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MER de GLACE
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Mer de Glace [224 Kb]
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I met Brigitte at the statue of Balmat and Saussure in Chamonix as agreed upon
the day before. After a few minutes spent looking over her maps, we settled on
an easy walk along the mountainside southeast of town. We moved our cars
to more appropriate parking, purchased our tickets and boarded the Aiguille
du Midi cable lift for a ride up the mountain.
The Aiguille du Midi cable lift runs all the way from the 1033 meter valley
floor to the 3842 meter summit of Aiguille du Midi. There is another lift
which approaches this summit from the Italian side as well. Our plan, however,
was to hike from Plan de l'Aiguille to Le Montenvers, so we disembarked
at the 2310 meter Plan de l'Aiguille lift station and got underway.
We did this walk on 25 June 2003.
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Alpenrose [222 Kb]
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The walk contours along the mountainside through some very attractive alpine scenery.
Meadows of alpenrose, currently in bloom when we visited, are interspersed among
the rock scree.
Some of the mountains in view are Les Aiguilles Rouges, directly across
the valley, and of course the 4807 meter Mont Blanc, highest summit in the Alps.
Chamonix is visible on the valley floor 1300 meters below.
We enjoyed an hour long lunch sitting atop a house-sized boulder about 100 meters
above the trail. The air was a bit hazy this day, but I could just barely make out
Lac d'Emosson
17 kilometers to the south where I had been hiking three days earlier.
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Aiguille Verte [339 Kb]
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Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) came into view as we approached Le Montenvers.
This glacier takes its source from the east slopes of Mont Blanc, and
winds its way down to within two kilometers of the valley floor near Chamonix.
To the east of the Mer de Glace is the
4122 meter Aiguille Verte, very impressive with its angular shape.
We descended the last kilometer down to Le Montenvers, 1909 meters, where
we purchased tickets and caught the train back down to Chamonix.
Before driving back to Geneva, we visited the Micro-Brasserie de Chamonix
for some liquid refreshments.
Other stuff:
Other pictures
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