Day 1 : Chamonix to Les Houches

Distance Walked: 11 K (officially - we went further...)
Height Gained: +430 m
Height Lost: -1530 m


Day 1 Map - Chamonix, upper right, to Les Houches, bottom left.


Starting from Chamonix this morning about 9:30, we took the cable car up to Planpraz at 2000m - passing over some hardy souls who were hiking up the cable car route. We also passed into cloud, which made the whole morning's ascent to Col De Brevent, and eventually Brevent itself, an exercise in grey tedium, like a visit to Eastbourne. Only with mountains. Not that you could see them.








We broke for lunch during the descent, just past Lac De Brevent, and that's when the day took a turn for the better - the clouds began to break, the sun peeked through, and we saw the first hints of Mont Blanc. Though it kept wearing cloud like a hat all day, stopping us from seeing the peak, we could see the snowfields and glaciers from time to time.







The long afternoon descent down to Les Houches was mostly not difficult, but hard on the knees and somewhat grinding on the spirit. Still, some good views of Chamonix and Les Houches from the mountain, which I could not photograph because my phone decided to turn itself on and start randomly burning through every last fraction of battery. Its days are probably numbered.
Some other numbers:
32,000 steps,
218 floors climbed (approx 2,180 feet)

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