Last day

Today we could not see the summit but since our "up, up, up" was by cog railway, we did not care too much. The railway took us close to the glaciers on the north side near a hotel visited by Napoleon III. We took a few photos and then hiked some up to a mini boulder field where prior hikers had built piles of rocks to mark their presence. There were a couple dozen cairns on this mountain top. After the boulder field which was a good bit of fun because it was not too big or too steep, we started a balcony hike around the mountain. Like a theater balcony a mountain balcony moves you around a big area giving you different views. This one had some mini ups and downs which were fun. We scared some more ibex but these did not stick around for photos and we heard and saw a nutcracker as we continued our walk. The weather was ever changing, with clouds and some sprinkles hitting us and we could see rain storms elsewhere in the valley.







Watching the changing lighting on the mountains was the lunchtime activity, especially when we learned that some of our friends who were to go parasailing, were not taking off until late in the day. From our vantage point we could see morning parasailors take off and descend into the opposite valley. We had hoped to see our teammates as well but their flight was cancelled and then rescheduled for late in the day.
After lunch we did one more serious "up, up, up" to get to the cable car which can take you to the top of the range. We could have gone the long way around but our guide was determined we end on an 'up.' As the mountains were covered with clouds, we did not ascend, choosing to return to Chamonix for some shopping and sweets eating. I tried the local ice cream; good but not as good as Italy and a local raspberry tart, which was rather incredible.





Tonight we have our send off dinner and then return to the real world tomorrow.