In reply to Alan James - Rockfax:
Lots of good memories from 3 summers spent there in the 70s
The Brits had two friends in Chamonix at the time - Snell (it was forbidden to "acquire" gear from there), and Maurice Simond, who owned the Bar National. Same rules:
One time, some australians (I think) were much pleased when they acquired a keg of beer. This was being consumed and (as I recall) PeteMinks enquired where it was from?
On finding out, he was much annoyed and arranged a whip-round. On repairing to the National that evening -
"I hear you may have lost a keg of beer?"
"Yes, it's terrible...."
"Well, we heard about that and raised some money.."
Pete hands over quite a lot of cash - probably enough to cover 2 kegs...
Maurice was very pleased.
Some years later, we were having a beer and some Steak frites on New Years.
"Au revoir, Maurice. Bonne année. Nous departons dans le matin"
"Oh, you must stay for a beer" , and Maurice hands over a round of gratis beers. I can still picture him sorting out change - he was very short sighted, but he could always sort out the money, getting rid of any accidental low value coins that were not related to the French currency in any way.
On another occasion, a group of us were standing around swapping stories and a couple of Spanish chaps wander up.
"You can camp here?"
"Yes, just put your tent in an open spot if you can find one"
"It is free?"
"Yes, but over there you may have to pay" pointing at the the Pierre d"oath campsite.
They seemed pleased.
"Are there thieves here?"
"No, of course not! We're British"
Gales of laughter
The Spanish lads disappeared. We never saw them again.
Wonderful place, but good grief, it was squalid. I used to go to some effort to find a "nice" place in the woods, but always, a few weeks later, little pink, blue and white flowers would appear, reducing the aesthetic appeal somewhat and I'd have to find another spot.
Rick Sylvester, of the James Bond parachute jump in Baffin Island fame once disappeared into the woods and emerged in a state of some excitement, dived into his tent and grabbed a camera and an ice axe (for scale) to properly document an amazing find... It was indeed an impressive log.