Chamonix / French Alps
Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” - R.W Emerson
Day 1
Our first Christmas away from our families, and our first white Christmas. To guarantee a white Christmas we headed to Chamonix. An amazing resort village nestled in the French Alps, at the base of Mont Blanc. For those of you who don’t know, its the second highest mountain in Europe and the first recorded ascent was in 1786!
Chamonix is in a junction of France, Italy and Switzerland. The easiest was for us to get there was to fly into Geneva (Switzerland) and then take a transfer into Chamonix. We arrived into Geneva just after lunch, but because we had to wait an hour for another group to arrive we didn’t reach Chamonix until almost 4pm. We got dropped off at our Airbnb, met the host then headed into town to grab supplies and look around. In Chamonix, accommodation providers should give you a public transport ticket that lets you use the buses and trains for free, sweet! It was getting late so we found the closest ‘supermarket’, but it was below average. We should have walked a little further to the Carrefour at the start of the village. We headed back to the Mazot (traditional chalet), skyped the family in NZ since it was Christmas there and got some sleep for the big day ahead snowboarding.
It's a long post covering 5 days, enjoy!
Day 2
Christmas day! We got up early-ish, got stuck into some presents and breakfast before heading to La Flégère. It was our closest resort, a mere 5 mins on the bus. At the base is a 20 something person gondola that takes you up to the resort, no crazy mountain access road to navigate! It was over 12 months since either of us had been on the snow, so after a long day, it was straight home to hot showers and hot food.
Day 3
Another day on the mountain. The weather was amazing, almost bluebird! Unfortunately due to the changing in climates there was a serious lack of snow in the valley, but it was still amazing to be on the snow over Christmas. I left my camera behind but got a few snaps from the evening. It was hard not too, being surrounded by such beauty.
Day 4
Our last full day in Chamonix, and our last day on the mountain. Again I left the camera behind but we came down after lunch so we could go do some touristy things. One thing to note, the buses are not as frequent as London, so you really have to plan around the timetables. By the time we showered and headed back to the bus that would take us to either the Aiguille du midi (more on that later) or the Mer de Glace. The Mer de Glace is a glacier that is accessed by an alpine train, and once there you can go into an ice cave. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do either as we just run out of time. So we walked around Chamonix, had a look at some shops and then I looked at the map to see where we could see the sunset from. As I looked up I saw a gondola traversing between two peaks, looking back at the map it was only 15 min walk to the base of the Le Brévent resort. It was just after three, but we paid for a sightseeing pass and went to the top. The sunset was amazing, but our frozen feet weren't!
Day 5
After messaging some friends who had been to Chamonix we decided we would go up the Aiguille du midi instead of going to the glacier. It is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif and sits at 3842m above sea level. It’s most impressive as there is a cable car that will take you to the summit from Chamonix. It’s the closest you’ll get to Mont Blanc without actually climbing it! The amount of engineering that would have taken to put it together is beyond impressive. There are two cable cars, you can see the first one from the base, but the second is very hard to see with the naked eye! The views are incredible, as is the cold. There is a newly built attraction called, ‘Step into the void’ which is a glass cage with 1000m drop underneath! The line for it was long, and you get walked in, have a few photos (taken by the staff) then moved along. We didn’t get to take in the view, not the best when we lined up in -12 degrees! We headed back down, Monita had her last Nutella waffle and as we arrived at the Mazot our transfer had arrived. Back to Geneva, then back to London. Christmas 2016 done.
I love creating images that speak to me.
I grew up in a small town that nobody really knows about, Levin. Spent a good ten years in Hamilton making some of the best friends anyone could have. And now I’m living, working and playing in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. Also a small country that people have trouble locating – I’m looking at you America!
Life is about stories, and that’s what I love to capture and document. My shooting style is unobtrusive. You may be a natural in front of the camera, or have no idea what to do but before we even start I’ll make sure you’re comfortable and relaxed.
Things I love: Travelling to wherever I can, my partner Monita, homemade burgers, wood fired pizzas, the smell of rain on a hot summers day, mountains, the snow, sunsets and sunrises, star gazing, natural light, the aesthetic of wood, crashing waves and day dreaming.