Wednesday,
June 16 1999 : Excursion to the High Alps
We boarded our
chartered bus at 9am and headed for Chamonix valley, home of
the highest mountain in the French Alps. As we drove, the early
morning clouds burned off, revealing a sparkling Mt Blanc as
we arrived in the town of Chamonix. We immediately boarded a
cog railway for the ascent to the Mer de Glace glacier, taking
a red electric train of a kind familiar to all Alpine travelers.
 
At the Montenvers
station, at the end of the line, we saw a breathtaking vista
of mountains and glaciers. After posing for a group photo, the
students (and our bus driver) elected to walk down to the glacier,
knowing full well that a cablecar was available to bring them
back up.
 
Below, a panorama
of the Mer de Glace glacier and surrounding mountains.
In the glacier
one finds an ice cave, excavated every year for the enjoyment
of tourists. While deep inside the cave one can find only tacky
ice carvings, the entrance to the cave glows an unearthly blue-green,
which impresses all who enter the frozen corridor.
 
Inside the cave,
Jen and Renée had their picture taken with the resident
Saint Bernard, and noted that the photographer created a computer-generated
image rather then the Polaroid that they had expected. After
exiting the cave and returning to the Montenvers train station,
we had lunch on the platform; Jennifer saw that the lower air
pressure at altitude caused her bag of potato chips to swell
up like a balloon; the others enjoyed the picnic lunches packed
by their French host families before we returned to Chamonix
to climb Mt Brévent.
  
The photo below
shows the first set of cablecars that we rode to PlanPraz, the
halfway point in our ascent to the top of Mt Brévent (which
can be seen at left in the photo, towering a mile higher than
the valley floor). Two of the students chose not to take advantage
of the view on our ride from Planpraz to Mt Brévent: Renée
was feeling queasy from the rocking motion of the gondola, and
Lisa decided to join her on the floor in order to avoid acrophobia.
Both successfully made it to the top, to the congratulations
of the entire group.
 
On top of the
mountain, clouds were blowing in; we donned all of the extra
clothing we had brought as the temperature fluctuated wildly.
We never did get a very clear view of Mt Blanc from this vantage
point, but all enjoyed the drama of the clouds rushing by. After
waiting nearly an hour at the top, we headed back down to Chamonix
to get in a little sightseeing.
 
We were home
in Faverges a bit after 7pm. We were all quite pleased with the
day but all will surely feel today's climbs and hikes in their
legs tomorrow!
Thursday, classes as
usual, starting at 9 in the morning...
Friday, we will have another whole-day
excursion to several historic sites.
Next report, probably
Sunday.
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