Mountain Magic

We have only this moment
Sparkling like sun in our hands and melting like a snowflake. *

I read a fellow blipper say recently that sometimes we just know, in a moment, what our blip will be. I love those moments, being alive to their opportunity, catching them when we're unawares.
This morning when the Aiguille Verte sparkled through the trees as we climbed out from Tre-le-Champ I was sure it was todays moment - tonight it's not even an extra.
Taking Mrs IttH to the Lacs de Cheserys via the ladders at the Aiguillete it slowly turned from nice to glorious to whatever is better than that. The ladders were just the right mix of challenge and fun, the Lacs as ever were sparkling jewels. Just a little off the beaten track there were a few people at the first 'hidden' lake - we had the second to ourselves. It's a wonderful place, alpine newts swim up for air, flowers abound and the water so clear the depth of the Lac impossible to tell.
Regular followers will be aware of my utter disinterest in swimming, it simply does nothing for me - but today I was taken by a deep deep urge to get in the water. It was wonderful and, at 2150m above sea level, more than a little exhilarating. Such a rare occurrence that I've recorded it in an extra.

Walking back across the top of the impressive Cheserys cliff, under the jagged mass of the Aiguille Rouge I was sure that the view of the Dru from the Lac would become my blip (in extras now).

But sometimes when you think you know... Well a moment wanders over a rock, and stares you in the face with a curiousity you can only reflect . The descent to the Col du Montetts was a wonder of wildlife encounters, this charming lass (its her kid in extras) posed so beautifully for me in front of the Argientire Glacier that she stole the day. She was wonderfully confident and that let us get far closer than usual, a real moment of mountain magic.

*Sir Francis Bacon