Chamonix and Mont Blanc

If you had told me a year ago that one day I'd be hiking in the Alps, specifically down the Alps, I would have laughed you out of the room. I hate descending escalators, much less mountains. But that is what I found myself doing less than 72 hours ago, and I am so glad that I did. I went on a drive out with two friends to Chamonix, France. We almost ended up in Italy by accident, but a friendly border patrol agent steered us the right way.

In the summer, the melted snow and glacial ice of the mountains in Chamonix form copious freshwater streams and waterfalls that cascade throughout the mountains. In America, each waterfall would get its own observation deck. In the mountains, one more waterfall is not such a big deal.

I took the cable car to the highest observation deck. I love the observation deck because the rates to go up are not exhorbitant, and once you get to the top, you are not price-gouged when you try to buy souvenirs and food. Things are priced the way they'd be priced outside the valley. This was shocking to me.

At the top of Auguille du Midi, it was literally freezing outside, but the panoramic view of the most immense, beautiful mountains was worth wearing a down jacket in the middle of summer. From the observation tower, I saw a huge expanse of white dotted with black (alpine hikers). Small black birds flew about the top of the severe mountain ranges; their preferred method of taking off was to dive headfirst into space for several hundred feet before opening their wings. At such altitudes, I'm not sure what they would live off of besides snow. Perhaps the dark, beautiful butterfly/moth insects that also flitted about in the thin air.

My hat goes off to the intrepid engineers who built very tall observatory decks on top of mountains. There are photos inside the observation deck of the old-school civil engineers sitting causually on iron girders stuck into the granite faces, feet dangling.

I could barely bring myself to look down. My favorite peak to gaze at was Pont du Sud, which looks improbably sharp, with striated red stone. It would not look out of place in the Grand Canyon, and it keeps company with the dark granite of several other mountains. I feel like it is the odd child in the family.

Mont Blanc, the highest and best known mountain, has a domed top. The top of Mont Blanc was hugged by a little pouf of cloud fed by snowy powder being blown off the relatively smooth mountain-top. The pouf flows from the top of the mountain like thick smoke from a chimney. It remains rooted to the mountain even though it is pulled to and fro by the wind, like a flame can be blown to and fro but remains rooted to the match. I had never seen such a cloud before.

It was so beautiful, that not only was the view perfectly clear, but several variations of rainbow formed in the sky above the mountain while I was on the observation deck. First, there was a double rainbow (two parrallel rainbows). Then the rainbows started to merge into a sideways "Y" shape. Then there was only one rainbow with a very intense center portion, accompanied by a huge circular rainbow radiating around the sun itself (beautiful but painful to look at if you weren't careful). Then there was only one rainbow again, which faded with the mist. I did not bring my camera, but my friends tried and failed utterly to take a single bad photograph. Many thanks to the beautiful Katie for taking a photo of the moment!

After staring like an idiot for what could have been minutes or hours, I took the cable car to the middle of the mountain and began a light hike down some very level, well-established trails along the side face of the mountain. I bought hiking boots and they made a huge difference because I didn't have to worry about my ankles turning. The wildflowers, the well-worn trail, and the utter quiet made for a very tranquil, relaxing hike. The birds and the marmots provided background music. I did a happy dance when we found marmots.

It was daunting to look to one side and face nothing but the open air, the valley below, the mountains in the distance. Sure beats the stair-master. It was a fairly long hike in thin air, to be honest I have no idea how far we walked. I was completely tuckered out by the end.

When we made it closer to the bottom of the mountain, we took photos by the glacier lake frozen along the side of the mountain. You can see where the water was flowing when it froze. It's not that big a lake. My friend is into environmental law and she really enjoyed seeing the glacier lake in person.

We took the last old-school train down the rest of the mountain to the main village. Mountain rescue team members boarded the train with us. They had a Saint Bernard on a leash accompanying them. I was so excited to see the dog, but he only had eyes for his handler, a gentleman who reminded me of an older Jason Statham. Whoever he is, he is cool in my book.

It was definitely a trip to remember.