City/Town
Torie -- Bayeux/Paris
Maddy -- Bayeux
Julia -- Chamonix
Carol -- Bayeux
Glen – Bayeux
Hotel
Torie -- the Chalet
Maddy -- the Chalet
Julia -- the Chalet
Carol -- Domaine de la Tortiniere
Glen – the Chalet
Activity
Torie -- Paragliding, hydrospeeding
Maddy -- Paragliding, and hike to the glacier
Julia -- paragliding, hydrospeeding
Carol -- D-Day Tour
Glen – D-Day Tour, Hiking in the Alps
Sight
Torie -- D-Day beaches
Maddy -- The Eiffel Tower at night
Julia -- The Eiffel Tower
Carol -- Chenonceau
Glen – Mont Saint Michel
Chateau
Torie -- Chateau de Villandry
Maddy -- Chateau de Villandry
Julia -- Chateau de Villandry
Carol -- Chenonceau
Glen – Chateau d’Arzy-le-Rideau
Food
Torie -- Crepes
Maddy -- Nutella crepe at Bayeux market, nutella/raspberry ice cream
Julia -- Baguettes
Carol -- Crepes
Glen – French breakfasts, especially the baguettes, and the cheese
Cathedral or Museum
Torie -- Angoville an Plain
Maddy -- D-Day cemetary
Julia -- Notre Dame
Carol -- Chartres
Glen – Saint Chappelle (stained glass) and Chartres (going up the tower)
Sunday, August 18, 2013
In Which "It's All Downhill From Here" Isn't As Easy At It Sounds
So, Friday afternoon, Carol and Julia headed into the line for the cable car trip back down to Chamonix. Meanwhile, Torie, Maddy, and I headed out to the trail down the mountain, to hike the 4,207 feet from the 7,602 foot level to Chamonix at 3,395.
The trail at the top was great -- lots of switch backs, with rocks to scramble down, and views for miles (see pictures below). It was nice and cool in the mountain air, and after about ten minutes we came to a mountain café where we enjoyed huge pieces of homemade fruit tarts -- blueberry for Maddy and I, and lemon for Torie.
Thus fortified, we headed down. At times we could hear the rushing of a river in the distance, and we also had great views of the sprawling Glacier des Bossons, which has the greatest reach down of any of the Alpine glaciers.
There were many switchbacks, and the trail did not seem that steep, although it did get steeper. We saw lots of wildflowers and few hikers -- about eleven who were coming up, and six who were going down. In two and a half hours, that's not a lot of hikers.
The terrain went from an open rock field to meadows with a rich variety of plant life, and eventually into an Alpine forest with occasional views down into Chamonix and throughout the valley.
It's been more than 48 hours since completing the hike, and yet my thighs are still burning with every step. While going down the mountain is far easier than going up it, the work your thighs do in keeping your upper body in check leads to quite the burn for those of us who haven't hiked in a while. It was definitely worth -- and I am so glad I bought hiking poles to use, because it made it a much quicker and steadier descent.
We had one scare when Torie trip over a tree root when we were getting close to the bottom, but she did not twist an ankle, she only bruised herself and her pride.
By the last half hour, we were definitely ready for the hike to end, but it only did so once we reached the parking lot. All in all, the views and euphoria of the first 90 minutes made the last hour worth it.
That night, we were too tired to go out to dinner -- even across the street to the resort restaurant -- so Carol made a great dinner of marinated mystery meat (the butcher claims it was filet mignon, but it looked like no filet we'd ever seen), green beans, bread, and tomatoes. It was a fabulous (and affordable) last meal for the trip.
Aurore, our wonderful concierge at the resort, arranged for breakfast to be sent over Friday night, since they don't serve breakfast earlier than 7:30 and we were hitting the road to the airport by 6:30. It was very nice of them to do, and another nice gesture by the French to put a cap on the trip.
The trail at the top was great -- lots of switch backs, with rocks to scramble down, and views for miles (see pictures below). It was nice and cool in the mountain air, and after about ten minutes we came to a mountain café where we enjoyed huge pieces of homemade fruit tarts -- blueberry for Maddy and I, and lemon for Torie.
