The original plan was to spend the first day in Courmayeur backtracking to La Visaille and walking back to Courmayeur, then actually resting on the second day. In reality, we both rested on the first day, and only Dave went back to do the missed section on the second day.
We decided to head to the SkyWay Monte Bianco–the new gondola up to 11,000ft which, on a good day, offers panoramic views of Mont Blanc. This was not a good day, weather-wise, with plenty of cloud up top. But we enjoyed it nonetheless.
We took a public bus on a circuitous route to the SkyWay. The cashier warned us that there was no visibility up top, but we went for it anyway.
This two-stage gondola is relatively new, and has a unique feature where the viewing cabin rotates as the gondola ascends and descends, so no worries about whether you’ve positioned yourself in the best spot on the gondola. Well, except that on the second stage, I decided to sit in the center and couldn’t figure out why my view never changed even though I could see the cabin rotating. Doh!!!
Here’s a view looking down from the first stage.
At the station at the top of the first stage, you get out of the first gondola and walk a short distance to the second one. We were amused by the mountaineering window cleaner, fully roped up and equipped as if he were climbing K2!
It occurred to me when we paused for coffee at the top station that I was rather inappropriately dressed for the conditions! Funny to sit there sipping lattes watching people in full mountaineering gear, roped together, traipsing across the glacier below.
The nice thing about being warned of NO visibility is that it feels like an absolute treat when there are glimpses of more…
Looking back down to the old gondola station, the lower of the two buildings. The higher building is a refuge.
Even more clearing! We never did see Mont Blanc itself though. We’ll have another chance from Chamonix.
We did get to see the Aguille du Midi, barely! It’s the spire on top of the rock:
Heading back down to the mid station.
There was a lovely adventure playground at the mid station–would have felt miraculous if we’d had little kids in tow! Loved this pull-across raft.
Mid station.
Heading back down to the bottom. All the buildings in the bottom right are processing areas for heading through the Mont Blanc Tunnel
Great timing–the bus was waiting at the bottom so we just hopped on. Much shorter journey back to the hotel. We arrived just in time for some spots of rain. It was thundery and rainy off and on through the evening. Weary Dave with the threatening clouds in the background…
We had dinner at La Terrazza–really good food and a lovely family-run place.
The next day, Dave headed off by bus back to La Visaille and walked the high route back to Courmayeur. I did something much more exciting:
In the 30 minutes while the clothes were in the washer and again in the dryer, I explored Courmayeur. It’s a much lovelier place than I expected. There’s a whole pedestrianized area, and many public areas with free city-provided wifi. What more could you want!
As soon as the laundry was done, I took it back to the hotel, and then set off on foot for the Courmayeur gondola so I could rendezvous with Dave. Alas after a 20 minute walk, I discovered that gondola was not operating, so I should have taken the one in the other direction. I felt like I was running out of time (and energy–I was supposed to be resting!) so didn’t hoof it to the other one. Instead, I went back to the hotel and caught up on blogging.
Once Dave was back, we had a siesta, then went out for coffee and ice cream. Broiling hot at this point.
Tonight, we have a 7pm reservation at La Terrazza again.
This entry was posted in Tour du Mont Blanc 2018