Chamonix Saturday

We woke up to a very cloudy day, but with a bit of hopeful sun. The views from our back door were pretty good, a lot of cloud still, but looking hopeful for a clear, sunny day later (we hoped for the time we were booked to go).

We were advised yesterday, by tourist info, to get to the ticket window for the Aiguille du Midi cable car by 9am, so that we could buy our ticket and get a boarding time. There have been 3 days of bad weather here and there is still a backlog of many people who still want to go up to the Aiguille du Midi. We took her advice and were given a boarding time of 10:45. Gave us time to have a walk through the village and have a coffee. There were a lot of people around, but not a lot of tourist kitsch. Chamonix is an attractive village, at least the centre where we are.

It is impossible to describe our feelings and thoughts when we got to the top. It was clear, blue (and white) and spectacularly beautiful. Altitude is 3864 m and oxygen level 65%, we did feel a little wobbly at times, but certainly did better than some. We were so lucky with the weather, especially as the last few days were wet and very cloudy, with poor visibility. The cable car travels at 12 – 13 metres per second and it came as a surprise when a gondola passed us and when we went over the pulleys of the supporting towers. Once we got to the top of the cable car, there was a lift that took us up the needle. Words can’t describe the views, so here are just a few of the many photos we took.

Once we were at the bottom again, we went to the rack and pinion railway to ride the 20 minutes to the Mer de Glace. It is a glacier that is, sadly, receding very quickly. Once we got off the train, there was another cable car to take us down into the valley closer to the glacier. From there, there were over 400 steps to reach the glacier. The steps and boardwalk were covered with people, looking, from the top or bottom, like a very long ant trail. The initial view of the glacier was underwhelming, but then we realised that it was covered with rocks and soil. Once down at the bottom and into the artificial “tourist” entrance to the inside of the glacier, it was amazing. There was very effective limited artificial lighting for showing off the colour and transparency of the ice. Then the 400 plus steps up to the cable car. Bit weary.

Eventually got back “home” after one of the busiest, most spectacular days we’ve had and settled down to finish the bottle of Floc from Joan & John, along with pre dinner nibbles. Legs feeling a little tired. Pity we have to leave Chamonix tomorrow, but the Matterhorn awaits. Hope the weather is something like today’s.