Thus fortified, we headed down. At times we could hear the rushing of a river in the distance, and we also had great views of the sprawling Glacier des Bossons, which has the greatest reach down of any of the Alpine glaciers.
There were many switchbacks, and the trail did not seem that steep, although it did get steeper. We saw lots of wildflowers and few hikers -- about eleven who were coming up, and six who were going down. In two and a half hours, that's not a lot of hikers.
The terrain went from an open rock field to meadows with a rich variety of plant life, and eventually into an Alpine forest with occasional views down into Chamonix and throughout the valley.
It's been more than 48 hours since completing the hike, and yet my thighs are still burning with every step. While going down the mountain is far easier than going up it, the work your thighs do in keeping your upper body in check leads to quite the burn for those of us who haven't hiked in a while. It was definitely worth -- and I am so glad I bought hiking poles to use, because it made it a much quicker and steadier descent.
We had one scare when Torie trip over a tree root when we were getting close to the bottom, but she did not twist an ankle, she only bruised herself and her pride.
By the last half hour, we were definitely ready for the hike to end, but it only did so once we reached the parking lot. All in all, the views and euphoria of the first 90 minutes made the last hour worth it.
That night, we were too tired to go out to dinner -- even across the street to the resort restaurant -- so Carol made a great dinner of marinated mystery meat (the butcher claims it was filet mignon, but it looked like no filet we'd ever seen), green beans, bread, and tomatoes. It was a fabulous (and affordable) last meal for the trip.
Aurore, our wonderful concierge at the resort, arranged for breakfast to be sent over Friday night, since they don't serve breakfast earlier than 7:30 and we were hitting the road to the airport by 6:30. It was very nice of them to do, and another nice gesture by the French to put a cap on the trip.
Alp Mountain High
Pictures from our Friday afternoon hike:
Wild mountain flower.
There were tons of these.
Looking Northeast toward Switzerland
Looking West toward our chalet/the
Les Houches area
The café where we had amazing tarts
Like this blueberry tart
Glacier des Bossons, which means
Glacier of Bossons.
Take a hike.
Last Riffs for France Trip
Well, because of our frenetic pace, I did not get to write many riffs. Virtually every day I was up at 6am, working and then blogging the trip. Then, we were so busy during the day there wasn’t time to do much additional writing. So, this post will have my random thoughts on a variety of topics.
France
It’s easy to see why it is the most visited country in the world. The history, the natural beauty, the art, the food, the wine, and everything else (except maybe the language). Literally you could take turns going to different parts of Italy, Spain, and France every year and it would never get old.
We still have to hit Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the South of France (Provence in particular) at some point. Oh, and maybe back to the Alps.
Anyone wanting to go to France for the first time would do well to follow our itinerary – it was a great mix of Paris, Normandy, Loire Valley, and the Alps.
The French
Despite my occasional jokes about the French, they do not live down to their reputation. Just as I found as a college student in 1984 traveling on $20 a day, the majority of them are quite nice, friendly, and not perturbed that you don’t speak their language. Yes, we found a couple of them to be annoyingly condescending, but two bad apples does not spoil the whole bunch, unless you are making Calavados (trust me, that joke very funny if you get the reference! Seriously, you should be cracking up right now).
I understand that most of the people we dealt with are in the tourism industry, and thus should be nice to foreigners. . .but first of all, they were very nice, especially at the Paris hotel, the Loire Valley hotels, the Les Granges de en Haut, and, of course, our D-Day guide Francis. But even the people in the patisseries, fromageries, and charceuteries (we need more "ries" in the US) were great, even if neither of us could speak the same language.
The French Language
I’m terrible at foreign languages. Heck, English is hard enough for me. Anytime we could read a sign and make most of it out was a huge success. But, there are also plenty of times we were driving along and I had absolutely no idea what the important sign said.
