Every french mountain resort has a run named after them, all the shops sell fluffy toy versions but I have never seen one and I don’t know anyone who has!

Are they made up to fool tourists like lots of little fluffy loch ness monsters?

I shot the last one this morning

So like unicorns, they are now extinct.

Seen loads of them in Slovenia. I think the are fairly shy tho so you won’t see them where tourist numbers are high.

Yes, I have see hundreds.

You won’t see them when you are skiing, as they are fast asleep!

there’s hundreds of the things in the Vanoise National Park. and they really do whistle, though not the tune the ones in the shops play

edit: obviously glenh has been there 🙂

my mates saw a beaver like creature under the lift in alp dhuez and were arguing about what it was

i was gutted as ive never seen one

I went walking up a mountain in Pila and saw plenty. I tried to get my picture taken with a few but they just **** off.

have seen loads in spain, french alps and over in Slovinia

They do and they are after your sarnies

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3jXa8IHqlg[/video]

There are loads – helps to see them if you are quite high up tho.

In some places where they are used to people feeding them (although this is generally discouraged), they are very friendly 🙂

edit: see trout’s link above

stupid marmot

I’m grudgingly coming to the realisation that they do exist, they just hate me.

i’ve seen ’em. big buggers. have your arm off up to the shoulder.

Tasty?
http://mongolia820.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

You won’t see them when you are skiing, as they are fast asleep!

I’ve been lucky enough to see one near the end of the season.

I noticed blood on the snow below when travelling up on a 4 man chair, then out of a hole (next to the blood) popped up the marmot. There were a pair of golden eagles circling above and we think they’d had a go at the marmot, which would explain the blood.

The ones I’ve seen have been quite shy, but they definitely exist

Silver Fox + Marmots by msh_sco, on Flickr

There was plenty around in the Cascade mountains the other week. The Fox was quite keen on them but had no luck.
Their whistling is quite impressive

there’s hundreds of the things in the Vanoise National Park. and they really do whistle, though not the tune the ones in the shops play

They seem to like hanging around behind the refuge de la Gliere. Very easy to spot up there and very accessible (even legal by bike).

i’ve seen ’em. big buggers. have your arm off up to the shoulder.

You must have seen the same one we saw in Austria – gave us a reet menacing look 😆

Seen loads and not too shy, they they do off if you go vaguely towards them but gladly hang around watching what’s going on and whistling.

p.s.

They seem to like hanging around behind the refuge de la Gliere

Yeah, the ones we saw were lurking around the refuge bins area – like a gang of grumpy teens.

i almost ran one over last year in the Zillertal alps.

lots of them about. more so on high alpine pastures where they whistle to each other.

Young ones are ok, esp in red wine, old ones taste like dirt!

and very accessible (even legal by bike)

a worrying turn of phrase

seen plenty in pyrenees – don’t they carry rabies? or is that a french equivalent of badgers and bovine TB

They’ve been driven close to extinction by Marmite farmers.

A friend was hiking in that neck of the woods and was struggling on hampered by a nasty stomach bug. Midway through an alfrasco expulsion, she realised that she’d been squatting on a Marmot burrow and looked down to see the extremely surprised occupant staring up at her wearing a “WTF dude?” expression.

Yes, marmots are supposed to carry rabies, which made my friend a tad nervous but I suppose the marmot had other things on his mind at this point.

… quite literally.

ebygomm – is that the left hand side of the Cirque du Gavernie by any chance? I was going to reply that I saw a lot of Marmottes while there a few years ago (hiking up to the Breche de Roland and through into Spain).

just to the left of the bouquetin.

the austrian marmottes are grumpy unless you give them chocolate.

the french ones seemed much more shy. i guess its cuz the french will eat anything…

Saw half a dozen or so in a day and a half in the Gran Paradiso National Park. Loads of Ibex too.

My son spotted some under the chair lift in La Plagne. We were chuffed cos the restaurant we went in every night had carved ones all over the place.
I didn’t manage to get the camera out in time though 🙁

Close but not quite, it’s somewhere around Circo de pineta

We hiked up from ordesa valley on the Spanish side towards breche de roland and saw loads there but didn’t manage to get a picture. The chamois weren’t shy though, this one tried to nick my lunch

Yep. Saw one and heard a couple yesterday on our T. M. B. trip.

seen plenty and heard alot more in France and Italy – only last week whilst doing the Maratona. Not rare at all.

seen loads in Verbier and heard far far more. they tend to live in the boulder fields and being the same colour as the rocks aren’t easy to see.

A friendly one we met on our walk up to the Ecrin Hut in The Ecrin Park, France 8) If you’re a Alpine climber/walker you meet them regularly, everywhere.

Seem loads as a kid in Austria but not for many years.