Mountains of Fun

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About a week ago we took a trip to the alps and Chamonix-Mont-Blanc..

We took the 6 hour midnight bus from Sevilla to Madrid, and since we already mastered the metro there in January, had no problem getting to the airport. We flew into Geneva, and were supposed to be taken by shuttle right away to Chamonix, but the company wasn´t there to meet us... we later got an email telling us they couldnt pick us up. It was very kind of them to let us know afterwards. #@!¬ The transfer we found didnt leave until much later so we had time to catch a city bus into Geneva. We didn´t really know where to frolic, but we gawked out the window at some big chessboards on the ground in a park, hopped off and played an intense match with pieces that were half our height. We were disappointed to get into Chamonix too late, because the tourist office had closed and we couldn´t do anything without light, maps, or information. We did meet some Parisian seminarians at our hostel!

The next day we went up Aiguille Du Midi in the Teleferique, and got up close and personal with Mont Blanc. Well, as close as lame-o non climbers can be. We could see the top of it beyond the other mountains in front of us and wondered what hardcore people were conquering it that day. The view on the other deck was definitely on the windy face of the mountain, and our respect for mountaineers grew immensely as we cried like babies when we took our thick gloves off to snap photos. I´m surprised I have any toes left either. We saw the Grandes Jorasses , Les Drus, etc (A lot of the mountains were convieniently labeled on a sign up there) There was a little restaurant tucked into aiguille du midi but instead of purchasing any of their overly priced food (Food value must go up 50% every 1200 m. )we went to a back table and nibbled on our pan y agua and warmed up our frostbitten paws. We got back down and realized we had a few minutes to get to the Montenvers train we had paid for, so we burst like popcorn out of the gondola and my friend Anneli wiped out on the sidewalk a second later, definitely making the top 3 of funniest moments.

The train took us to the Mer de Glace, the largest glacier in France, and actually moves 1 cm/hr. We went into an ice grotto by the glacier, and inside sat a miserable looking St. Bernard posing for pictures. (He knew he should be out in the Vallee Blanche patrolling instead) Then we watched some skiiers finishing the vallee blanche, (18 or 20 km?) which started at the Aiguille du Midi. Many of the skiiers had climbing harnesses and gear for ice climbing. They would ski some, then climb for a few hours and ski on fresher snow. We had met up with the Benedictine students that are studying in France again, and my friend Steve that got to ski this had a couple close calls, there is a real danger of falling into crevasses! It is not in one´s best interest to go without a group or guide... There was also a man from England that was staying at our hostel who did the Vallee Blanche. We saw him later at a restaurant with a blood encrusted face from falling ice while he was climbing.

I decided to have a go at downhill skiing for the first time, so on Saturday we went to Les Houches and my friend Anneli was my ski instructor. It didn´t really help that she didn´t tell me how to get on or off the lift. First a french lady was yelling at me to... well I still don´t know what ... and then I pretty much threw my body to the ground at the top so I could get out of the way of the others. After doing the splitz a few times, eating some quality snow, and humbling myself with the 1 year olds doing backflips around me I finally got the hang of it! It really doesn´t matter how it went, as my new claim to fame is learning to ski in the alps. Go big or go home.

Our hostel booking fell through for Saturday so we had to waste time sorting that out. We had to buy a phone card there too because we were making so many calls for transportation back to Geneva as well. We definitely needed more time in the alps, and barely stratched the surface of what we had wanted to do (including dog sledding, snow shoeing and other hiking!!!) We were very very sad to leave.

We left Chamonix Sunday at 4:30 am, hopped back on a plane in Geneva, hustled onto the Madrid metro right on time for Sunday mass, and hopped back on the metro just in time to depart by bus back to Sevilla. By 12:30 we had been in three countries and to mass. (My usual Sunday accomplishment at BC by that time is mass + ham and eggs. )

Oh, also on Sunday morning we climbed the north face of the eiger, had lunch with the Yeti, (we went home with 2 people instead of 3) and laughed at the people carrying equipment because all we had used was an ice pick, long underwear, and a backpack full of pan y agua.
Sadly enough we didnt even get to see the Eiger, it is more on the Swiss side and time was definitely not our friend this trip.


In other news...
I just started my internship here, it is at a music school for a few hours a day. I will have to fill everyone in on this and Semana Santa which starts this weekend at a later time as I am being kicked out of the computer lab!

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[Dad]

Whoa
Go big Em! But do come home.