We took the gondola from yesterday up to the trailhead. Here are some better pics of the gondola. Chamonix valley has several of these that take skiiers and hikers high into the mountains.
Just like yesterday, from the very first step, the views were amazing.
And just when we thought this day couldn't get any better......Peter made a friend along the trail.
We always try to find a way to take a picture together, but this time, this was the best we could manage......on the edge of a cliff.
This trail was quite a bit rockier and a little more challenging than our other hike. But totally worth it when you get to build your own cairn to add to the hundreds of other rock piles left by other hikers.
Here is my cairn that I added to the collection
Towards the end of the hike, we caught our first glimpse of La Mer de Glace or The Sea of Ice. Interestingly enough at the beginning of the 20th century the glacier filled up this area and stretched all the way to the valley floor. Since the, it has been rapidly receeding. Of course there are two schools of thought on why this is happening. The locals told us that this is a cyclic event and not a climate change. The other school of thought is brought to you by Al Gore.
We rewarded ourselves with a nice restful lunch at an old inn before heading down to explore the glacier.
Voila......here is the famous Mer de Glace. These pictures don't look nearly as impressive as it did in person. But all of that greyish-whitish stuff is one big piece of ice. The glacier was litteraly melting in front of our eyes. We saw giant chunks break off and fall away. Pretty wild.
In the winter advanced skiers, led by a guide, leave from L'Aguille de Midi (12,600 ft) and ski 12 miles down to the valley floor (3,500 ft.). The finishing run is over La Mer De Glace. Apparently the trip takes all day and has become quite dangerous recently due to the ever-changing glacier and her crevasses.
Of course, we had to take yet another gondola to make it down to the caves and explore inside.
Here we are at the entrance to the "ice cave" inside the glacier. Since this glacier is no different than any other one in the world, it is melting at an alarming rate. So it was a very drippy, damp tour.
The tunnels were all lit with different blightly colored lights, which I found surprising.
Here is Peter in front of one of the ice sculptures they had on display in the tunnels. We found it bizarre that in spite of the tragic yearly loss of more and more glacier ice, this exhibit was more like a carnival funhouse than an educational exhibit on prevention and sustainability.
They even had a photo op with this huge St. Bernard. Since we have brave Otis in our family, we decided we could save the 8 euros and just take a picture with him the next time we are in LaGrange.
After a charming old-school train ride back to Chamonix, we decided to make one last use of our 3 day gondola passes and take yet anotherride on a different gondola to check out one last view. Here you can see Glacier de Bosson over my shoulder.
The view of the clouds moving in over Mount Blanc did not disappoint and we even got to check out this cool little Alpine lake. Apparently this area is great for skiing in the winter.
During our drive home from the Alps, we stopped in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland to have lunch. This little city is on famous Lake Geneva.
We randomly found a japonese restaurant right on the water........can't beat that for our last official vacation meal.
Well, I guess this wraps up "The Mallory's Tour de France 2010" It was an amazing adventure that we will never forget. Speaking of adventures, stay tuned for a post about all the craziness that occurs when you give the Mallory brothers a week together in Europe.
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