The Mont Blanc Circuit Tour

The Mont Blanc Circuit Tour

Hiking around the base and through the passes of Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak
(except for those who count Elbrus as being in Europe). The hike takes you through
France, Switzerland, and Italy, since Mont Blanc sits near the point where all three meet.

Click on any photo to see a larger version

20000709-003c-4.jpg

Chamonix

Our flight was into Geneva, but we immediately took a pair of small vans over
to the French town of Chamonix, where our hiking tour was to begin and end.

20000716-016.jpg 20000716-017.jpg
Maps of the Chamonix Valley and Chamonix itself
20000716-019-1.jpg 20000716-019-2.jpg 20000716-019-3.jpg 20000716-019-4.jpg
Chamonix is very much a resort town, attracting skiers in the winter and hikers in the summer. We got there right at the end of the hiking season. I would compare it to sort of a French version of Aspen.
20000716-018-3.jpg 20000709-003b-1.jpg

See more of these photos


Hiking France (out of Chamonix)

Our hike began out of Chamonix actually on the north side of the valley
heading counter-clockwise around the circuit. Along the way we would pass
many small villages or isolated rest-houses that catered to hikers.

20000716-020-1.jpg
Melting snow makes many milky rivers
20000716-020-2.jpg 20000716-021-3.jpg
20000716-021-4.jpg 20000716-026-4.jpg 20000716-028-2.jpg
20000716-030-2.jpg 20000709-003b-3.jpg 20000810-002b.jpg
The usual reward after a long day's hike!
20000716-023-2.jpg 20000716-023-4.jpg 20000716-024-1.jpg 20000716-025-1.jpg
20000716-025-3.jpg
A carved water spout at a trough
20000716-029-1.jpg
Asking directions
20000716-034-4.jpg

See a bunch more of these photos


Hiking Italy

We are hiking through one of the many mountain passes along our way.
This one is along the border of France and Italy. The huts are from
World War II, and were used by the Italians to guard the pass. Now
they can be rented by vacationers (not us... we passed there around noon).

20000716-037-1.jpg 20000716-037-2.jpg 20000716-037-3.jpg 20000716-037-4.jpg
20000716-039-1.jpg 20000716-038-1.jpg 20000716-038-2.jpg 20000716-038-3.jpg

Hiking Switzerland

After Italy, we hiked into Switzerland. We were only in that country for
a short while (two nights, I think). The "Glacier Lake" in one of the
photos below was the scene of a disaster sometime in the 1990's. It is
a popular picnic area, but the lake is bordered by a glacier on the far
side of the photo. One day, a huge hunk of ice broke off the glacier and
caused an enormous wave that killed something like 15 people.

20000716-039-4.jpg 20000716-039-2.jpg
A big glacier that forks
20000716-040-3.jpg
20000716-040-4.jpg
Just kind of a cool bridge
20000716-043-1.jpg
They use very thick slate on the roofs. We saw this in Italy, as well.
20000716-043-2.jpg
20000716-044-2.jpg
From the front door of our hotel, the nicest one on our tour.
20000716-046-2.jpg
Snow on the trees above a certain altitude
20000716-046-4.jpg
High up in a pass
20000716-041-1.jpg
The glacier lake
20000716-041-2.jpg 20000716-041-3.jpg 20000716-041-4.jpg
Int'l sign for "Don't Fall Off!"
20000716-042-2.jpg
20000716-042-3.jpg 20000716-042-4.jpg 20000716-043-3.jpg 20000716-045-4.jpg

See more of these photos


Martigny, Switzerland

Martigny (pronounced like "martini") was a small city in Swizterland.
We spent a large part of one day there, staying up in the hills at a
small inn. I took the bus down into town to explore.

