Photos & Reports Index

Photos Of This Trip

Day 1 Thurs.

Robin picked me up at about 8.30pm, popping over to Vicki's to get the trip t shirts and managed to waylaid in the pub before getting to Robins, after a nice single and looking a Robin's Nepal photos we crashed at 10.30 (so much for an early night).

Day 2 Fri.

With the alarm set for 3.20 am I woke at 3 a quick shower and coffee and headed to MK to pick up Tim, not quite getting lost in the maze. Beating Vicki to the airport (so much for getting there early) with only a 30 min delay we landed at Geneva to get the minibus over the border to Chamonix, off loaded the bags at Crêtés Blanches, went to find lunch in the supermarket and Vicki and me went to find the train times and sort out the lift passes (not that easy when the cashier only spoke a little English and Vicki only speaks a little French).

After finding the others we all piled in to the cable car along with 30 Japanese for a rocky ride to Aguille du Chight for a fairly flat walk to the Mere du Glas ( well almost there where a few ups and downs) and to a great view of the glacier. Some decided to catch the rack and pinion train down to Chamonix but 6 of us headed down 1000m to meet the rest, who were drinking a formidable of beer (1 litre) by the station .

Heading back to the hotel we stopped to sort out the crampons and to get lunch from the supermarket, then a shower and out to dinner at La Restaurant La Pontiere where we sorted what we were doing the next day with Vicki having snails and Kevyn and others having meat fondue (which seemed to take several days to cook and eat!)

Day 3 Sat

Up with the larks and despite not being able to sleep was not able to get down to reception for the 7am start. A quick dash to the boulangerie for a bagette for lunch and a croissant for breakfast and met at the station with Christian at 7.40, catching the train up the valley taking in the views of the Mere du Glace getting of at La Tour.

Here we sat for at hot chocolate waiting for the gondoliers to open. After heading up we then got on the chairlifts to where we started the walk at 2100m. From here it was only a 10 min walk into Switzerland but we were going the other way following the path up the valley up to glacier du tour to the refuge 2700 m where we stopped for lunch. But before that we had a 200m climb up though the snow. Lunch included snow chilled cartons of wine and some of Christians home brew of plum schnapps, very nice but questionable when some of us carried up to 2900m. On the way back to the refuge a helicopter was seen dropping off supplies. The snow down was quickly descended by boot skiing or bum sliding. With only a quick rain shower we soon made it back to the mid cable car station which took us back down to catch the train back to Chamonix, in time to hire the boots, crampons and ice axe for the next day's adventure.

That done a quick shower and change and headed out for dinner. Some off us retired early but a handful of us found a bar that had live music (man and guitar) and was showing the Argentine Mexico match.

When the guitar man stopped for a break Steve got up and played one of his sets, which he had been giving a preview on the hills the hills for the past 2 days.

Day 4 Sun

Good nights sleep despite someone setting off bangers in the middle of the night. Up at 7 grab a pain au raisen from the boulangerie to get the 7.45 cable car to Aiguille du Midi, meeting our guides Alex and Luke for the glacier walk.

Getting off the cable car at 3700m we walked though the tunnels of rock and snow, donning our crampons and wealding our ice axes, heading down a 45° ridge down to the glacier, leaving Kevyn and Robin to complete a set of special tasks set in the restaurant the night before.

The plan was to walk over the glacier into Italy and get the cable car back, but the weather was coming in and it was thought that theywould be running when we got there so instead we did a loop around the glacier, stopping only to put on coats in the snow storm and soon taking them off when the sun came out again as we headed back up the ridge.

All retired to cafeteria for a drink and headed down to meet Kevyn and Robin in a bar in town to see how they got on with their tasks (they managed to do the mooning from the mini train !).

It was then decided to get the train up to Argentiere and catch the cable car up to Aig des Grands Montets but after a mile walk to find the cable car station we missed the last cable car and then we found a bridge that took us straight back to the station, so we joined the others in the café and waited for the train back.

Dinner was an experience - myself Vicki and Kevyn opted for a DIY meat dish, and after the meat fondue of the first night we were a bit worried that we would not be able to cook it fast enough but that was far from the problem, a 2 foot long by 1 high BBQ turned up, that you could not sit nearer than 2m away and which burned the hair off anyone cooking on it!

Most of us retired to an English bar and ended up playing many of Steve's silly games.

Day 5 Mon

An easy day or that was the plan. Up at 7.30 for 8.00 breakfast in the hotel to catch the 9.30 bus to Le Bosson to get the cable car to the start of the glacier. The only problem was that on arriving we found out they did not open till 1 pm. So it was a 400m climb to the chalet. There some of us decided to see if could get to where the two glazers split, a 1300m climb if time allowed. We made it to the next chalet and kept on going to 2200m, but it was decided we were not going to make it to the top in time so we headed back down and met up with some of the others who had spent the day drinking beer and wine at the bottom chalet (had to go on to the wine cos the toilets were too grotty and the beer was too filling, to quote Kevyn) Then caught the chair lift which was working by then and the bus back to Chamonix.

We then headed to the town square to have a bite to eat before wandering back to the hotel and waiting for the bus back to the airport.

As some of us had been to Geneva airport before we knew not to dash to the delights of the duty free, as we know that it would be all shut. So we sat in the balcony bar and enjoyed a drink and watched the planes take off. On passing though security we found that our plane was 50 mins late so the rucksack s were raided and all the leftover snacks were polished off while watching the Switzerland game. The plane took off and we managed to get back before our parking ticket ran out at midnight.

I would like to thank Vicki for all her hard work again and look forward to her next trip - The Dolomites next year.

Report by John

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