We treated ourselves and bought Mont Blanc passes.
Getting up very early, we made sure we were at the departure gates at opening time, joining all the eager climbers.
First we took two telecabines up to the Aiguille de Midi at 3,842 metres, it’s the highest point you can go before strapping on some ice krampons to start an ascent of the peak of Mont Blanc.
At the top there are several outdoor viewing platforms to look out across Europe and at the peak of Mont Blanc – amazing views! There’s also “Step into the Void” a perspex box that you can walk out into, you’re standing over a sheer drop on the side of the mountain.
We both felt the altitude in our legs when climbing the stairs. It’s got 64% of oxygen available compared to at sea level.
After a quick stop for more pictures on the changeover point for the telecabines, we went to catch the train which takes you up the side of the mountain to visit the Mer de Glace glacier and its ice cave.
When originally built, the station would bring you out almost on a level with the ice of the glacier, then as the glacier shrank they built a cable car to take you down to the ice, this was swept away and rebuilt in the 80s. Since then the glacier has continued to shrink, and now to get from the cable car to the glacier you have to walk down 500 stairs, they add another 10-15 steps to this staircase each year to reach it. Once at the bottom you can go in the Ice Cave (Grotte de Glace) which is a tunnel they carve out of the glacier each year. You walk into the blue space seeing bits of debris in the ice and bubbles of air. They have images of how the glacier has disappeared over the years, with predicted images for the next 25 years, so you can’t help but wonder during your visit how long the glacier actually has left…