This mural and the one below tell in one dimension what is Chamonix’s history is all about. What’s most hard to believe is that the same time of the Civil War 1865, the first ascent of the Matterhorn was made by an Englishman. His French guide was unfortunately killed on the way down and remains a hero of this town.

We really enjoyed getting here as well. The train ride north around Lake Geneva down to Martiny and then taking a cog railroad up of the mountainside thru and along a number of really interesting and beautiful Swiss towns to the French boarder, and then on into Chamonix. The town was filled with ultramarathon runners, actually ultra trail runners. The runs were four distances and the longest of which was 300 km with 24,000 meters of ascent. I suspect some of Silverton’s “hard rock 100” runners were competing here as well.

Our hotel had a rooftop pool sauna and Jacuzzi available to us as soon as we arrived. So we took advantage of that and the same time watching the clouds run past all the glaciers in the Mont Blanc cirque. Stanna’s plan to keep me from seeing menu prices is working really well, she got rooms that include dinner and breakfast. Our first dinner was outstanding.

Tomorrow we start hiking in earnest. We’ll turn the Spot Locator on should you want to follow us on our track.