June 6 – 10, 2023
The ride there
Day 1
Day 2
Day 2.5
Day 3
The ride home
WARNING: Lots of Photos
We had a short wait for the trail that would take us up to the Mer de Glace but the weather was still perfect (if not a little too hot in the sun), and the station was clean and quiet.
Heading up the mountain
We’re being passed!
The rails have a long history, being first laid in 1908 – much to the concern of the locals, who had previously made their money by taking tourists to the glacier on their mules. You can read about the development of the tracks on this link. I found a nice, short and interesting read!
Approaching the carved-valley below the glacier
Twenty minutes later, the end of the line for the rails
The Mer du Glace (“sea of ice”) is France’s longest glacier, at 7 km long. But it is getting shorter every year, and at an alarming rate. When we disembarked from the train, we followed the path (and the light crowds) to a small gondola that was built to take us lazy tourists down to the level of the glacier. Except that the glacier was no longer there: it had receded far enough that while in 1988 you only had to climb down three steps to reach the ice grotto, now one needed to descend 430 steps to reach the ice.
Looking across the top of the gondola to the glacier
Glacier? What glacier?
Sign illustrating the glacier levels (top – 1820, not sure of the bottom line)
Today
We exited the gondola and started walking. The pathway was well built, but there was evidence along the way of how the path had been extended and adjusted to accommodate the changing landscape. And for a more obvious indicator, “Year” plaques were mounted to show the level of the entrance to the ice caves at that time.
It was a very depressing walk, to be honest.
1985: 38 years ago
1985 at top right, 2001 bottom left (16 years difference)
2003 bottom center (20 years ago)
And it keeps going down
2005 (18 years ago)
Looking back up – the gondola’s platform was level with the glacier in 1998
2015 (8 years ago)
2018 (5 years ago) – we’re dropping fast now
The mouth of the grotto at the end of the glacier
Previous entry tunnels above
We were able to enter a tunnel carved into the glacier, showing us the beautiful clear ice inside. Information plaques were set up to inform people how glaciers form and flow, and silly carved ice areas were inset into the walls. It was pretty cool (figuratively) to be inside a glacier!
We had explored the cave and now it was time to climb back up to the gondola. I could see that they were building a new gondola, a little further up the valley, that would eliminate the need for the steps. But excepting “accessibility” needs, I think that the stairs are important. They really illustrate the loss of ice and the speed at which is it melting.
Amazing geology visible on the way back up
I posted this picture above, but now compare it to the photo below
A look back at history (1895)
Now that we were back at the station, the only thing to do at this point was to get on the next train and go back to the valley. It had been a busy day already, and we were getting hungry. It was a quieter ride back down the mountain, and we were only too happy to find a place to sit out of the sun and enjoy a meal.
There are no bad views in Chamonix
Loved the roofline murals
It was a relaxing evening and we made further plans for more hiking the next day. This would be my most active motorcycle trip ever!