Don't tell us we can't do something!

What Lac Blanc will look like a little later this summer:

What we saw:

June 22, 2018

Today was our challenging yet rewarding day.  We had planned to go to the Mer de Glace today, but because the Aiguille du Midi was closed, we had already done that.  We had wanted to get in at least some kind of hike in the Alps, and we found ourselves with extra time today.  I have done the hike to Lac Blanc in the past (the first time when I was much younger and in better shape, we had walked from a campground on the far side of Chamonix to the village of La Paz just to start the full hike up, and then had to come back again).  This time we drove to La Paz, and decided to take the gondola up to the La Flegere station that cuts off about half of the hike if I remember correctly).  We were a little concerned as well because Becky’s foot had been hurting at the beginning of the trip, mine had recently been sore, and Zac is still recovering a little from minor ingrown toenail surgery on both feet right before the trip, but we figured we would try and see what we could do.

When I went to buy tickets for the gondola lift, the lady asked if we had better shoes or hiking poles for the hike.  As Californians who had packed light, we had didn’t really have good hiking gear.  She said that we wouldn’t be able to get all the way to the lake because there had been a lot of snow this year and this early in summer some of the path would still be blocked by snow.  She suggested some other easier hikes we could do once we got to the Flegere station though.  We did feel a little silly going up in the gondola because most people had real hiking boots, two hiking poles and layers of clothing.  We had shorts, t-shirts and tennis shoes (I did have water, ponchos for all of us, and our lunch in my back so we weren’t completely unprepared). 

Anyway, we decided to hike as close to Lac Blanc as we could and would turn around when we couldn’t get through.  None of us are in as good of shape as we would like to be so we took it slowly and rested when we needed to.  We were hoping to see a mountain goat or two, but that didn’t happen at first, but we did see a marmot. 

We got to a place where snow blocked the path so we decided to eat our lunch there before heading back down.  Katie (who probably had the shoes with the least tread) really wanted to keep going though so after lunch, I looked for another way up. I found a way to climb over some rocks where we still had to cross snow but it was at a relatively flat place instead of uphill.  So we decided to keep going.  Not too long after we found the other path, we were rewarded with seeing our first mountain goat – which we wouldn’t have seen if we had gone back.  We may not be in peak shape or have fancy hiking gear, but we are stubborn.  We found alternate paths where needed, and we eventually made it all the way up to Lac Blanc.  It was not the same scene Becky and I had seen before because it was still mostly covered in ice and snow, but it was still pretty spectacular.  We made it! 

Going down was not fun, especially for Katie’s slick shoes.  She was probably the best going up, but slipped a couple times coming down.  We made it back down to the gondola station about a half hour before the gondolas stopped running (we would not have been happy campers if we had been late for the last gondola down the mountain).  It all worked out though. 

We made it back in time for Zac and Katie to get a few more runs on the summer luge which Katie really wanted to do again.  Then this evening we found a charming hole-in-the wall bar/restaurant in old town and rewarded ourselves with crepes for dinner and dessert.  We have really enjoyed Chamonix, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants an Alpine experience!