Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix

The dinner last night was very good, as was the service considering the restaurant had to serve 129 people. The speeches were short and had funny moments, so they were also enjoyable. It was a late one though - I got to sleep at 1.15am and by then could barely function as I was so tired from my lack of sleep the night before. The young members of staff went out clubbing - the night club only opens at 2am. I don't know how they do it! Unfortunately one person stood on a broken piece of glass which came right through his shoe and he had to go to hospital at 3am this morning!

This morning the forecast was for low, thick cloud so it was a pleasant surprise to see bright blue skies. Gavin was up and out the door early to go skiing and did not get back until 5pm. After breakfast I wandered around the village looking at the shops, but it was very cold -6C. At midday I met up with another person who was not skiing and we went up the Aguille du Midi, the mountain that towers over the town of Chamonix that is in the Mont Blanc massif of the French Alps.

A 20 minute ride in 2 cable cars gets you to 3842m/12605ft. It is a world attraction and was the highest cable car in the world from when it was built in 1955 for about two decades. We were warned that it was very cold up there at -26C and that one can get affected by the high altitude. It was very cold when we stepped out of the second cable car, but it was so interesting walking through the glass tunnel looking at the views below. We also walked through the pipe, an engineering feat that was completed in 2016 which is a 32m tube allowing access to the other side of the mountain (see extra). I did feel dizzy and light headed from the high altitude and at one point and to sit down with my head between my legs! It was however a worthwhile trip and the views from there over Mont Blanc are just incredible. In my blip you can see the village of Chamonix far below in the distance, and if you look carefully at the bottom right corner of the image you can see some skiers walking the very dangerous ridge before skiing down the Vallée Blanche route to the village below.

After we came down again we had a light lunch in the town. We have another group dinner tonight (but smaller groups and less people) and then tomorrow morning we depart to go back home again.