all images © James Tung, 2001-2008

Mont Blanc, at the Aiguille du Midi station

In July, 2005 I spent about a week and a half hiking in the French and Swiss Alps. Alan joined me for the first leg of the trip in Chamonix (1042 m). We stayed at Hotel El Paso, a building which also housed a restaurant and a dance club.

Much more info can be found in the Chamonix valley official website.

Day 1: Lac Blanc

From town walk north to Les Praz along the trail at the right bank river Arve; at one point cross to the left bank of river. Cross the river again right before the cable car station, next to golf course. Take cable car to La Flégère (1877 m) and follow signposts (or people) to Lac Blanc (2352 m). Descend by following signposts to Chamonix.

The lake seemed to be very popular; large groups of people were on the trail, and the restaurant at the lake was packed. We decided to ignore the cable car schedule and hike back to town instead, so we had the lake all to ourselves by late afternoon. It was cloudy all day, and drizzled a bit late afternoon. The Mont Blanc massif was hidden in the cloud until the end of the day.

Les Praz cable car station	on the trail	La Flégère in front of Glacier des Bossons
signpost	lac de la Flégère?	Lac Blanc
structure by lake	reflection	view at lunch spot
snow field	fearless photographer	lake view
rock field	chamois	could have composed better
chamois	view on the hike down	Aiguille du Midi on the left, with Glacier des Bossons

Day 2: Aiguille du Midi; Lac Bleu

The station to Aiguille du Midi (3842 m) is south of the main train station. The lake is a 20-minute hike from the Plan de l'Aiguille station (2233 m), hidden behind fields of rocks.

It was a splendidly clear day, perfect for panoramic views at 3842 meters. There are a few observation points at Aiguille du Midi: one right above the cable car exit, two across the bridge on the other side of the peak, and one high observation point which requires an elevator and a few extra euros. We stayed at Aiguille du Midi until mid afternoon, when the cloud began to cover up our view, and then took the cable car down to Plan de l'Aiguille.

At Lac Bleu we decided again to ditch the cable car and hike the rest of the way down, in favor of staying at the lake for as long as we wanted.

in town	in town	Aiguille du Midi station
view from cable car	chamonix; view at Aiguille du Midi	Mont Blanc
mountaineers	a wider shot	bridge
beginning of glaciers	snow tunnel	traffic
how to get there	view from high observation point	view up high
happy tourist	Plan de l'Aiguille	Lac Bleu
Lac Bleu	Lac Bleu	view on the way down

Day 3: La Mer de Glace

The train station to Montenvers (1909 m) is right after crossing the bridge north of the main train station. One can either hike to the Mer de Glace from Montenvers or take a cable car.

We woke up to a cloudy, drizzly morning. After a very long mid-morning coffee break, we decided to take the train to the Mer de Glace to see the glacer up close. At the Montenvers station we were soaked by pouring rain just from running from the train into the waiting area. We took advantage of an hour of break from rain to hike to the glacier and the Grotte (ice cave), but it began to hail as we approached the Grotte entrance. Eventually we decided that it wasn't going to get better and began heading back to Geneva, but not without first observing a mudslide on the mountain slope across from us.

A bit demoralized from the wet and cold, I decided to spend a day to regroup in Geneva before heading to Zermatt for more hikes.

cloudy day in town	Mer de Glace	Aiguille des Drus
Alan at the ice sea	closer view	hailstorm
it got pretty bad	entrance to the ice cave	our shelter from hailstorm