Chamonix displays and presents all the different rock formations in the Alps This exceptional location alone has a remarkable distribution of forest, alpine meadow, rock and ice. The Chamonix valley, approximately 20 km in length, is situated between the 'Aiguilles Rouges' (Red Needles) range to the north where the summits do not exceed 3000 m, and the Mont-Blanc range to the south, culminating with Europe's highest peak at 4810 m, playing host to numerous glaciers. This extremely uneven and mountainous terrain is the valley's trump card allowing the development of tourism. The valley also has a huge variety of wildlife (chamois, mountain goat, stag and roe deer, royal eagles, black partridge, alpine grouse and jackdaws) and botany (green alder, rowan, alpine willow, pine, fir, rhododendron and juniper..). The 'Aiguilles Rouges' Natural Reserv The Reserve embraces the boundaries of Chamonix and Vallorcine with a superficial coverage of 3 278 hectares. Created on 23rd August 1974, it is constituted of a fresh, unblemished mountainous domain facing Mont-Blanc, made-up of forests, alpine meadows, rock faces and glaciers. The Chamonix valley is currently seeing its cloven hoof population expand (chamois, mountain goats, stag and roe deer). Thanks to the varied typography, the aspect, the altitude and the vegetation, Chamonix's forests make a favourable geographical location for the wild flora : huge open pastures, bilberry fields, divers foliage…On top of that the valley is rich in bird species, including the big bird species such as the royal eagle, black grouse, common grouse and jackdaw. Forest species and those species who live on the alpine pastures such as the water pipit, the weatear, the snow finch and the rock partridge also abound. The 'Col de Balme' is situated on well known migration paths and 144 bird species have been noted on this site. Principal River Arve Principal Lake The 'lac des Gaillands' Landscape Viewed from above, the valley appears to be a long corridor separating two vertical geological walls, so close together yet so contrastingly opposed. An extraordinary valley due to the vertiginous nature of its surrounds with the movement of the Mont-Blanc range towards the 'Aiguilles Rouges' range opposite, a movement of about 1.5 mm a year, and also due to the 3 800 m difference in height between the valley floor and the Alpine range culminating at the 'roof of Europe' at 4 810 m. An extraordinary valley with its swings in climate which in winter can resemble sub-polar conditions to the benefit of the glaciers, the sparkling wonders of the valley. These incredible glaciers famous for their sheer length, like the 'Mer de Glace' or for their dizzying slopes and spectacular ice-falls like those of the 'glacier des Bossons' stretching down from the summit of Mont-Blanc to the valley floor itself. An extraordinary valley housing a vertical life chain with man in the lowest parts of its valley, to the flora and faune in its upper reaches. From the forests developed on the mountain slopes to the sub-alpine 2 000 m limit depending on the aspect, with the rhododendrons and the highest alpine meadows, to the higher inhospitable altitudes where only plants and numerous forms of lichen adapted to the wind and cold can survive by gripping to the rock face. An extraordinary valley which has fashioned the character of its inhabitants. This series of values, peculiar to the Chamonix valley, is linked to the knowledge of earth sciences, of which this group of conditions arranges each class of life, from the elementary to Man himself.