Also, I’d walk into a shop and say something in halting French. Usually something like "deux baguettes." They would then launch into a long sentence. The stone look on my face clearly communicated that I had no idea what they were saying, so they either switched to English or to rudimentary pointing and French. Thank goodness cash registers show the amount owed, or I would still be frozen in place at a patisserie trying to figure out how to pay.
At a gas station on the road to the Alps, I had to hold up fingers, and the attendant wrote down the number to make sure we were both saying "13" to each other. It all worked, I’m pretty sure.
Unsolicited Hints to the French
On your roadway toll machines (of which there are many and they cost tons) and parking machines, indicate which way the credit cards should go in.
Come up with actual street addresses for locations, not just the name of the street.
Make detours clear when you close a road (well, a tunnel).
On the gas pumps, make it clear which button to push to start the gas flowing. I had to randomly guess each time, and my gesture to world peace was when I helped a confused Albanian (probably one of the mobsters from "Taken") figure out how to fill his pump. Now I know a guy who knows a guy in Europe.
Open more wine stores in Paris. Because, you know, France and wine seem to go together well, but only if you can find it!
Cut the price of food! Everything in France is expensive.
Things France/the French Do Better Than Us
Traffic circles, although I wish we had kept count – had to have driven through hundreds. Literally. Anyhow, faster than traffic lights, and safer than crossroads.
Pedestrians have the right of way at striped crossings. Peds should always have that right of way.
130 kmph speed limits on the highways – 81 mph, need I say more?
Breakfast. This morning, back home, Julia came downstairs wanting to know where her French breakfast is. After 44 days in England and seven in France, she didn’t ask for an English breakfast.
Money. Very few things are by pennies, so that's one less hassle. I think I prefer one (and two) Euro coins to individual dollar bills. It's also smart to make the money different sizes and colors (for those with vision problems).
Children under 18 are free to most places, and students are a reduced rate. I know they are trying to encourage people to have children because of the terrible birth rate, and it is nice not to be penalized financially for having kids, especially since they'll be footing the bill for old folks.
Random Observations
They grow a lot of corn in France, but not once did I see it being served. Is corn solely grown for feeding livestock? There’s a lot to be said for corn on the cob. . .give it a try.
It’s always fun driving on a country road and a car is coming the other direction. I’m surprised my side view mirror didn’t get ripped off. Some of the cars actually slowed down.
To me, the most amazing part of going to the soaring cathedrals is just how they were built 500-1000 years ago. The amount of work to move the stone, do the math to make it work, to carve the ornate statutes and gargoyles, and make something rise so high into the air is amazing.
Given a choice of only one, I’d take the Musee d’Orsay over the Louvre. I know, heresy, but I gotta say. . .
Among the best meals we had were the ones at the Chalet that Carol made. Not fancy, but fresh food consumed on the balcony with amazing views and affordable prices were memorable. Plus, two hour dinners get old after a bit. That’s not to knock French restaurants –we had a lot of great meals, even in places I expected them to mail it in. But sometimes simpler is best.
Traveling for 13 days is a good test of the family. While we each had our moments (mine was in a tunnel heading the wrong direction in Paris!), in general everyone was in great spirits, particularly after we got over the jet lag. I’ve been blogging these trips since our 2007 trip to Italy, and it’s great fun to go back and be reminded of all we saw and all we experienced.
It's nice to sleep with open windows and no screens. Not sure I saw a mosquito the whole time.
Where have all the squirrels gone? Long time passing.
France
It’s easy to see why it is the most visited country in the world. The history, the natural beauty, the art, the food, the wine, and everything else (except maybe the language). Literally you could take turns going to different parts of Italy, Spain, and France every year and it would never get old.
We still have to hit Bordeaux, Burgundy, and the South of France (Provence in particular) at some point. Oh, and maybe back to the Alps.
Anyone wanting to go to France for the first time would do well to follow our itinerary – it was a great mix of Paris, Normandy, Loire Valley, and the Alps.
