As world travelers, you surely have flown out of the country by plane. Maybe you’ve gone north and shown your passport to a Canadian officer who asked, “Good day, eh?” Perhaps you have used the high-speed trains of Europe to whisk you from place to place. If, like me, you traveled with just a backpack in Asia or South America after college, you took a bus to the next country. But the crossing from France into Italy that I’ll tell you about today is the coolest international connection I have ever experienced.
The day begins early, in the Alps high above Chamonix, France. The hike starts at the historical and iconic Refuge du Montenvers hotel, which can be reached by cog train from Chamonix. You are rewarded for your challenging uphill hike with a 360-degree view, including of the Mer de Glace—the most popular glacier in the area. As you continue hiking on the rocky trail, called the North Balcony hike, you get to enjoy the city of Chamonix from a bird’s-eye view. With a little luck, you may even spot a chamois or a cute marmot roaming in the Alpine meadows. At the end of the 4.4-mile hike, you arrive at your first gondola station of the day at an altitude of 7,579 feet. From here, you’ll squeeze in with about 50 other people to rise to the Aiguille du Midi station, at 12,605 feet, in about seven minutes. Breathtaking, literally.
As soon as the doors open, you feel the cold air. With each step, you feel the thin air. You walk slowly to not get out of breath and find yourself on a viewing platform hanging over rock faces so steep that it’s almost impossible to imagine that brave souls climb them every day.
Countless mountain peaks surround you; Chamonix lies below you. But the pièce de résistance, of course, is Mont Blanc itself, standing so close that suddenly it doesn’t seem so crazy to think about summiting it.
Most tourists finish their visit here and go back down to Chamonix, but Backroads brings you to the next level: the three-mile-long Mont Blanc Panoramic gondola, one of the highest gondolas in the world. Its name describes it well. Once seated in your intimate four-person cabin, you are slowly transported toward Italy, hanging over glaciers, peaks, crevasses and climbers. The sights are infinite, and the half-hour passage will go by quickly, so you’ll want to capture just one more mental picture to remember this forever.
When you step off the gondola, you can say au revoir to France and buongiorno to Italy. Now, that’s a ride! And if that wasn’t enough, the experience continues on the Italian side of the mountain range, where you can explore Punta Helbronner, the top station of the Skyway gondola with a Mont Blanc crystal exhibit and impressive viewing platform. Although you are now at a slightly lower elevation than at the Aiguille du Midi station where you started, on a clear day the 12,028 feet of altitude can still give you a view of the Matterhorn in Switzerland. To finish the day, you ride down the mountain in yet two more gondolas, each of which slowly rotates to offer all aboard a 360-degree view of the Italian mountains and valleys.
On this day, you’ll experience both the best of the natural world and the genius of humankind. These installations are real engineering feats. Of course, all of this is dependent on the weather conditions, and if you’ve spent any time in big mountain ranges, you know that this can change quickly. However, even a few clouds cannot dampen the experience of looking at the world from so high above.
This unique and epic experience awaits you on the French & Italian Alps Lodge-to-Lodge Hiking Tour or on the French, Italian & Swiss Alps Multi-Adventure Tour (where we do this day in reverse!).
