draws many visitors each year. There you can see llamas, but also local types of deer and rams, plus marmots. Below the animal park, a statue of Christ 4 stories high, overlooks the valley, with its right arm outstretched, as if greeting newcomers entering the valley below.

Sister cities

• Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi, Russia

Famous People

• Professor Jean Delumeau, historian, stays frequently in Les Houches and practices mountaineering.
• Catherine Destivelle, mountaineer.
• Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Nobel Prize for Physics, came to study and teach at the Physics School of Les Houches (l'École de Physique des Houches).
• Christophe Profit, mountaineer.
• Marie Paradis (1778-1839), first female to climb Mont Blanc in July 1808.

Places and Moments

• Bellevue cable car entered service in 1936.
• Statue of Jesus Christ inaugurated 19 August 1934
• Mountain Museum (Musée Montagnard), in an 18th-century house on a theme of the traditional habitat

Gallery

• Draglift at Les Houches.jpg

  Draglift at Les Houches

• Bellevue chairlift from Kandahar.jpg

  Top of the Bellevue cablecar from the Kandahar

See also

• Communes of the Haute-Savoie department

References

• INSEE

External links

• Les Houches Tourism Office (English)(French)
• Official site of largest mountain infrastructure in the Chamonix valley - first hand lift & piste info, lift passes, avalanche risk, etc (English)(French)
• l'École de Physique des Houches (French)