My favorite thing to do in Chamonix is take the cable car to the top of the 3,800 m Aiguille du Midi.
Once at Aiguille du Midi you can hang around for the views, set off on a climb of Mont Blanc, or take a cable car over the glacier to Italy. I did two out of three.
This is looking down at a triplet of cars arriving from Pointe Helbronner in Italy.
A set of cars are coming in and we're next. The Valle Blanche Cable Car crosses from Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m) to Pointe Helbronner (3,462 m) but only in the summer months and then only when the weather is clear.
We got off the cable car at Pointe Helbronner in Italy. (You can keep going, all the way to Courmayeur, but we didn't.) The viewing platform was socked in by clouds so after we walked around we grabbed a cable car back to France.
On the ride back we shared a car with a couple who were also from northern California.
Looking NE from inside the Pointe Helbronner to Aiguille du Midi cable car.
The cable car brought us back to the Aiguille du Midi. Then we climbed up to an observation deck.
This was shot from the deck on top of the shorter of the two rocky needles, the aiguilles, while looking at the taller needle. On the lower left you can see the bridge that connects them. Once over the bridge and inside the rock there is an elevator to the top.
This is looking down to the lower observation deck with Chamonix on the valley floor. You can also see a bit of the bridge between the points.
This is looking southwest from the top of the Aguille du Midi. If you look closely, right in the middle of the photo on that rock point, you can see rock climbers.
When the sun is out there is nary a bad view from the top. But I suppose it's time to move on.
