August 20

 August 20 - Les Hoches

Oh - if only I could sleep like that every night!  Close to 12 hours, and even then I would have slept longer if Lise had not tapped me on the shoulder to let me know it was probably time to rise and shine.  I felt great all day, but early to bed again tonight.  I'm glad we're taking a few days to acclimatize.

By the time we got bus passes sorted and over to the bus stop it was about 11am.  About a 20-minute ride to Chamonix.  Didn't do much today other than walk the main street(s).  The promised rain didn't amount to much (until after 5), but the clouds were pretty low on the mountains and it was a good day to not be riding a cablecar up the mountains looking for views.  Lise bought a few small necessities for the hike but we'll leave most of our shopping until after we're done the hike (mostly due to a weight limitation on the bags that are being transferred each day).  Gotta say, though, that it seems every outdoor brand known to mankind has a shop here so if there's anything you need or want it can likely be procured here.  

Some pics from the day.  They appear to take recycling seriously; huge bins!


We'll leave the cablecar ride up the Aiguille du Midi until we have a clear day; maybe when we return here at the end of our hike.


Views are pretty limited today..........




We did see evidence of preparations for the UTMB - Ultra Tour du Mont Blanc - which will start in Chamonix on Friday August 29 at 5:45pm and end at the same place anywhere from 17 hours to 46 hours later.   Those runners will do in that time what we're taking 11 days (plus 1 rest day) to do!  We should see them on the trail between La Fouley and Champex on the 30th of August.  Lots of runners in town already looking incredibly fit.  Stay tuned!  


Also lots of ultra-fit bikers spinning around town.

We visited the tourist office and the office for hiking & climbing in the Mont Blanc area.  Not much new information, but a nice relief model of the mountains.


We saw lots of gondola lines on both sides of the valley as well as numerous paragliders riding the thermals.  

Chamonix was home to the first Winter Olympics in 1924.  Posters are up for all subsequent Winter Olympics - found the Canadian ones.





And - I believe this was probably the ski jump from the first games.


Our wifi at our hotel is not working and we had limited success with chances for free wifi in Chamonix, so we didn't catch up with the boys all day.  We did (wake them from a nap and) drop by before dinner, though, for a little visit.  

Dinner, and then we worked on tentative plans for tomorrow.  The weather forecast is dire, so maybe a small hike in the am and museum, etc. time in the pm.

Nighty-night..........







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