It was a rather long drive to Chamonix today but the weather was pretty much perfect when we arrived: sunny, clear and cool.
After dropping our luggage at the hotel we took the cable car to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. The cable car was built in 1955 and held the title of the world's highest cable car for about two decades. It still holds the record as the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world, from 1,035 m (0.6 miles) to 3842 m (2.4 miles). There are two sections: from Chamonix to Plan de l'Aiguille at 2,317 m (1.4 miles) and then directly, without any support pillar, to the upper station at 3,777 m (2.3 miles) (the building contains an elevator to the summit). The cable car travels from Chamonix to the top of the Aiguille du Midi – an altitude gain of over 2,800 m (1.7 miles) – in 20 minutes. [thanks, Wikipedia]
This is a view from the midpoint, Plan de l'Aiguille. You can see the cables for the upper tramway on the right side of the picture.
And the Bossons Glacier (that is its 'foot' creeping down the mountain).
And this is what it looks like at the top.
Some people choose not to take the cable car back down.
We took a walk around town afterwards. This is an example of the kind of views available.
This is the view from our hotel room balcony.
This is the l'Arve river running just below our balcony. Its interesting color is due to glacial melt.
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