View of Mont Blanc from a rest area on the way.
In front of a model of the cog railway train that goes up to the Mer de Glace, a large glacier on the northern slopes of the Mont Blanc massif.
Riding up the railway.
View of Chamonix in the valley below as we ascend on the train.
looking for the other train...
In front of a model of the cog railway train that goes up to the Mer de Glace, a large glacier on the northern slopes of the Mont Blanc massif.
Riding up the railway.
View of Chamonix in the valley below as we ascend on the train.
looking for the other train...
Here it comes! There are two places the trains 'pass' on the way up and down, basically the one pulls over and the other goes by on the track as there is only one track most of the way up. You can see the toothed rail in the center of the track that the cog on the train fits into to allow the trains to go up the mountain at such steep grades.
Mer de Glace. At 7 km long and 200 meters deep, it is the longest glacier in France.
Going through the cave of ice carved into the glacier.
These are the stairs we came down...
Looking back at the glacier and the opening into the ice caves. As you can see, the entrances are all temporary/mobile as they have to move with the glacier, which is moving at a rate of about 1cm per hour!
Piper running past a skier. They ski down the glacier and take the cable car and cog railway back to Chamonix.
Mer de Glace, those little dots are skiers coming down the glacier.
Aiguille du Midi, a peak of the Mont Blanc massif. There is a crazy steep cable car, the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world that goes up to the Aiguille du Midi. We'll have to do that one next time :)
One last view of the Mer de Glace as we go back up the téléphérique.
CJ checking out the Aiguille du Midi.
Mer de Glace. At 7 km long and 200 meters deep, it is the longest glacier in France.
From here we took another ride down on a cable car or téléphérique...
then you go down another couple hundred steps to the glacier.
then you go down another couple hundred steps to the glacier.
In front of the Mer de Glace.
Inside the glacier!
Inside the glacier!
Going through the cave of ice carved into the glacier.
These are the stairs we came down...
Looking back at the glacier and the opening into the ice caves. As you can see, the entrances are all temporary/mobile as they have to move with the glacier, which is moving at a rate of about 1cm per hour!
Piper running past a skier. They ski down the glacier and take the cable car and cog railway back to Chamonix.
Mer de Glace, those little dots are skiers coming down the glacier.
Aiguille du Midi, a peak of the Mont Blanc massif. There is a crazy steep cable car, the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world that goes up to the Aiguille du Midi. We'll have to do that one next time :)
One last view of the Mer de Glace as we go back up the téléphérique.
CJ checking out the Aiguille du Midi.
It started raining, so we crammed back into the train for the ride back down to Chamonix, and decided to head home.
Another glacier on the Mont Blanc massif, the Glacier des Bossons. This is an unusual glacier as it comes down to the tree line.
More beautiful views on our way home.
I love the alps! :)
I love the alps! :)
2 comments:
Wow, neat pics. Looks COLD! And, yikes, those stairs look rather precarious. And someone got a new hair-do, the eldest? Cute.
Always enjoy seeing your trips.
The stairs didn't seem scary until I looked back up at them from the bottom! Yes, E has been asking for his hair to be spiked up lately, I like it as well ;)
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