May 20th, 2010 
Sheila Simkin Woozy from both the altitude and cable car rides on the Aiguille du Midi, ex-Marine and I walked back over to Montenvers Rack and Pinion Railroad…View image… to ride up to the Mer de Glace (literally, “sea of ice”) and see what we missed yesterday during the rainstorm. The rack railway was invented by Emil Viktor Stub, a Swiss engineer who installed railways on steep inclines and this little red train has been running since 1908. I’d certainly rather take a railway than mule like visitors did until 1905.
Once up at the top of Montenvers train station, there are hiking trails that lead to the Plan de’Anguille (mid-station), down to the Mer de Glace and even back down to Chamonix (the same trail we took up). The top station has a cafe and restaurant that overlook the Mer de Glace glacier, and peaks of Les Drus (3,754m/12,316′), Les Grands Jorasses (4,205m/13,795′) and the Aiguille du Grepon (3,482m/11,161′).
The Mer de Glace is the largest glacier in France, 7kms/ long and 200m/656′ deep. Thousands of skiers end their run on the Mer de Glace after skiing the famous Vallee Blanche in the Winter. The glacier has receded tremendously and wasn’t as imposing the the Boson glacier. You can also take a small cable car from the Montenvers station down to the glacier to visit the Ice Grotto, a collection of ice sculptures and caves under the glacier. The Ice Grotto wasn’t open to the public while we were there and has to be dug out every summer since the glaciers are constantly moving. But, the cable car still allows you to get closer to the Mer de Glace if you don’t feel like taking the 20-minute walk down to the glacier.
The trains usually depart every half hour and it was a lot easier and more fun taking the little red train up then three hours of hiking!
Cancel for any reason with Travel Guard.
Lonely Planet France Guidebooks
Posted in 
Tags: 