The French
Despite my occasional jokes about the French, they do not live down to their reputation. Just as I found as a college student in 1984 traveling on $20 a day, the majority of them are quite nice, friendly, and not perturbed that you don’t speak their language. Yes, we found a couple of them to be annoyingly condescending, but two bad apples does not spoil the whole bunch, unless you are making Calavados (trust me, that joke very funny if you get the reference! Seriously, you should be cracking up right now).
I understand that most of the people we dealt with are in the tourism industry, and thus should be nice to foreigners. . .but first of all, they were very nice, especially at the Paris hotel, the Loire Valley hotels, the Les Granges de en Haut, and, of course, our D-Day guide Francis. But even the people in the patisseries, fromageries, and charceuteries (we need more "ries" in the US) were great, even if neither of us could speak the same language.
The French Language
I’m terrible at foreign languages. Heck, English is hard enough for me. Anytime we could read a sign and make most of it out was a huge success. But, there are also plenty of times we were driving along and I had absolutely no idea what the important sign said.
Also, I’d walk into a shop and say something in halting French. Usually something like "deux baguettes." They would then launch into a long sentence. The stone look on my face clearly communicated that I had no idea what they were saying, so they either switched to English or to rudimentary pointing and French. Thank goodness cash registers show the amount owed, or I would still be frozen in place at a patisserie trying to figure out how to pay.
At a gas station on the road to the Alps, I had to hold up fingers, and the attendant wrote down the number to make sure we were both saying "13" to each other. It all worked, I’m pretty sure.
Unsolicited Hints to the French
On your roadway toll machines (of which there are many and they cost tons) and parking machines, indicate which way the credit cards should go in.
Come up with actual street addresses for locations, not just the name of the street.
Make detours clear when you close a road (well, a tunnel).
On the gas pumps, make it clear which button to push to start the gas flowing. I had to randomly guess each time, and my gesture to world peace was when I helped a confused Albanian (probably one of the mobsters from "Taken") figure out how to fill his pump. Now I know a guy who knows a guy in Europe.
Open more wine stores in Paris. Because, you know, France and wine seem to go together well, but only if you can find it!
Cut the price of food! Everything in France is expensive.
Things France/the French Do Better Than Us
Traffic circles, although I wish we had kept count – had to have driven through hundreds. Literally. Anyhow, faster than traffic lights, and safer than crossroads.
Pedestrians have the right of way at striped crossings. Peds should always have that right of way.
130 kmph speed limits on the highways – 81 mph, need I say more?
Breakfast. This morning, back home, Julia came downstairs wanting to know where her French breakfast is. After 44 days in England and seven in France, she didn’t ask for an English breakfast.
Money. Very few things are by pennies, so that's one less hassle. I think I prefer one (and two) Euro coins to individual dollar bills. It's also smart to make the money different sizes and colors (for those with vision problems).
Children under 18 are free to most places, and students are a reduced rate. I know they are trying to encourage people to have children because of the terrible birth rate, and it is nice not to be penalized financially for having kids, especially since they'll be footing the bill for old folks.
Random Observations
They grow a lot of corn in France, but not once did I see it being served. Is corn solely grown for feeding livestock? There’s a lot to be said for corn on the cob. . .give it a try.
It’s always fun driving on a country road and a car is coming the other direction. I’m surprised my side view mirror didn’t get ripped off. Some of the cars actually slowed down.
To me, the most amazing part of going to the soaring cathedrals is just how they were built 500-1000 years ago. The amount of work to move the stone, do the math to make it work, to carve the ornate statutes and gargoyles, and make something rise so high into the air is amazing.
Given a choice of only one, I’d take the Musee d’Orsay over the Louvre. I know, heresy, but I gotta say. . .
Among the best meals we had were the ones at the Chalet that Carol made. Not fancy, but fresh food consumed on the balcony with amazing views and affordable prices were memorable. Plus, two hour dinners get old after a bit. That’s not to knock French restaurants –we had a lot of great meals, even in places I expected them to mail it in. But sometimes simpler is best.
