Solanne was up first and ran to the window to check the weather: the clear blue sky told her that we'd be going to the snowy part of the mountain today. Her excitement was later replaced by a very foul mood and yet another crying fit, a little like the one she had in Rome.
Taking a grumpy kid up a 90-minute cable car ride was not our idea of
fun, but neither was the possibility of missing out on a clear day, since one never knows what weather will come tomorrow.
We gave Solanne the option: we could relax at the apartment today or we could go to the mountain, but it all depended on her mood. Through the crying and the wailing, she understood, and since she was the one who was most committed to visiting the mountain, she managed to calm herself enough to convince us she was ready.
We packed up the car with snacks, lunch and water. Fleece jackets, wind breakers and extra sweaters rounded out our list of things to
bring to the snowy parts of the mountain. We weren't sure what kind of cold we'd be facing at the top of Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc), so we packed it all.
We took the road west, then north; Derek was already more comfortable
driving and took the hairpin turns like an expert. We followed the valley to Courmayeur, where the road began to snake its way up the mountainside. The signs were clear and road direct to the funivia (cablecar).
It took us less than an hour along the winding roads to the base of the cable car. We parked the car and noticed that there were very few people around. As we disembarked from the car, an American couple with two little kids around Maia and Solanne's ages informed us that the
funivia was in fact closed until the 28th. Maia cried a little at the idea that we wouldn't be going up the mountain; Derek and I were trying to figure out a plan B.
We drove down about 200 metres to a little souvenir shop we had spotted, in the hopes of finding a map with hiking trails. The man at the store didn't have any maps, but he did suggest we drive up the
road further to the camping area; there we would find trails.
We followed his advice and we were not disappointed. We parked the car along a little flat road that brought us into the camping area (we saw all of one camper there). The first thing we saw was a mountain river, running quick and clear. In the fast moving parts, it was a blue-green; in quiet spots it was completely clear - so clear in fact that it was impossible to take a good photo of it. We would see endless streams, some as narrow as the width of my hand, others too wide to forge. I had been clever and brought two plastic drinking glasses; we
drank the fresh mountain water every chance we got.
We walked up the road a bit and found a picnic area; there were three couples there. We ate our bread, fruit, and almonds and were on our way again. Derek and I thought that our whole walk might be along this road, and in fact we wouldn't have minded given the very little traffic we saw all day - about a dozen people in all.
But we did come to a series of trails. The children were excited to see some snow at the base of the trail and knew there would be more higher up. The path was rocky and winding and rather steep. At some points, the snow was a few inches deep along the side, at other points there was no snow at all. Small streams of melted snow crossed our
path and sometimes became part of the path. We went further and further up, forded a couple of streams and finally came to a rather snowy part. There was a break in the trees and we got a spectacular view of Monte Bianco and the other summits. Derek wanted to go further, but the snow was slippery and I wasn't sure I wanted to risk it with the kids, either getting them wet from the snow or losing them down the side of the mountain. So I did the sensible thing and sent Derek ahead to see. Within a few minutes he was back, telling us to come. There would be more snow and two or three streams to cross, but
it would be worth it. He was right. We sat on our perch overlooking the valley and river below, the mountains all around us. Impossible to capture in words the view or the feeling except to say "perfect."
It was surprising how warm it was, given the presence of snow. We were all in pants and hiking shoes, along with t-shirts, and we were very
warm. When we finally got back down to the car, we took our shoes off and washed our feet in the ice-cold river.
With the day in our bodies, including a little more sun than we had anticipated, we drove home, cleaned ourselves up, had a pasta supper and are now all in bed before 9 pm.
I'm on top of the world and will sleep well tonight.
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