We have a train that we're trying to catch. It's the last one of the day,
and it's in like 2 hours and 45 minutes, and it's a 3-hour hike - otherwise
it's an hour and a half journey down the mountain to get back to Chamonix. [Details!]
We've been taking so many videos that we are running way behind. I would say
the chances of us making this train are 40% making it, 60% not.
I don't know. Maybe they'll add another train for us. It's not looking too good.
It's only an hour and a half of very steep hiking to get down to the bottom,
and we know exactly how far we'll have to go because we're looking at the town underneath us.
We finally can see where the train station is and that's what we got to pick up, so somehow
the time estimate must have been off, or we hurried up. I don't know which.
This is very good news. We think we're going to make it. Yes.
We made it! We have about 15 minutes to spare.
No real injuries to speak of, except for our pride, because we got passed by pretty much
everybody on the trail, regardless of age. The trail was listed
in our book as a strenuous trail, and we would agree. It took about 3 hours for us to do.
It's a lot of up and down. There's bouldering, you will be literally traversing streams.
Because sometimes you're so bloody knackered, all you can
do is go to the grocery store and get take out.
These pecan braids are the best! This pecan braid is commonly found in supermarkets and gas
stations, so in other words, the creme de la creme. But honestly, they're fantastic when they're warm.
They're filled with this pecan gooeyness, and they are incredible. Highly recommended.
So good.
Good morning! This is the start of our third and final full day in Chamonix.
We have loved this region even though the first day was rainy. Yesterday we had great weather,
and today was supposed to rain. We woke up - no rain, and it's beautiful out.
Today we're going up to the mountain ridge that is on the opposite side of the valley from
where we were yesterday, so we should be in for a hike with views going across to the other side
where we spent a couple of hours hiking yesterday. Honestly, we're both a little bit surprised that
we can move after yesterday, but since this is our final day, we are bound and determined to do
one more hike before we leave the area. We're going to get our money's worth, dang it.
We are here. We're going to take the lift up, and then we're going to walk the Grand Balcon Sud
all the way across to Plan Praz before heading all the way back down to Chamonix.
Just to orient you to what we did yesterday...way up here is the very top of Aiguille du Midi.
Right around here is where we started our hike, and we hiked all along the ridge until we reached the
other side. Over here is our train station where we caught the train down the mountain to go home.
Mont Blanc - we think this is the side of it; it's a little bit hard to see right now.
Tallest mountain in western Europe. Whereas yesterday we had a train to catch,
today we're able to - not take it easy - but just maybe a bit more of a leisurely pace,
because other than just our stomachs and having lunch when we get hungry, we don't really
have a particular place to be at a particular time. We're not going to kill ourselves.
This goes way down.
We're walking along these paths; you often greet everybody with "bonjour" and of course you
default to "bonjour" because we're in France. Then you realize some of the people you're meeting are
Americans. This may be a little bit difficult to see, but there's a row of climbers climbing
the mountain here. This whole area here was called way of the climbers. I think we just found out why.
Back there we were given some [blueberries] by some other French hikers, which is very nice.
To the victor go the spoils! Bill has to pick his own.
Show some love! Here you go.
She gave me one. Ooh, that one was bitter. I deserved that.
Oh, I got three.
They're all good.
You ate all yours at once!
Savor them. We worked hard for these.
This is b-roll. BLUEBERRY roll.
Hashtag dad jokes.
We made it to the end. I'm a little worried that if we sit down for lunch, we won't get
back up. This was a good hike. Definitely less strenuous than yesterday, which our knees and
our ankles are thanking us for, but it was still moderately difficult. It took a few hours.
You have fantastic views going across the valley. It's definitely a hike that we would recommend.
Earlier we mentioned we wanted to get the most of our money. What we love to do when we come
to mountain areas like this, is to see if there is some kind of multiple day pass available.
We did that in Switzerland a couple years ago and had great luck with it. We did that
again here in Chamonix. We got a three-day pass and a great tip (pause for the ear popping),
a great tip is to buy that pass online. We saved 20 euro per person by getting our multi-pass
online, instead of buying it in person. We would definitely recommend that. It's barely more than
the cost of a round-trip ticket just up to the first mountain that we did yesterday. Yeah, I didn't
want to try to say it (Aiguille du midi) but we would definitely recommend it. Basically anything we do after that
is free. The train we took yesterday back from Mont Envers - that was our break-even point. Today,
all this is bonus activity that we're able to do for free just because we got a multi-day lift pass
here for the Chamonix area. Definitely something that we recommend, if you're here, to check out.
I'd say this lift provides the best view of the town. Across there, you've got the ski jump
from the olympics whenever they were here, 1920 or 24 - the first winter Olympics, I believe.
We ended up at the Thai place.
Well, that's all for Chamonix. We're outta here.