Chamonix - Mont Blanc France

Chamonix - Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc / Aiguille du Midi

Mont Blanc (4810 m. / 15780 ft.) is the highest peak of the Alps. You can't ride to the top of Mt. Blanc, but you can ride to the top of the nearby Aiguille du Midi, which is where these pictures are from (this point is only 3842 m. / 12604 ft.). The view is incredible in all directions. In the first picture at the left, Mont Blanc is on the left and there's a large, long glacier extending most of the way down to the valley floor. The scale of this glacier is difficult to appreciate. There was a helicopter taking some sightseers for a ride over the glacier, and from this point the helicopter appeared so small that I lost sight of it and couldn't even see it above the glacier. The picture on the right shows the valley from Aiguille du Midi (the starting point for the ride up here), with the town of Chamonix in the valley behind the building in the foreground. In the background to the north are more mountains on the other side of the valley, with numerous trails visible. To the east the view includes many mountain tops including the Matterhorn some 30 miles away. Another lift continues over the top of the mountain to Italy and down into another valley on the Italian side. This lift wasn't open during my October visit.
[Mont Blanc Climber]

This picture shows a mountain climber approaching the top of Aiguille du Midi. Hiking is possible on many of the mountains served by lifts in the Alps. Some are suitable for casual hiking, but this one is only doable with proper equipment (here I'm just outside the door that leads to a steep glacier hike). Even with hiking boots I wasn't prepared for this one.

Mer de Glace

Another mountain ride from Chamonix is the rack railroad to the Mer de Glace. This is another long glacier, surrounded by some very impressive rock "needles", some of which are seen here. This picture is from the train, which unfortunately is invisible at the right because the scanned copy of my picture came out too dark. The end of this ride leads to good hiking, unlike the peak of Aiguille du Midi. The terminus of this railroad isn't nearly as high as the Aiguille du Midi peak.

Created June 27, 1998
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