February 6th, 2015 - Argentiere, France - Day 172
Peter's POV
Today is our last ski day in Chamonix, my and my parents woke up and headed out for our last couple runs at La Tour. We hopped on the bus and headed out. When we got to the top of La Tour we tried to ski a run that we saw on our way up that required a log traverse like thing.
When we finally got into our line we found a couple tight turns of nice snow but decided that it was not worth the long traverse.
Mountains around La Tour
Capped off the last run of the day with a big cliff
We did our last couple runs and got into the house before lunch. In the afternoon we decided to go and see the Aiguillie du Midi which required a 20 minute bus ride to Chamonix, then a 30 minute cable car ride up to the top. When we got to the cable car station we found no line and asked the person at the ticket booth if our ski passes would get us up there. He said that they would but there was no visibility.
The side of the car
The cramped car
The car heading back down
After getting to the mid-station of the cable car we found that the sky was cloudless, except for a little cloud around the Midi.
View from the mid-station
After a thrilling ride to the top we were coming up a nearly vertical cable into the station, when the cable car suddenly lurched then stopped. I looked at the door to see if it was opening but the platform was about half way up the door from the floor of the car. I tuned to see the driver taking out his phone. About half a minute later the cable car started slowly rising until the we were level with the platform then the doors opened.
The steep ascent into the station
Coming into the Midi
View from one of the platforms.
The exciting ride to the top
We walked through tunnels of rock and came to a bridge linking the two peaks of the Midi. We wandered around for a couple more minutes until we came upon an ice cave where someone was blowtorching the ice to create a wider opening. This was the exit to Valley Blanc. We walked around a little bit more and headed down the cable car.
Glacier Ice
The exit to Valley Blanc
When we got to the bottom we were all freezing so we hopped into a cafe to grab a couple coffees and hot chocolates. We walked around shopping for another hour or so then grabbed a bus home. After getting back to the apartment we packed up a little bit and called it a night.