20 min bus through tunnel back to Chamonix as sadly the cable car on the italian side is being renovated.
That's where we were! Back down to earth
Pink...
Up the top of the Aiguille de Midi. This is 3800m, mt Blanc is about 4800m, so another 1000m and about 4 km up from here. At this altitude I felt as weak as a kitten even climbing up to the viewing platforms
Mt Blanc, the far rounded dome
Climbers coming up the last ridge into the Midi shelter
Climbers coming up to the midi
Entry / exit tunnel for alpinistes only. Extreme fitness and gear required.
A small cable car down to the Mer de Glace. Can see the tunnels drilled into the glacier. A new tunnel chamber is bored out each year as the glacier level drops.
The ice inside is completely clear with rifts and layers of air bubbles.
There are rooms and ice sculptures galore with groovy lighting. Tunnels are re- groomed each day as the glacier moves surprisingly fast, 1cm an hour.
These 480 steps have been added in over the last twenty or so years as the level has dropped.
Walking back to VertetBlanc that evening we came across hundreds of these baby toads hopping along the path
Goodbye to VertetBlanc
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