The big gondola trip! This is the Aiguille du Midi, which we look up at from our chalet. It is the main tourist attraction in Chamonix. It takes you up close to Mont Blanc. Up to 5,000 people go up per day!
It involves two cable car rides on large gondolas, standing crammed in with about 60 other people. The first one takes you to 2317m where there is a cafe and alpine walks.
Then you get on to the second cable car which is almost vertical near the end, very steep. There is a driver in each car. This second one travels up to 45km per hour.
It arrives here at 3842m.
Then you walk over this bridge...
To this section. That is a tv transmission tower on the top, like Mt Wellington in Hobart, but way, way higher up.
There are numerous viewing platforms.
And internal tunnels and enclosed walkways with windows.
Then you hop onto small gondolas, each seating four people for an amazing journey above glaciers, into Italy. This is the one that got its cables tangled about an hour after we returned on it, and stranded dozens of people overnight!
At this point the gondolas move quite quickly and a bit joltingly, over some rollers which are suspended via cables connected to mountain tops.
Then you arrive in Italy, at the Point Helbronner station.
We had lunch with these views.
Lorretta just had to lean backwards against the sloping window, which I also did.
Looking down to Courmayeur, Italy, on the opposite side of the mountain range to Chamonix.
Mountain views at the Italian end.
After lunch we repeated the whole journey in reverse to return to Chamonix. Note the swirling clouds that started to come in at the Italian end as we were leaving. Possibly the cause of the tangled cables? But our whole journey was remarkably still and clear.
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