Traveling for 13 days is a good test of the family. While we each had our moments (mine was in a tunnel heading the wrong direction in Paris!), in general everyone was in great spirits, particularly after we got over the jet lag. I’ve been blogging these trips since our 2007 trip to Italy, and it’s great fun to go back and be reminded of all we saw and all we experienced.
It's nice to sleep with open windows and no screens. Not sure I saw a mosquito the whole time.
Where have all the squirrels gone? Long time passing.
On Top Of Old Aiguille du Midi
The cable car coming into Plan du l'Aiguille
from above at Aiguille du Midi
The Helbronner gondolas
From the gondola
Torie & Maddy take in the glaciers, Julia
is hidden behind Torie
No words needed.
Mer de Glace
Mont Blanc
Those dark spots on the snow are tents. There
are three mountaineers on the bottom right.
Our chalet is at the bottom right
of the ski runs on Domaine
des Houches, which is Celtic
for "arable lands."
Mont Blanc
The Ice Palace At the Roof of Europe
After a nice lunch of eggs, yogurt, and baguettes, we headed back into Chamonix (staying in Les Houches is the equivalent of staying in Alexandria and going into DC for tourist stuff, albeit less traffic yet more parking hassles).
Even though the electronic sign said the parking for the Aiguille di Midi cable cars was full at 265 cars, we went right in and found a parking space, manically laughing at the people still searching in vain for a spot (okay, I was laughing on the inside, but mostly relieved by our luck).
In some weird French custom, we were only able to reserve four tickets for these coveted timed entries, but Aurora at Les Granges d'en Haut was correct, they sold us a fifth ticket. Despite that one weird ticketing quirk, the rest of what could be a bad system worked seamlessly. Along with the tickets, they handed me a piece of plastic larger than a credit card with a number on it. When that number came up, it was your turn to get in the queue, go through the ticket entry, and onto the cable car.
Packed into it like sardines, the first cable car zipped us from the base at 3,395 feet to the next station at Plan de l'Aiguille (7,602 feet) in a matter of mere minutes. We then took the next cable to the top, again in a matter of minutes. It's a very dramatic ride, as you see mountaineers climbing up and the car looks as though it is headed straight for the rock face of the 12,600 foot high peak.
Once up top, we walked through the hallways cut into the rock to the other side, where we took the Helbronner, a system of gondolas that goes to the Italian Alp of Mont Blanc du Tacul (the French name for it). You don't get out on the Italian side at 14,000, but the passage takes you above the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) glacier, and provides sweeping views of Mont Blanc. There are views all around, and we were entertained watching the mountaineers crossing the glacier and climbing the rock face. I could handle crossing the glacier, but certainly not the rock face climbing.
Carol and I were in one gondola, and the girls were in another (it was max of four people per). Carol got a bit nervous the first time we stopped for what seemed a long time, but by the second stop (as people in other gondolas unloaded/loaded) we were used to it. The girls were passing the time by singing and looking at the views).
The great part was, we did not have to wait long for any of the cable cars. Once we got off the gondola, we walked around the different viewing platforms. They afforded us wonderful views of Mont Blanc, Mer de Glace, all of the surrounding mountains, down into the Chamonix Valley, across to our chalet at Les Houches, across to Domaine Brevent-Flegere, and far beyond. The pictures don't do it justice.
We all wore shorts, and while it was cold, the sun made it easy to handle. Most of the people were quite bundled up, but you really don't need it. We had to wait about ten minutes before we could go back down to the midpoint (Plan de l'Aiguille), but since that's the longest we had to wait, it was certainly no problem.
All of the mountaineers, hikers, and ramblers made me want to do one more hike, so Maddy, Torie, and I hopped off at the mid-point to do the 4,207 foot hike down to Chamonix, while Julia and Carol made plans to check out Chamonix more closely.
The roundtrip tickets are not cheap, but they have no problems selling out. It's a great way to see a lot in a short time, and you can stay up as long as you want, or do some hikes from the mid-point as well.
