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Self-portrait near Lac Blanc |
Us at Lac Blanc |
From Lac Blanc, looking up the Mer de Glace, the Grand Jorasses, and Le Geant |
Le Geant up close |
...recounts the retirement travels of Mark and Vicki Sherouse since 2008...in Asia and the Pacific, New Zealand, Europe, South America, and Africa, as well as the US and Canada. Our website, with much practical information, is: sites.google.com/site/theroadgoeseveron/.Contact us at mark.sherouse@gmail.com or vsherouse@gmail.com.
Sign not taken |
Self-portrait near Lac Blanc |
Us at Lac Blanc |
From Lac Blanc, looking up the Mer de Glace, the Grand Jorasses, and Le Geant |
Le Geant up close |
Leaving Courmayeur, a storm cloud wraps from the Val Ferret around Mount Saxe... |
Another new entry, the nougat shop |
Evening street scene in Chamonix; not the main street, just a typical one |
From a central square, Dr. Paccard gazes upon his mountain |
Art nouveau in Chamonix |
Try to imagine: 1/2 baguette, stuffed with fries, maybe a little sauce americaine |
Alpenglow on the Aiguille du Midi |
And on the big mountain |
Penelope, note: fashionably attired little girl on left, holding hands with parent/guardian; also, two toddlers on right, wearing sunglasses |
Europeans have a thing with flowers, and none are better than the French; even the back streets of Chamonix are gorgeous |
Cheese guy and cheese truck...fontina, beaufort, yum! |
Memorable (to us) poster |
Lines form long before the Feast begins |
His Grace appears |
The band plays on |
The eating and drinking goes on |
Thus |
We enjoyed the festive atmosphere, but preferred sitting down at our old favorite, Le Vieux Pommier, the Crepes Mont Blanc, the veal, fontina, ham cholesteramas; twice we ate there this time |
Courmayeur below, from Rifugio Bertone |
64x digital magnification: our camper at the parking lot a few hundred meters south of the town center; it's the only camper parking in high season, which is now |
Aiguille Noire and Monte Bianco from Rifugio Bertone |
Breakfast next morning: a bowl of strong coffee and assorted sweet and grainy things |
In the dortoir; we had the far, corner bunks, left; 40 euro per person, including dinner and breakfast |
Dining room |
A couple miles across the Val Ferret, the Italian side of Monte Bianco |
Left, top of Le Geant, right, the Grande Jorasses |
Val Ferret, looking toward the pass to Switzerland |
The trail goes ever on, but we didn't this time |
Rifugio Bertone, one of the better settings on the Tour |
Vicki before The Disputed Rock, near where the trail rises out of Courmayeur; she won that bet |
The funicular; runs up and down inside the mountain and is thus the world's longest indoor funicular |
Us just off the funicular and ready to begin our hike |
Mountain vistas...Monte Rosa? |
Taschhorn? |
Big glacier; 25 years ago I used to know all the mountains, glaciers, passes, in this area; now just one... |
Vicki by a big old tree |
Flowers abloom all over |
Detail |
It looks like just a passing cloud, but Whymper would tell you it's a storm, and if anyone is up there this late in the day, they're fighting for their lives... |
Indeed the great mountain was out, and we enjoyed a whole day of glorious views from all over the Mattertal |
Main drag Zermatt, early in the day |
Camping Matterhorn, where we stayed in 1979, and probably some other years too |
It's a pretty place, as a playground of the super-rich should be |
In an older part of town, a garden adorned by lost ski and hiking poles |
Still in old town; old structures |
They keep a few of the old shacks around for "heritage" reasons, I suppose, so present residents and visitors can see how their maids' and tour bus drivers' forbears lived |
Outside the Monte Rosa Hotel, where the fateful meeting took place, and from which the Matterhorn was finally conquered |
Virtually next door, the house of the Taugwalders, father and son, the Swiss guides who along with Whymper alone survived the first descent |
Looking back to Zermatt from my attempted first (for me) ascent of the Mettelhorn, abandoned at the first sign of rain and after noticing my pedometer already had 18,000 steps that day |