September 4 & 5

September 4 & 5:  Chamonix

Well, I wasn't going to post anything further after the end of the hike.  But - I have to have somewhere to put some pictures from today.

Yesterday (September 4) was a pretty lazy day.  Leisurely breakfast and lazing about for a bit.  Then we spent a few hours stimulating the local economy.  A person could easily spend a LOT of money here.  Met the boys for dinner, and appreciate them trekking over to our place in an absolute downpour.  Sure glad we weren't out on the trail for that one.  It was still raining buckets on the walk home.

A few days ago we had reserved tickets for the gondola ride up the Aiguille du Midi.  A very popular tourist activity here.  Two gondola rides up to 3800m from the valley floor at about 1000m.  When we saw the weather forecast change yesterday, Pat popped over to the base station to see if he could change our tickets to later in the day.  No luck.  Needless to say, I was less than encouraged when I looked out the window first thing this morning to see clouds hanging very low on the mountains, and not a view to be had anywhere.  But - a few pockets of blue sky started to appear during breakfast.  We met at the gondola station about 9:15 to find that everything was delayed due to snow clearing being done at the top.  Here's the sign we were greeted with.




Lots of climbers and skiers also waiting in the crowd for the gondola.


We had a ticket for a 9:40 departure and we finally headed up at 10:20.  Not a bad thing at all, though, as it gave the skies a bit more time to clear out.  Each gondola car holds about 65 people; not a lot of personal space!  But - smooth and efficient ride.  Everyone gets out at the mid-station and boards a second gondola if going to the top.  



I can just say that the entire day was fabulous.  The early morning mist just added ambiance to the views, especially where we could see hikers walking on the snow ridges.  Magical!  It looked like a good number of those folks had never walked on snow before.  What an experience for them.








The views were amazing from the numerous balconies that were accessible to us.  The fresh snow made for great views of first tracks.  So many great pictures to choose from; the ones posted here are just a small sample.........











The clouds eventually lifted to reveal great views down to Chamonix as well as over to Mont Blanc and all the other mountains.  We explored all the exhibits and areas open to us, followed by a quick coffee and snack in the restaurant.  One thing we did was have our picture taken in the plexiglass skybox.  

























We then realized that there was another tram that would take us over to Italy and to the top of the gondola down to Cormayeur.  Silly me - I had left my passport back at the hotel, but it seemed like a small risk to take so I joined Pat and Lise for the ride over on the skyway.  It would only have been an issue if the skyway tram couldn't return and we had to descent to Courmayeur.  Wow!  It was absolutely stunning!  Great views of the mountains, the glaciers, the snowfields, and even a number of skiers and climbers.  They sure added perspective to the scale of these places.



























Great views down to the green valley of Courmayeur.  As well as all the high peaks around Mont Blanc.















And - the return journey...............  I'll try to cut down on the number of photos.
























The whole day was truly amazing, and I am very grateful that the weather cleared up as much as it did.

Out for dinner, back to bed, and time to pack and check out in the morning.  Heading for Amsterdam tomorrow evening, and then on to Calgary on Sunday.  Sad to see it end, but looking forward to resuming life at home.

What a wonderful trip!!






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