The first of five set of pictures from a holiday to Chamonix-Mont Blanc in mid-September.  This batch is from the first full day on the 13th.

Day1Climb2 Day1Climb

After taking the La Flagère télépherique (cable car with large enclosed cabin) up from Les Praz (1060 m), we climbed up the north side of the valley from the top of the lift [45 57 37 N, 6 53 13 E] at 1880 m.  (The 3D view of Google Earth is highly recommended for this!)

Day1View MerdeGlacefromNorth

Views directly across the Chamonix valley, with the Mer de Glace glacier on the right.

MontBlancfromNorth2 MontBlancfromNorth

Views further south across the valley towards Mont Blanc.

SpottheIbex

Spot the ibex!

LacBlanc

Our destination – the lovely Lac Blanc [45 58 54 N, 6 53 32 E] (2352 m).  The tarte aux myrtilles from the nearby mountain refuge was probably the best of the trip.

MountainSheep

Mountain sheep, looking pretty well fed!

LindexView

After walking south along the valley, we skipped a tedious descent using the L’Index [45 57 58 N, 6 52 37 E] télésiège (continuously running moving seats) back to the top of the La Flagère lift.

ChamonixFungus1

Unidentified fungus from the walk back to Chamonix via the spectacularly floral Chalet de la Floria.

Chamonix I