Continuing with our second day excursion in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc brings us to Mer de Glace, Frances largest glacier and the subject of this post. Well, the glacier itself is the subject along with the ice cave that's been carved into it.
Cable Car Platform at the Top
We took the Cog Rail in Chamonix and chugged our way up the mountain to arrive on the upper platform around midday.
The funny thing about seeing a glacier in the summer is that they really don't look like anything special at all, especially from a distance.
They basically just look like a large dirt patch or maybe a gravel pit, set in a valley between two mountains.
The surface was covered in dirt and rocks that had been eroded from the mountain. So instead of a "Sea of Ice," like this ones name suggested, it really just looked like a grey mass.
You couldn't tell at all that there was 200m of ice just below the surface of the rock and dirt. I guess That's where the Ice Cave comes in. You can see the cave in the photo below, just to the right of my sister's face.
Each year they cut a cave into the ice to give people a close up and interactive experience with the glacier. The cave needs to be created new each season because the ice moves an estimated 70 meters per year. It is also melting and receding because of global warming, so eventually it probably won't exist at all.
It is estimated that around 40 meters of ice melts away each year so in another decade (or maybe less even) the glacier may not exist at all. Thats a kind of crazy to think about really. Better see it while you can.
The ice cave is accessed first by a cable car that brings you down to a platform a little above the glacier itself. Well, at one point it was only a little above.
Now there is a metal staircase with 430 steps to take you right down to the surface.
That many stairs isn't great when your knee is fucked up but I managed by using the side rails.
My sister wore the backpack again so that helped out a lot. Not having any extra weight on the knee made a big difference.
I generally don't mind stairs but with a hurt knee there seemed to be a lot of them and they started to feel like they were going on and on forever.
Each year they have to add on to the staircase too, so by the time you get there for your visit there will be even more stairs for you to decend...
...and to climb back up afterwards.
Along the way are markers of where the glacier used to be throughout history and its pretty crazy to see visually how far it has receded.
The cave is coming into view now.
Eventually we made it to the bottom and to the entrance of the grotto.
Nothing left to do but head inside.
The cave floor is lined with a non-slip material to walk on and its wired with lighting so you can see.
The immediate reaction for everyone is to touch the walls upon entering. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I did as well,
"Yep, that's ice alright. They weren't lying."
Taking pictures immediately upon walking in was also standard practice aannnnnndd this is how bottle necks happen.
Actually, in terms of crowds it wasn't too bad inside.
There were areas that were very busy but all in all it was pretty comfortable moving around. In front of the information boards with the facts and the history of the glacier tended to be the worst. That's to be expected though, since there was a lot of reading material.
Inside there were additional tunnels and rooms and a few art pieces carved out of ice - statues and ice sculptures and such.
I didn't keep any photos of the art pieces because they didn't really translate well on camera. You will just have to imagine a few sculptures thrown in here and there.
The glacier itself is 7km long but the cave is probably only around 200-300 meters. Thats give or take 100 meters maybe - it's pretty hard to estimate distance in there.
Overall, it wasn't that long but at the same time it didn't seem like it needed to be. To be honest it sort of became a little repetitive after a while.
Hikers on the Glacier
We really didn't spend a lot of time in there either, maybe 15-20 minutes or so, but it really felt like more than enough time in the end.
The cave wasn't something that you would need a lot of time for in my opinion. Actually, most of the time spent on the excursion was for the journey to get there and then back again.
So much time on the metal staircase!
Overall, I'd say that we enjoyed the ice cave, though I wouldn't rank it as being anything too spectacular to see. However, if you combine it with the Aiguille de Midi summit peak excursion then it's a pretty good deal and definitly worth it. The two activities combined, which also includes the Cog Rail train ride, really make for a good way to spend one day in the city. So if you are going to do both excursions then I would definitely recommend it. On the other hand, if you only had time for one of them and you don't mind spending a little more money, then I would say to skip the cave and just do Aiguille de Midi. You will see why in my next travel post.
