Chamonix, Mont Blanc - Day Two

June 15, 2012

Today was an early morning.  We heard that you should get up to the top of Aiguille Du Midi, the mountain next to Mont Blanc, early before the clouds roll in and obscure Mont Blanc.  So, we set the alarm, had a quick breakfast and headed over to the "telepherique", which is French for gondola (the ski lift kind, not the Venice kind).  It wasn’t very crowded, which was nice.  There were a lot of skiers and mountain climbers on the lift.  This is the view on the way up the Plan De L'Aiguille telepherique.  Lovely Chamonix sits in the valley…

Jason was scared to death.  He kept his face in my stomach the entire way to the top.  He just wanted to get on solid ground the entire ride up.

Not a bad view from the lift…

The first lift takes you to the midpoint.  But we didn’t want to stop there first, so we went on the next lift to the very top.  And this is where we ended up, at 12,605 feet… 

Once we reached the peak, the views were astounding.  Take a look at the mountain climbers…

It was really cold up there, which was so different because it was very warm down in the valley.  I think it was over 80 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday.  It is a good thing we had our down jackets, hats and gloves with us!

Jason was still not really happy about being up so high.  He didn’t even want to come outside.

But I mean, look at this picture.  It takes my breath away (which is a little easier to do, admittedly, at 12,605 feet).  I took it with an old camera.  I think it looks like a postcard J

Jason finally started relaxing and enjoying the views, so we quickly grabbed a family picture…

I like the fact that this picture has people on a viewing platform just so you can see the sheer size of the rocks…

This is the tunnel leading out to where all of the mountain climbers began their trek…

Another quick family pic, maybe a Christmas email (as we don't seem to get Christmas cards sent)???

David’s facebook picture, flying high in the Alps…

The kids were having fun in the snow tunnel, as well as playing in all the snow in the middle of June.

My facebook picture in the Alps???  I think it looks fake, like I am standing in front of a green screen and they put a picture of the Alps behind me...

I love this picture I took of David.  It is amazing how blue the sky is.

Jason was very proud of the “tusk” of ice he found…

And he threatened to throw this giant pile of snow at me…

While the kids were having fun in the snow, David and I were busy watching the mountain climbers.

It started snowing, and I looked up and the wind was blowing snow around and it looked so beautiful, I wondered if this is what heaven feels like…

This is where all the mountain climbers left from.  They were all roped together and had two inch  spiked soles to their ice boots.  It was really interesting to watch, and as you can see, they are very focused and don't even notice David and the kids.

We got really cold out there.  My hands froze even though I had on gloves.  Luckily there was a place to go inside and get some much needed hot chocolate.  It gave us time to warm up again and get the blood back into our fingers.

After a wonderful  time at the top, we went back to the Plan De L'Aiguille, all the way down at 7,572 feet, and did a little hiking around.

This is the gondola that takes you up to the half-way point.

This is the view across the valley.  David is the tiny dot in his orange jacket on the left side of the picture.

This is also where many of the paragliders set off.  We watched them set up and then take off over the valley.

Then it was back down into Chamonix where we grabbed lunch.

We walked to the Montenvers "cogwheel" train which we took to the Mer de Glace glacier.  The train ride was spectacular.

The glacier is the longest in France, at 8 kilometers, and shrinking for now, although global warming will likely make this particular glacier much longer (yes, it is supposed to get longer, go figure)

The views were great here too…

Then it was back to Chamonix for dinner and a stroll through the valley.

The kids found a playground and Jason mastered this interesting piece of equipment.  The thing spun as you walked on it.  The trick was to try to walk around the entire thing.  The only problem is that the higher you walked, the faster it went.  It took him some time, but he finally managed it.

What a great way to end the day with the kids all tuckered out.  So it was off to bed for all four of us.

~Mary