Even though the electronic sign said the parking for the Aiguille di Midi cable cars was full at 265 cars, we went right in and found a parking space, manically laughing at the people still searching in vain for a spot (okay, I was laughing on the inside, but mostly relieved by our luck).
In some weird French custom, we were only able to reserve four tickets for these coveted timed entries, but Aurora at Les Granges d'en Haut was correct, they sold us a fifth ticket. Despite that one weird ticketing quirk, the rest of what could be a bad system worked seamlessly. Along with the tickets, they handed me a piece of plastic larger than a credit card with a number on it. When that number came up, it was your turn to get in the queue, go through the ticket entry, and onto the cable car.
Packed into it like sardines, the first cable car zipped us from the base at 3,395 feet to the next station at Plan de l'Aiguille (7,602 feet) in a matter of mere minutes. We then took the next cable to the top, again in a matter of minutes. It's a very dramatic ride, as you see mountaineers climbing up and the car looks as though it is headed straight for the rock face of the 12,600 foot high peak.
Once up top, we walked through the hallways cut into the rock to the other side, where we took the Helbronner, a system of gondolas that goes to the Italian Alp of Mont Blanc du Tacul (the French name for it). You don't get out on the Italian side at 14,000, but the passage takes you above the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) glacier, and provides sweeping views of Mont Blanc. There are views all around, and we were entertained watching the mountaineers crossing the glacier and climbing the rock face. I could handle crossing the glacier, but certainly not the rock face climbing.
Carol and I were in one gondola, and the girls were in another (it was max of four people per). Carol got a bit nervous the first time we stopped for what seemed a long time, but by the second stop (as people in other gondolas unloaded/loaded) we were used to it. The girls were passing the time by singing and looking at the views).
The great part was, we did not have to wait long for any of the cable cars. Once we got off the gondola, we walked around the different viewing platforms. They afforded us wonderful views of Mont Blanc, Mer de Glace, all of the surrounding mountains, down into the Chamonix Valley, across to our chalet at Les Houches, across to Domaine Brevent-Flegere, and far beyond. The pictures don't do it justice.
We all wore shorts, and while it was cold, the sun made it easy to handle. Most of the people were quite bundled up, but you really don't need it. We had to wait about ten minutes before we could go back down to the midpoint (Plan de l'Aiguille), but since that's the longest we had to wait, it was certainly no problem.
All of the mountaineers, hikers, and ramblers made me want to do one more hike, so Maddy, Torie, and I hopped off at the mid-point to do the 4,207 foot hike down to Chamonix, while Julia and Carol made plans to check out Chamonix more closely.
The roundtrip tickets are not cheap, but they have no problems selling out. It's a great way to see a lot in a short time, and you can stay up as long as you want, or do some hikes from the mid-point as well.
The Hike to Glacier d'Argentiere
10, 157 ft. high Mont Buet in the background
We could see Switzerland from our window.
Snow covered Grand Montets
rises 10,744 feet
Glacier d'Argentiere
The sun makes it hard to see just
how massive the glacier really is
This is only the front of the glacier.
Randomly pointing toward something.
A mountain? The future? Reader choice.
A mountain stream along the trail.
A Spectacular Glacier
Well, we couldn’t get tickets for the cable car trip to the top until 12:30 on Friday, so I had to scramble to change plans. It all worked out magically however, even if my legs are so sore I can hardly walk right now!
I didn’t realize until a couple of days beforehand that you had to make reservations to go up to the top of Midi du Aiguille. It is without question the most popular summer thing to do in the Chamonix Valley. So, I went to Plan B.
I woke Maddy and Torie up at 7am. Breakfast was delivered to our chalet around 7:25, so we ate quickly and headed out. (By the way, having a French breakfast delivered to our chalet as part of the price was a bonus we didn’t expect – pretty amazing. That’s why we had egg and yogurt for lunch a couple of days – because we thought we needed to supply our own breakfast, so that’s mostly what we bought when we went shopping).
