Hotel Gourmets et Italy Chamonix

... control recently has broken down, this was the perfect sign to follow, where I planed to cross the border to Switzerland.

Just arrived in late afternoon to Aosta, I was not only already entered to the italian part of the alps but also to the point of good bye. Here I decided not to spend another night in Italy and crossed the border to my homecountry Switzerland a hour later at Calle del Gran San Bernardo.

BIENVENUE EN SUISSE - WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND

... a glimpse of a massive glacier on our way to the mountain and later got a great view from a peak further down the ridge. I saw a glacier this summer in Montana's Glacier Nat'l Park but I have to say that despite the parks breathtaking views, its glaciers were hardly impressive compared to Chamonix. This was a legit, man eating, climber scaling, cavernous abyss kind of glacier. We were able to take a gondola that ascended the peak parallel to the glacier some 12,000 feet. After nearly ...

... into MacD's and decided a big mac meal for 6 euros would hit
the spot. This was a very unique McDonalds, done up in
mountaineering theme and was located out of the way, as for 2 ½
visits to Chamonix, I did not know it was there. After lunch I
wandered around town for a bit as it started to brighten. Back to
the room to read and ready for dinner, although I was not hungry
after the meal at the arches. I headed out for dinner, still not
hungry and after seeing a ...

... up to
me and I was ready for the bed.



Wednesday 10-21



I got up to a cloudy day and
headed to the town center to go to the Tourist Information (TI)
office to pick up some maps for my travels in the area. The wind was
howling and the TI rep told me that all the lifts were closed due to
the winds, so no travels up the mountain today. I picked up the
maps, headed to the town center to pick up a sandwich and then
headed back to ...

... poorly marked. Half the streets in Europe are so narrow anyways; they all look like one ways. So this car pulls up behind up and blocks us in, sweet, it’s the cops. They tell us we went up a one way.... So we honestly tell them it was a mistake and we're trying to turn around. Then they ask us where we are coming from and how much have we had to drink? Here we go... We had 1 big bottle of beer each 2 hours ago, then split ...

... was doing the 3 hour climb again. The next day was up into the mountains. We where staying at the base of Mont Blanc which i think is the highest peak in Europe at 4800m. Well this is what my information source tells me but his not very reliable, kinda smells funny, drinks to much and he goes by the name of Adam. So hit the cable car called Aigulle Du Midi which was at the end of the street which does pretty much 2 vertical climbs to a ...

The reason I went to France was to go skiing at chamonix/Mont Blanc, which i did and it was fantastic and i will be doing again very soon before i get tied up.. while i was there i did the world famous ski run Valley de blanche you ski over a glacier. which is amazing, the veiws you get on theis run are spectacular. definately take a camera.
to start this run however you take a gondola up to the summit of Aguille de medie (i'm unsure of the correct ...

Today we drove to Chamonix today to visit our friends Elizabeth and Sylvain and their 2 girls Zoe (2yrs) and Sydonie (2 months). The 6 hour drive was not too bad and with my international drivers licenses in hand, I had my first taste of what it is like to drive the highways of France. We may be seeing a ticket in the mail soon. Drivers ride so close and fast that you are constantly forced to drive like a maniac as well. As you can see from the pictures, this place is absolutely ...

Late season Snowboarding is, if left to the last minute, awesome. Blue Sky days, empty slopes, and if you are really lucky, decent snow coverage. Thankfully, it dumped a ton the day I got to Chamonix, so it had the perfect conditions. What better way to test a new Snowboard?

... and everyone laughed. This started a conversation with the British guys. They were in Chamonix on Holiday. Really good ole chaps. We had a fabulous time talking to them and we all decided to have a few beers together. We descended the mountain and went to a little bar. I knew what time that the last train left and we had plenty of time so we stayed and enjoyed our new friends until the last minute. This is not where the trouble began. We were a ...