Day 6 - Chamonix-Mont Blanc

Today was hiking day for the Suttons! We walked over 9 miles between waking through the town of Chamonix Mont-Blanc and hiking a 7 mile hike from the Mont Blanc Auguille du Midi gondola to the Mer de Glace train station. It was strenuous but provided beautiful views! 

Our day went like this, first we bought our tickets and had a couple of hours to burn before our gondola ride. So we walked the town, ate delicious treats, and did some shopping. The boys bought pocket knives for their newly discovered hobby of whittling sticks at the campsites. Then we made our way back to the gondola. They packed us in there like sardines! To get to the top, you switch gondolas half way up. When we made it to the (almost) top of Mont Blanc on the second gondola, we were at 12,000 feet. The top of Mont Blanc is 15,000 feet but is only accessible by hiking with snow/ice mountaineering equipment. There were a lot of adventurous people doing it and I’m sure David would be up for it, but not me! 

After taking lots of pictures, we headed down the gondola to the middle station. Then we ate hot dogs at the mountain restaurant and began our hike! Beautiful views were all around us as we made our way! Two and a half hours later we finished the hike with some ice cream at a train station. Below the station was a glacier that used to reach the same height as the station but is now significantly lower. We rode the cog train back to town, got a few groceries, and rode the bus back to our campsite. We were exhausted from the day but thankful for the experiences!