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A final view, as the clouds once more obscure the summit of Mont Blanc, before we descend to Chamonix and begin our trip home.
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And here is the snow/ice tunnel used by climbers heading out onto the glaciers surrounding us.
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Sue, passing through a snow bridge on one of the Aiguille du Midi terraces.
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From the Italian side, a separate series of smaller cable cars allow for international transfer.
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Note the climbers on the snow-covered knife edge ridge. Also not the fog moving in.
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The view looking down to the Glacier des Bossons, thousands of feet below.
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From the summit, 3842 m (12,600 ft) above sea level, you see many climbers trudging out over the snow fields. One's ears are popping from the quick ascent.
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And this is a photo taken from the cable car as we begin our ascent. In 20 min, the car will take us 5000 ft higher to the summit, at 12,600 ft!
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OK, this is one of the cable cars we will take from Plan de l'Aiguille to the summit of Aiguille du Midi
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Approaching Aiguille du Midi
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Sue and along the Gran Balcon Nord
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An iPhone panorama as we hike the trail above the town of Chamonix
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Sue, Laura and Rachel hiking across a constructed causeway.
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Nice sunny day, and Jean is enjoying a rest stop after we climb over 1000 ft from Montenverse
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Aiguille de la République
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Today we are hiking from MontenversPlan de l'Aiguille, contouring along the Gran Balcon Nord, a short hike of 3.4 miles.
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View across the Cahmonix valley to the Aiguilles Rouges. We were hiking below these peaks yesterday.
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Just 100 years ago, the surface of this glacier was just below the railway. and hotel. Now it has thinned by about 500 feet.
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And here we are, at Montenvers, overlooking the Mer de Glace, or "sea of ice"
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We are waiting to board the cog railway to take us to Montenvers
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Morning light on the mountains
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Aiguille du Midi. This is ultimately where we are going today!
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Our last day of hiking, and we begin with a nice sunrise over Dôme du Goûter
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Celebrating the completion of the Tour du Mont Blanc with a good local beer.
