Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (French pronunciation: [ʃamɔni mɔ̃ blɑ̃]; Arpitan: Chamôni-Mont-Blanc), more commonly known simply as Chamonix (Chamôni),[a][b] is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France.

Chamonix is situated in the French Alps just north of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe.

Via the cable car lift to the Aiguille du Midi it is possible to access the off-piste (backcountry) ski run of the Vallée Blanche (White Valley).

[6] The valley was first mentioned in 1091, when it was granted by the Count of the Genevois to the great Benedictine house of St. Michel de la Cluse, near Turin, which by the early 13th century had established a priory there.

The growth of tourism in the early 19th century led to the formation of the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix in 1821, to regulate access to the mountain slopes (which were communally or co-operatively owned), and this association held a monopoly of guiding from the town until it was broken by French government action in 1892; thereafter guides were required to hold a diploma issued by a commission dominated by civil servants and members of the French Alpine Club rather than local residents.

[citation needed] However, following the loss of its monopoly, the Compagnie reformed as an association of local guides, and retained an important role in local society; it provided the services of a friendly society to its members, and in the 20th century many of them were noted mountaineers and popularisers of mountain tourism, notably the novelist Roger Frison-Roche, the first member of the Compagnie not to be born in Chamonix.

Serving as the host city for the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924 further raised Chamonix's profile as an international tourist destination.

[8] By the 1960s, agriculture had been reduced to a marginal activity, while the number of tourist beds available rose to around 60,000 by the end of the 20th century, with about 5 million visitors a year.

Chamonix is a winter sports resort town that still attracts skiers ready to test themselves both on the pistes in the official area and against the challenges of the backcountry skiing.

[17] In addition to the 1924 Winter Olympic Games, the town hosts a round of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup and the Arlberg-Kandahar.

The line from Saint Gervais (on the standard-gauge rail network) to Chamonix opened in 1901; it was extended to Vallorcine in 1908.

[23] Chamonix has one of the highest cable cars in the world, which links the town to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi at 3842 m.[24] It is based on an older system built in 1920, rebuilt in the first half of the 1950s over five summer seasons,[25] fully modernized in 1979, and upgraded again in 2008.

The Plan Joran chairlift at the base of Les Grands Montets is due to be replaced by a 10-person gondola for the Winter 2014/15 season.