20000716-047-1.jpg
Martigny as seen from our inn.
20000716-047-2.jpg
Looking back up into the hills. Those are vineyards.
20000716-048-3.jpg
I went to small museum, with a sculpture garden.
20000716-049-1.jpg
These 3 are scenes from the sculpture garden
20000716-049-3.jpg 20000716-049-4.jpg
I think they paid this old lady to sit on the bench with the statue :-)
20000716-050-1.jpg
These 3 are Roman ruins, a small arena excavated in the 1970's
20000716-050-2.jpg
They use it to stage outdoor events, plays, etc
20000716-050-4.jpg

See more of these photos


Hiking back into France

20000716-051-3.jpg
Fairly heavy snow in the pass
20000716-052-3.jpg
Looking down into the valley, our destination. It was just a little cool there, as opposed to the snowy pass
20000716-054-3.jpg
A typical small hotel
20000716-053-2.jpg
Beatrice (the main guide) and Phillipe, an assistant. More on Beatrice below.
20000716-053-3.jpg
The wind was strong enough when these icicles formed they were horizontal
20000716-054-4.jpg
20000716-073-1.jpg 20000716-053-4.jpg Since there two Jo(h)n's on the hike, we had to have nicknames to tell us apart. John Wolfe was "Kathy's John". At left is how I got my nickname, "Shorts Jon". They couldn't believe I was hiking in the snow in shorts... but, hey, sometimes blubber comes in handy!

See more of these photos


Return to Chamonix

At the end of the hike, we had a few days to spend back in Chamonix

20000716-055-2.jpg 20000716-055-3.jpg 20000716-056-1.jpg

See more of these photos


Mer de Glace

French for "River of Ice", this was a large glacier that runs down
Mont Blanc. They have cog trains (see below) that take you to a point
about halfway up the "river". Every year they cut an ice cave into the side
of it so you can literally walk around inside of a glacier! They have to
cut a new cave each year, since it moves about 200 feet annually

20000716-057a.jpg 20000716-057b.jpg 20000716-062-1.jpg
The view of the glacier at the top of the track
20000716-059-2.jpg 20000716-059-3.jpg
Hotel at the top of the track
20000716-059-4.jpg
The modern cog trains
At right is an old version of a cog train. They climb steep grades by actually pulling themselves up along a rail that has gear teeth. You can see the rail in the previous photo 20000716-058-2.jpg 20000716-060-1.jpg
20000716-060-2.jpg
Cable cars down to the glacier itself
20000716-061-1.jpg
The ice cave
20000716-061-3.jpg

See more of these photos


Aiguille du Midi

20000716-063a.jpg 20000716-063b.jpg 20000716-064a.jpg 20000716-064b.jpg
The brochures above are a little hard to read, but pictures show the general layout. The ice field to right is the source of the "Mer De Glace" 20000716-066-2.jpg 20000716-066-3.jpg
Looking back down toward the valley and Chamonix
20000716-068-1.jpg
A set of smaller cable cars took you across the ice field to the Italian side of the summit
20000716-065-3.jpg
That's the peak of Mont Blanc in the background
20000716-065-4.jpg 20000716-067-3.jpg 20000716-067-4.jpg

See more of these photos


20000716-070-1.jpg

Geneva

At the end of the trip we got to spend an evening and
a day in Geneva. We spent the time exploring a little bit.
Our hotel is at left

20000716-070-2.jpg 20000716-070-3.jpg 20000716-072-1.jpg 20000716-072-2.jpg
The old church at right occupied a site that had been built on again and again since the Romans were in the area. They were excavating underneath, uncovering tilework from Roman times. 20000716-072-3.jpg 20000716-071a.jpg 20000716-071b.jpg

See more of these photos


People

The usual "core" group was myself, the Kierspe's, and the Wolfes. You
can see more of us five on the Mt. Whitney, Kilimanjaro, and Sea of Cortez
photo pages. We were combined with others to make up the full tour complement.

20000810-002c.jpg
Our group. I look like a big bumblebee in that yellow jacket.
20000810-002d.jpg
Phillipe, an assistant guide is in the middle
20000810-003c.jpg 20000810-003a.jpg
Our lead guide, Beatrice, is shown at right. Her grandfather was a famous Alpinist, and they were currently shooting a TV movie about his life. She was going to get a cameo in the film, doing some climbing shots as stunt double for one of actresses. Highly recommended, even if she did yell at us for drinking too much beer. 20000716-035-1.jpg

her card

20000716-019a-3.jpg
Nicolas, the other assistant guide. He also came from a family of alpinists.
20000716-034-3.jpg