We drove to the eastern end of the valley – almost to Switzerland. We stopped at the base of Grand Montets, and took the Lognan cable car up. Of the 15 or so people on the cable car, another woman and the three of us were the only ones wearing shorts. The rest had heavy winter clothing on, and carried climbing gear. Turns out, the four of us were the only ones getting off at the midpoint (6,463 feet up).
I had picked this hike because it was supposed to be both flat and just 90 minutes roundtrip, with the turnaround point at the Argentiere Glacier. However, the signposts showed it a three hour roundtrip, which we did not have time for. Slightly deflated, we headed out anyhow. We saw some beautiful wildflowers, crossed over mountain streams, and had great views down the valley to the mountains on the other side.
We also were fighting the sun, as we were hiking uphill (not flat at all, but we consoled ourselves that it would be easier coming back to the cable car). We were getting close to the turnaround time on my watch, but then we turned another corner and the glacier was right there in all its splendor. We were so happy we high-fived – we got the view we came for. We then climbed a much steeper part to get higher alongside the glacier.
It turns out the three hour hike would bring you higher up along the glacier, but we saw the whole front, spilling over. It reminded Maddy and I of our glacier trekking in Alaska. The view of the glacier (despite fighting the sun) was both literally and figuratively cool. It was literally cool because the air coming off it was cold, and figuratively cool because the front of a glacier is a spectacular sight. It was great scrambling over the rocks.
We then headed back to the cable car, down to the base at 4,107 feet above sea level. On the way back to the chalet, we stopped at the patisserie in Les Houches for chocolate and raspberry tarts.
I didn’t realize until a couple of days beforehand that you had to make reservations to go up to the top of Midi du Aiguille. It is without question the most popular summer thing to do in the Chamonix Valley. So, I went to Plan B.
I woke Maddy and Torie up at 7am. Breakfast was delivered to our chalet around 7:25, so we ate quickly and headed out. (By the way, having a French breakfast delivered to our chalet as part of the price was a bonus we didn’t expect – pretty amazing. That’s why we had egg and yogurt for lunch a couple of days – because we thought we needed to supply our own breakfast, so that’s mostly what we bought when we went shopping).
We drove to the eastern end of the valley – almost to Switzerland. We stopped at the base of Grand Montets, and took the Lognan cable car up. Of the 15 or so people on the cable car, another woman and the three of us were the only ones wearing shorts. The rest had heavy winter clothing on, and carried climbing gear. Turns out, the four of us were the only ones getting off at the midpoint (6,463 feet up).
I had picked this hike because it was supposed to be both flat and just 90 minutes roundtrip, with the turnaround point at the Argentiere Glacier. However, the signposts showed it a three hour roundtrip, which we did not have time for. Slightly deflated, we headed out anyhow. We saw some beautiful wildflowers, crossed over mountain streams, and had great views down the valley to the mountains on the other side.
We also were fighting the sun, as we were hiking uphill (not flat at all, but we consoled ourselves that it would be easier coming back to the cable car). We were getting close to the turnaround time on my watch, but then we turned another corner and the glacier was right there in all its splendor. We were so happy we high-fived – we got the view we came for. We then climbed a much steeper part to get higher alongside the glacier.
It turns out the three hour hike would bring you higher up along the glacier, but we saw the whole front, spilling over. It reminded Maddy and I of our glacier trekking in Alaska. The view of the glacier (despite fighting the sun) was both literally and figuratively cool. It was literally cool because the air coming off it was cold, and figuratively cool because the front of a glacier is a spectacular sight. It was great scrambling over the rocks.
We then headed back to the cable car, down to the base at 4,107 feet above sea level. On the way back to the chalet, we stopped at the patisserie in Les Houches for chocolate and raspberry tarts.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Don't Try This At Home. Not Enough Altitude.
These were my photos of the paragliding
Julia gets ready
We soared all around these cliffs
One of the many great views from the air.
Down to the left you can see Carol's paraglider
I was rooting for the updrafts!
That's one of my family!
Looking out
Looking straight up.
Carol landing
Julia sliding home safely
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