Fantastic weather in Chamonix!

Chamonix train station
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Okay, here comes the real adventure!

I woke up on time (whoo hoo!) and headed over to Lyon Perrachegare to catch my train from Lyon to Chamonix. I was to stop over at St. Gervais for a couple of minutes on the way. The train ride to St. Gervais was great. The views were fantastic as we headed deeper into the mountains. It got prettier and prettier as we went through and sometimes I felt like there was no way through the dense mountain range but somehow the train pushed through. I took a couple of pictures from the train windows because I couldn’t help thinking “man it can’t get better than this! I’m coming back here instead of Chamonix!” The pictures didn’t come out well but oh well, good thing Chamonix was much better!

looking into chamonix
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When we reached St. Gervais around noon I got off the train and walked about 10 feet across the platform to the next smaller train through the Alps. This train stopped off at several small villages along the way to Chamonix. The views continued to get better and the weather was holding up beautifully (thank you www.wetter.de for an accurate report). We finally reached Chamonix at 1400 and I quickly got off the train and tried to find my gite where I would stay for the next couple of nights. I couldn’t find the street easily so I headed to the tourism office. I asked them for advice on the two places I wanted to hike around: la mer de glace, and La Brevant. The lady said that both would take me roughly six hours. Oh no!!! I was hoping that the glacier would only take a couple of hours today! I decided to get a quick start on the glacier hike immediately and then if I took too long I could always catch the train back. I held onto my ~25 lbs. bag because I didn’t know if I might need the warmer clothes I packed or even the blanket I brought. That turned out to be a terrible idea.

opposite mountain range from the glacier
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The hike up to the glacier took me about 2.5 hours. But that was about 30 minutes of trying to find the trailhead. Each time I mentioned la mer de glace people pointed me towards the train that you could catch to get there. I finally sat somebody down and said I wanted to walk there and they showed me the right way. The hike took me up about 0.8 km. Most of the people I saw were elderly! In fact, I didn’t see anybody my age. Everyone was at least 60 years old and they were all moving really fast up the mountain! I was so impressed! I was sweating profusely and pretty out of breathe since I was out of shape (not because the air was thin). Luckily I brought 2 liters of water with me so I was well set in that department. The views from the trail of the opposite mountain range were absolutely amazing! I could see La Brevant and it looked so great! I was so excited to see the trail from afar.

you can see the trails that I did on the next day
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On the way to the glacier I asked people how long it would take: “2 more hours” ranged down to “20 more minutes” and I was getting so excited. I could finally glimpse the glacier and it gave me an extra push of energy. I had to stop every 10 minutes to take a breather and stretch my legs out. I finally reached a great look-out point and admired the glacier and the surrounding mountains. I saw people hiking up from the glacier with ice picks, ice cleats, helmets, harnesses, ropes, etc. I asked them how far it would be to get to the glacier and they said “it’s just down the lattice”…. what’s a lattice I thought. I found out it was a HUGE ladder! Oh man! It went down about 200 meters and it looked really scary from up top. But as soon as I started climbing down I took it one rung at a time and found my way to the bottom! My shoes were bald and hiking on the glacier was not possible at all. I snapped a couple of pictures and climbed back up where I left my bag in a couple of bushes.

my goodness it was hot. And my heavy bag did not help the situation...luckily I had water.
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I saw the prices for the return train and decided to walk it back. It was 1645 and I had enough daylight time to head back down. I took another path down that basically looped back to the start. It wasn’t as nice of a trail because it didn’t have great views of the opposite mountain range but oh well. I was still sweating like crazy but at least the mountain air was dry and cool. The sun was beating down pretty harshly and I would guess the temperature was in the 70s (20s celsius).

man, nature is beautiful everywhere
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I took some great pictures all along the way so I hope you enjoy them!

On the way down I saw a man who hiked up halfway with a canvas and was painting the tracks that the train followed to the glacier. I didn’t get to see his painting since he was already packing up. I just confirmed that the trail was heading back to Chamonix and went on my way. About 30 minutes later he was literally running down the trail with a bag full of paint and a canvas under his arms. Geez, everybody here is ridiculously in shape!

glimpse of the glacier!
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The gite Chamoniard Volant was far from the city center and my legs were already killing me from the hike. Going down was a lot harder than going up. My knees felt like rubber and my calves were nearly nonexistent! I had to wait a long time at the reception until the girl finally came to check me in. The place was less than exciting and less than “clean” but still livable I suppose. I headed back into town for dinner where I just bought a sandwich, some bread, cheese, sausage, fruit, and milk. Most of the later stuff was for the hike to la Bravent.

here is the goal in all it's might!
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I turned in early so that I could wake up early for the hike up to la Brevent. Adios!