From the Midday Needle to the Sea of Ice

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This is one of the classic backcountry rides in Chamonix, comparable to doing Half Dome in Yosemite.

We started off the day by riding the gondola up to the L'Aguille du Midi, which is about 12,600 feet above sea level. Then we immediately put crampons on our feet, strapped our boards to our packs, and were roped together by Johnny so that we could inch slowly down a steep ridge with about 30 others who arrived on the same gondola.

We rode a bit and then stopped. The moment I had been dreading. More hiking! We put on snowshoes, and this time, we were all roped together. This, I hated more than anything. Roped together with 5 guys who were all taller and fitter than me. For the most part, I was breaking my own trail. Instead of being able to step in their snowshoe tracks, I was forced to walk 3 steps for their every 2 at a much faster pace than I'm used to.

Johnny's a nice guy, but calling him "impatient" would almost be an understatement. There is no resting when he's leading, and everyone is marching too fast to chat. When you break for lunch or the bathroom, you know that you can't be dilly-dallying; you have to be very efficient. Because the second you finish your sandwich, he'll be clicking into his skis, and you'll be thinking wistfully of the dessert that you didn't have time to eat.

So basically, within a short amount of time, the rope between Ed and me became very taut and the rope between Simon and me became very slack. In fact, poor Ed was practically dragging me up the hill half the time. I thought maybe I'd end up pulling him off his feet. But he's a big gentle guy and didn't complain once about it. I was so frustrated with the pace that by the time we had our lunch break, I could barely speak. I just ate and plotted ways I could drop out of this course and join the Technical Clinic instead.

We boarded down into the Mer de Glace, which is a large valley with a glacier creeping through it. This was the first time I have ever seen a glacier outside of a photo. It's weird how man-made objects usually have to be symmetrical and perfect to be considered attractive. A glacier *should* by all criteria be considered ugly. It's rough and random, not to mention the color of Windex and toilet bowl cleaner. Yet somehow, it was staggeringly beautiful.

We stopped to take photos, then continued along an ice bridge (huge crevasses along either side), twisted and turned around a lot of rocks, and ended up at one of the major tourist attractions in Chamonix for those who neither ski nor board...the Ice Caves. These are man-made caves, drilled into the glacier. One of the caves contained life-size wax figures of mountaineers in various tableux. It also featured a room where you can have your picture taken with a wax Saint-Bernard, who has the stereotypical barrel affixed to his collar.

Because there was no longer enough snow to ski out of the valley, we ended the day by hiking up a long wooden staircase attached to the cliff walls. As we went up, we had to steer around tourists in jeans and sweatshirts and their passels of kids strolling down to view the caves. At the top, we waited in line for a cable car that took us to the train station. From there, we took a train back to the hotel for a well-deserved beer and a rest in front of the telly to watch a rugby game. The Brits had to interpret of course, especially as much of rugby consists of players throwing the ball backwards.