Verbier, Chamonix, Mont Blanc
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2009
1
12
27
Trip End
Dec 12, 2009
Chamonix, Rhône-Alpes, France
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Date: 14/10/2009
Location: Chamonix (Mont Blanc), France
Beers consumed to date: 485
The original plan to go to the top of the Matterhorn didnt exactly work out as planned. We discovered that the tickets were 90 Swiss Francs each, or about 100 Australian Dollars and decided that was too much to pay for a cable car
Up in the mountains above Verbier
. Instead then we walked around the town and bought a few souvenirs. We drove off at about 2pm and headed somewhere where we could stay near snow. We stopped by a couple of info centres and asked about any towns near snow where we could stay. Coming from a hot climate we craved to use our sleeping bags to their full extent and see some snow near or on the van. The answer was a town about an hours drive from the Matterhorn in a SE direction called Verbier. The steep mountain drive had obviously been used for the Tour de France mountain stage section earlier that year as the road was covered in slogans of encouragement for the riders. Once arriving in the town we headed to its outskirts to find the highest point we could stay. After a drive up a road tourists obviously werent meant to be on we found a spot that overlooked the surrounding mountains and the town. Verbier is a picturesque village set high on the mountains and is popular among many celebrities as a winter holiday retreat.Dinner that night was a curry, which turned out to be a nightmare after it took 2 hours to cook it and the rice turned into a slurry. Nevertheless it passed some time before we went to bed. That night turned out to be colder than we anticipated with what I guess to be about -5 degrees
The Matterhorn
. Water bottles inside the van froze, and the outside temperature must have been at least 5 worse. It was a good experience though, and probably the coldest it will get on this trip. In the morning I got up early and walked up to the surrounding ridge to watch the sunrise, then walked for another hour around the mountains. From the hill I could also see a house catch fire and about a 10 minute wait before the firefighters got there. Today we drove to Chamonix in France and took the cable car up to Mont Blanc. It was at least -15 up on the mountain and allowed us to fool around in some proper powder snow. It was also a cool experience being at the tallest point in Europe, having been on the tallest mountain in Germany a few days previous. The town of Chamonix was not full of excitement tonight as we looked for something to do and are now heading off to bed early (9pm). Tomorrow's plans are to go back into Italy through the Mont Blanc tunnel before heading for the coast.
