Chamonix camping 60s/70s

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 Wink 26 Jan 2022

I am currently writing Smiler's biography and have got to the bit, where if I recall it correctly, the exodus from The Bealay/Belay campsite in Cham was initiated by Pierre Mazeaud, Mayor of Cham in 1969. Posters were nailed to trees telling us to leave or be arrested. Snell hearing of our plight offered his woods in Argentiere. I recall we quickly took up his offer, but some stayed on and were cleared out by the machine-gunned military. Anyone with long enough memories to correct or confirm? 

 Doug 26 Jan 2022
In reply to Wink:

1969 was before my first visit in 1976 but there's been several threads discussing both Snell's & the Biolay (think thats thecorrect spelling) which might be of interest, eg

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/expedition+alpine/snells_field_chamonix_-...

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/expedition+alpine/down_memory_lane_to_sne...?

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/expedition+alpine/when_did_the_biolay_shu...

Post edited at 13:25
 pdone 26 Jan 2022
In reply to Wink:

I camped in the Biolay woods after 1969, probably in 1970, and we were not arrested nor do I recall any posters on the trees.  Perhaps we were unobservant and lucky not to be arrested.

OP Wink 26 Jan 2022
In reply to Doug:

Thanks, Doug, I've had a quick scan of those, I never knew that people went back to the Biolay. And I have remembered it was Maurice Hertzog that was Mayor at the time!

The rest is mostly true, except about the Burgess twins and Cliff Philips! I created my individual polythene palace for an extended stay in 1969, much visited by all and sundry!

 Pedro50 26 Jan 2022
In reply to Wink:

We stayed on the Biolay in summer 1973 and again in 1979.

A thriving community, many big names. Putting gaz canisters on the fire, climbing trees with ice-climbing gear etc. 

Regulars used to hide stuff up trees like cooking pots ready for next year.

Only visited Snell's field for social reasons and bouldering.

 jcw 26 Jan 2022
In reply to Wink:

I am glad to see that you knew Smiler who was a great bloke and deserves a serious biography.  But your posting is so full of errors that I suggest you make a bit more effort to find out facts before proceeding further. He deserves better than that.

2
 Groundhog 28 Jan 2022
In reply to Wink:

We camped on the Biolet in 1969, 70, 72, 73 and 75. Don't recall any posters. In 76 I camped on Snells and was arrested! Let go with a warning not to return. Then in 77 we camped on the Biolet and was arrested again! I Didn't return till 85 when we camped not on but near the biolet with no trouble. Since then I moved up and always stayed in refuges or pucker campsites  

We always had a camp rule not to shit in the woods or do any shoplifting. Sadly other Brit climbers did not comply with this.

 wilkesley 28 Jan 2022
In reply to Groundhog:

I stayed in Snnells a few times in the 1980's. I remember there was a very short interval when drink/wine bottles had a deposit, which was refunded when you returned them to the shop. The entry to the area where the supermarket kept the returned bottles were left open. The supermarket suddenly had a huge increase of returned bottles before the supermarket worked out that they needed to lock their gates.

A friend of mine was a barrister in London responsible for prosecuting drug dealers. When he came to visit me at Snells somebody tried to sell him some hash.

 uphillnow 01 Feb 2022
In reply to Wink:

Not much help I can give except for brief memories of the Biolay campsite in 1964. I stayed there  having hitched to Cham. I think someone in the bar National on the day we arrived told us it was possible to camp there. It was very close to the (then) edge of the town and was quite small and surrounded by scrub and trees. There were no toilets and I think no access for vehicles but it was free. Care had to be exercised when walking in and out because of the amount of crap in the wooded area. I cant remember who else was camping there whilst we were there but do remember some other brits who were in Chamonix that summer - Ginger Warburton and Rosco and B Nally and J Jarvis. I was never cleared off this site but was off others

I continued to camp in the valley through the 60's and later but cant remember the sites used in each of these years. Certainly I used Snells field and camped wild in the woods near Argentere and other free pitches. I did experience being cleared off a pitch by the police, but that was in the 70's,  and was from a roadside pitch near a golf course. I was away climbing but my wife who was with our two children had a visit and had her passport taken. When I got back the next day we had to go to the police station to recover the passport and were left in no doubt what would happen if we didnt remove our tent and indeed if we were found wild camping again. Looking at slides I have and the age of my children this would have been perhaps 1974 or 75.

I don't remember brits using the Biolay site for long after 1964 but I may be wrong here. I thought the site disappeared in the development of the town - which grew considerably as it expanded.

Dave

 Jim Lancs 01 Feb 2022

I remember the summer of 1976 as being one year the Police cleared Snell's Field in an early morning raid.

The same year there was a fairly large group of hard climbing Americans staying there. They could do some amazing problems on the boulders, used chalk, said 'dude' a lot, whilst their girlfriends sat cross legged on the grass nearby and accompanied them on flutes.

If they'd arrived from Mars in spaceships, they couldn't have appeared more alien.

 jcw 01 Feb 2022
In reply to Wink:

Out of more general interest the history of Snell Sports is interesting. I can't  make the link but google Snell Sports and click on notre histoire. As I remember it Donald's father ended up incapable of speaking either American or French properly communicating in a sort of charabia. 

 Rob Exile Ward 04 Feb 2022
In reply to Wink:

I'm pretty sure I camped in the Biolay in '78 - I can remember Dave Cheesemond coming down the track from Montenvers, totally wasted from some horrorshow in the Aiguilles. So I 'm pretty sure it had been reopened.


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