Mountain Adventure

The plan for today was as follows:

• Wake up early (remember, that storm is a-brewin') and walk to the gondola station.
• Take the gondola to Plan de l'Aiguille*, a viewpoint midway up the mountains.
• Take a second gondola to Aiguille du Midi, the viewpoint at the top of the mountains.
• Take a third gondola- a télécabine panoramique- to Helbronner Point and back. Helbronner Point is near the Italian side, and the ride across from Midi to Helbronner is supposed to give you stunning views of Mont Blanc.
• Re-take second gondola back down to Plan de l'Aiguille.
• Hike the Grand Balcon Nord trail to Montenvers and the Mer de Glace, the "sea of ice" glacier.
• Take a fourth gondola to the Mer de Glace ice caves.
• Ride the cogwheel train back down to Chamonix.

So, maybe a slightly ambitious plan but fairly straightforward. Go up the mountain, see the stuff, go down the mountain.

Things got off to a great start. I was on the 9:20am gondola up to Plan de l'Aiguille, and the weather could not have been more perfect. Sunny, clear skies, and warm but not too warm. I couldn't believe my luck.

I also couldn't believe how beautiful it was.

Panoramic view from Aiguille du Midi.

Selfie Assessment: not bad, but keep in mind this is the best of the no less than 6 selfies I took from this spot (and 15 overall from the Midi observation area), oh and a real thing that happened- someone saw me struggling and just offered to take the pictures himself.

Looking down across the Chamonix/Mont Blanc/(???) valley.

After taking a staggering number of pictures**, I transferred into one of the cute little gondolas pictured below for the ride over to Helbronner Point. The trip was fantastic; it lasted about 25 minutes and took you across what was almost a valley of snow at the top of the mountains.

On the way over there I shared a gondola with an older married couple who did not seem thrilled to be sharing with me, but on the way back I'd get my own gondola, take that suckas!

Note the crazy people hiking in the bottom, just right of center.

I got to the Helbronner Point side and it looked like there was an observation deck there too, so I got out of the gondola to explore a little. And what should greet me but this nifty little sign!

I guess Helbronner Point is not adjacent to Italy, but actually in Italy! Who knew?! No passport stamp opportunity though, unfortunately.

With the Italian Alps and even some of the Swiss Alps behind me. One of those mountain peaks is the Matterhorn. (Selfie assessment: my one eye looks very suspicious of the camera and of course the background is crooked, but I guess this one is fine.)

I stayed just for a little while at Helbronner Point, but then remembered the forecast and figured I shouldn't dawdle too long, and got in the gondola to go back to the Chamonix side.

I thought that was Mont Blanc in the center.

But then I got to this peak and it looked pretty high too, so maybe this one was Mont Blanc?

The view opposite the two peaks that may or may not have been Mont Blanc. I am pretty certain that nothing in this picture is Mont Blanc.

So far, so good! Everything was going according to plan and the weather was still good and it was only about 12:45! What could possibly go wrong...

*Despite extensive pre-trip research, and all the time spent in the area today, I still have no idea how to pronounce "Aiguille".

**And also taking a brief rest to catch my breath because the air is thin up there for real.