Hiking the Mont Blanc Massif, Day 2-Chamonix 勃朗峰山脉徒步游第二天

July 28, 2024: We took a scheduled rest day today after a long hour hike yesterday. We bought a two-day lift pass to use the lifts to explore the area. Due to the high wind in the mountains, the Mont Blanc Panoramic cable car was not open in the morning. But we were told the update for the panoramic ride was at noon, so we booked the gondola for Midi before 12.

Today’s weather was perfect. First, the gondola took us to Plan De l’aiguille then switched to a different gondola to Aiguille du Midi at 12605 feet, the highest cable car in France. Once we were at the top, we quickly went to the ticket window for Panoramic Mont Blanc, and it had just started to open. Panoramic Mont Blanc Cable Car is a 30-minute ride over the glaciers from Aiguille du Midi in France to Pointe Helbronner in Italy with a panoramic view of the Mont Blanc massif. We embarked on one of three cars in a group and had a once-a-lifetime cable ride. We were completely surrounded by the blue sky and the mountains capped with white glaciers. We admired roped climbers scaling the glaciers below as our cable car moved slowly from France to Italy.

After getting off at Pointe Helbronner in Italy, at an elevation of 11,358 ft (3,462 m), we wanted to have lunch at the mountaintop restaurant, but it was already fully booked. So, we just had a coffee and a small pastry as a quick snack. Then, we went to the small 360-degree viewing platform at the summit to take photos of Mont Blanc at the closest distance.

At Pointe Helbronner, we used our two-day lift passes to get on a Skyway cable car down to Courmayeur, Italy. There is not much near the Skyway station, so we just had drinks in a cafe, went up via Skyway, and got off in the middle to visit Europe’s highest garden.

We knew the cable car back to France would be closed at 4:30 pm. At 4:10 pm, we were in a hurry to return to the cable car station for another 5-minute ride to the Pointe Helbronnor. However, we barely missed a gondola and waited for the next one, which would take us up to the top to catch the Panoramic Cable Car. The gondola came, and the crews decided to clean up the car and started to do the maintenance. It made us anxious, but there was nothing we could do about it. We patiently waited until they finished the job and started the gondola again. When the car reached the top, three of us rushed to the cable car station at 4:28 pm. The door to the embarking area was already closed. A crew member opened the door and let us in. We were the last people in the last car to leave Italy. We were so grateful that we made it. If not, we had to go down to Courmayeur again and perhaps take the bus going through the tunnel back to Chamonix.

The Panoramic Cable Car ride back to Aiguille du Midi was even better. The experience of traveling over glaciers and surrounded by mountains was one of the best we had had, probably second to the experience in Antarctica.

Once at the Midi point, we continued to explore the area. We watched two Austrian climbers come down from the rock and took some pictures of them. Later, we sent those pictures to them via WhatsApp. They started at 8:30 am and finished at 6 pm.  We wanted to spend more time at the top, but the last car down was 6:30 pm. They closed the area, and we were the last group to go down.

It was supposed to be a break day, but we didn’t make it easy. Once we were back in town, we had dinner in an Indian restaurant. The food was delicious, probably anything delicious after a whole day's activity. Chamonix was very charming and beautiful in the evening. It’s perfect for an after-meal walk.

2024年7月28日：昨天的长途跋涉让我们疲惫不堪，今天是我们的休息日，不爬山。我们买了两日的霞慕尼（Chamonix)缆车通票，方便游玩。今天早上由于山上风太大，山顶上的勃朗峰全景缆车没开。不过工作人员告诉我们，12点会有信息更新。我们决定在中午12点之前先乘坐缆车到南针峰（Aiguille Du Midi)。

今天的天气非常理想。首先我们乘坐缆车到达普朗德拉艾居站，然后换乘另一条缆车到达法国最高的缆车站——海拔12,605英尺的南针峰。到达山顶后，我们立刻去全景缆车售票窗口，发现缆车刚刚开放。勃朗峰全景缆车是一次30分钟的旅程，从法国的南针峰跨越冰川到达意大利的赫尔布罗纳峰，沿途可以欣赏到勃朗峰山脉的壮丽景色。小缆车在半空中被蔚蓝的天空和白雪覆盖的山峰环绕，慢慢地将我们从法国带到了意大利。沿途看到不少登山者在冰川上攀爬。

在意大利赫尔布罗纳峰(Pointe Helbronner) at 11358 ft (3,462 m)下车后，想在山顶餐厅里吃上个午餐，可餐厅巳满座，我们就随意喝杯咖啡吃个小面食了事。然后在就山顶上360度小平台上最近距离和勃朗峰留影。

利用我们二日通票乘坐360度旋转天空缆车下到库马约尔（Courmayeur)。没想到天空缆车站附近什么都没有，且离库马约尔小镇还有点距离。在缆车站旁的咖啡馆喝了咖啡之后我们便原路返回，并在中途停下参观了欧洲最高的植物园。我们知道从意大利赫尔布罗纳峰返回法国的全景缆车在下午4:30关闭，所以我们在4:10时急忙赶往天空缆车站准备返回赫尔布罗纳峰。不巧刚好错过了一班缆车，不得不等下一班。可缆车一到工作人员却告诉说要先做维护，我们只能耐心等待，直到维护完成，缆车重新启用。到达赫尔布罗纳峰后，我们迅速赶到全景缆车站，此时已是4:28。所幸一名工作人员及时看到我们，特地打开了已关闭的门。我们总算坐上最后一班返回法国的全景缆车，否则将不得不返回库马约尔，然后可能需要乘坐巴士通过隧道回到霞慕尼。回程的全景缆车之旅再一次让我们穿越冰川，置身群山之间，很震撼。

回到法国的南针峰后，正好看到两位攀岩者从陡峭的岩壁上慢慢下来，顺手拍了些照片。这二位奥地利来的攀岩者从早上8:30就开始攀爬，只到到下午近6点才完成。稍后通过WhatsApp我们将照片发送给了他们。尽管我们希望在山顶多待些时间多看看，最后一班下山的缆车是下午6:30，我们又是最后一批离开的游客。

回到镇上后，我们在一家印度餐馆享用了美味的晚餐。忙忙碌碌一整天后，吃什么都觉得格外香。