Chamonix, Mont Blanc

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24. Chamonix, Mont Blanc

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Eager to do some hiking, I got to the cable car a little before it opened at 9:00. The cable car to the northwest of the valley has two sections, and I went all the way to Le Brevent (guess how I pronounced that when I bought the ticket — oops) at about 2500m. The Alps here are remarkably different to both the ones at both the Jungfrau and Zermatt. These are rocky, dry ridges, with lots of aguille (needles) — crazy spires of rock jutting up into the sky. I hiked down almost along the cable car route (there are other options, but I wanted to make it all the way to Lac Blanc, which was quite some distance away). It's a place for adventure, with lots of rock climbers and paragliders. The morning weather was very warm in the sun, but the forecast was ominous.

This is a very large ski resort, and along the ridge the view is often marred by numerous lift cables but is spectacular nonetheless. You're looking south across the deep valley of Chamonix over to the impressively huge summit of Mont Blanc. Again the sun is poorly placed for pictures, as usual. This is one of those mountains which seems to call out to me and I feel a strong desire to climb it. No time on this trip, unfortunately. The summit actually doesn't look too difficult — it's nicely rounded, but it does look like there would be some tough pitches before you get up to the rounded bit. This is the highest mountain in the Alps, and the view from the top must be unbelievable (when the weather cooperates).

As I headed north, the cables gradually became rarer, but the clouds were becoming increasingly dark and worrisome. I had gone from 2500m down to almost 1500m, and now I had to go back up again to get to the lake. When I was about half an hour away, it started to rain, but I had my Gore-Tex jacket and was determined to keep going. A group of American hikers turned around just ahead of me. When I reached the lake, it was fairly dismal, but I was overjoyed to find that the hut with the restaurant was open. The French are so intelligent putting these restaurants at the ends of their trails. I had a huge omelette in a crowded room full of French hikers. Had this hut not been open, the water I had brought would have been completely inadequate for this hike. The rain lifted a bit and I circled the lake. This was the incredible postcard view looking across the lake to the aguille in the background, but now it was mostly obscured by cloud. I could see the impressive Mer de Glace glacier flowing down towards the valley — on the north-facing slope, the glaciers make it all the way down below 1500m. Occasional showers and sunny breaks continued as I descended back towards Chamonix. Again I decided to go all the way down on foot, so it was another really long hike, finishing around 19:00.

Dinner after this hike at La Caleche was fantastic: a local Savoyard river fish. The atmosphere of the place was the best part, rustic wood with a huge number of big copper pots hanging from the railings, and wonderful moody music full of pathos — things like Springsteen's Philadelphia and good European stuff. Exactly what I would play if I were the DJ in a restaurant (although it began to degenerate into 70s disco later in the night). I had tried to get in around 20:00 the night before, but they said it was "finished". It didn't look very full, so I guess they close early.

Jonathan's Travel Blog :: Europe

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24. Chamonix, Mont Blanc

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