What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

Travelling independently by car allowed us to adjust our schedule and we picked a sunny clear period to visit one of the major draw cards for French tourism - Chamonix ! We were absolutely spot on in doing so, because going up the famed Aiguille du Midi (Needles At Midday) could be a dicey business, as high winds could force the closure of the famous cable car at the very last minute and of course a clear blue sunny day up Mont Blanc added 10 times the colors and spectacle of this famous European mountain range. 
Having encountered some of the well known atrocious rainy/sunny/snowy 4-seasons-in-1-day pattern in Switzerland, the weather gradually stablised as we said goodbye to the charming and friendly city of Martigny after spending a sunny morning climbing up the city castle of Chateau de la Batiaz; where the strategic location of Martigny all became apparent because we could see miles of gentle valley all around us, leading in all four directions, thus making this city an important transport hub. We came through the Mont Blanc Tunnel from Aosta to the charming village town of Chamonix. Chamonix surprisingly retained much of the village vibe and leisure pace, considering it had been a magnet of a year-round tourist spot for Summer hikes and Winter sports. We stayed at a modern log cabin look-a-like (multi-levels) just 5 minutes' walk from the cable car entrance of Auguille du Midi but the nice lady at the ticket stall told us we could not buy tickets in advance for tomorrow as the cable cars might not run because of the high winds ! Yikes !

Luckily a bright almost wind-less blue morning greeted us the following day and we bought our tickets to go on the 16th cable car of the day (about 30 minutes after buying the tickets) and were stuck with a large group of muscular Asian Mama who elbowed their way in all directions to get to advantageous view points inside the cable car ... ha hum ... The first sensation which awaited us at the top was in fact, a drop of more than 30 degrees, from a mild 25 C at the starting point to a wind-chilled -10 C up at the peaks ! We were prepared with woollys alright but we saw backpackers wearing flimsy T-shirts trying to pull up their ankle socks up to their shins to cover their bare thighs ! (They ended up in the warm coffee shop for most of their sight-seeing ...). All around us was stunning snowy peaks framed against a cobalt blue sky, with dramatic glacier gorging deep into the mountains of Mont Blanc - truly one of the most photogenic places we had ever come across. There were also adrenaline-filled sports addicts with their skis and ice climbing gears who braved the descent back down to Chamonix, zig-zag-ing across the steep fields of blanketing snow ! We spent a good 6 hours up at the peak and took a picnic lunch at the midway point (Plan Du Auguille) and that was one of the most interesting and spectacular days in all our journeys. The fun did not stop there as the following day, we hiked up to the view point of Glacier Des Bossons and managed to witness and videoed a mini-avalanche (see video above !). We said our fond farewell to this lovely spot in the world and drove on to the Black Forest of Germany and had the famous Gateau as a mid-morning coffee break one day before flying back home from Munich. The Black Forest Gateau was a fitting reward for such an adventurous journey !