Mountain Fever

This week it is Summer time in the Alps, although the photos seem to say otherwise. We are spending a few days in Chamonix, then will cross the border into Switzerland to trek the picturesque Bernese Oberland area around Lauterbrunnen.

This week is a quieter respite from the busy cultural visits of Europe's cities. Well, at least it was planned to be quieter. Up at 5.30 a.m. to beat the crowds, we crammed into a gondola to climb to a giddying 3800 metres at Aiguille du Midi. Most of the others aboard were equipped with hiking boots with crampons, ropes, and snow clothing, and we considered if we were under-prepared. The gondola rose to a height where one is affected by altitude and climbing stairs makes the heart beat much faster than expected; a warning sign to take it easy up there.

There we were, above the clouds and looking down on the beauty of the snow-capped mountain peaks around the Chamonix valley. The views are spectacular when sitting on top of this alpine world just perfect for panoramic shots. Some visitors take the gondola across the next valley to Italy.
We had planned to take a randonnée (Notice the French accent?) around the valley rim and hike in the lower reaches, with wonderful views of the valley and peaks. The hike was to see the famous Mer de Glace (Sea of ice) glacier and take the return train from Le Montenvers back to Chamonix.

The steep valley sides have been scoured with ice and snow over millennia, leaving behind boulders and rocks strewn across the path. There are warnings of dangerous rock falls instructing hikers to avoid lingering at the most dangerous spots.


There is a well visited restaurant built next to the glacier. On the station wall is a photograph showing the Mer de Glace in 1910, with a great expanse of ice passing the restaurant and down the valley. The striking thing about the photo is comparing it to today's view of an ice-free, rocky U-shaped valley. The front of this retreating ice flow has now moved one kilometre back up the valley, and like most retreating European glaciers, provides further evidence of global warming. Maybe it's best to see these magnificent structures before humans never see them again.