will WE play in Peoria?

It is only by the grace of God that I am alive to tell the tale of our day in Chamonix.

                        Surprisingly, we got an early start and decided to go straight to the Aiguille du Midi. Despite the clouds, the sign there said visibility at Mont Blanc was good… so we went.

                        The Aiguille du Midi has to be about the last thing anyone would expect me to ride. I get scared riding the bubbles in Grenoble. On this thing, you stuff into a gondola (the sign said it holds 76; we’re glad ours wasn’t) and, hanging on two cables, you climb to the tip of a rock needle 12,600 feet up. On the way up, I had to keep reminding myself not to lock my knees. The last thing I needed was to pass out. And I decided that one of the things I like least about gondola rides is not merely the rocking you do passing over the support poles. It’s the way everyone inside goes “whoooooa!”

                        Getting all the way to the top is a two gondola event. Bill was afraid I would chicken out at the first stop. Maybe it’s to make sure no one does, but there is nothing to do there. Not even a place to buy postcards. But the first part was ok, so I kept on going. Really, I decided once we were at the top that it wasn’t so bad after all.

                        The top was above the clouds and the view was unbelievable. But the gondola didn’t quite take us to the tippy top. We rode a cramped elevator up to an observation platform. The first observation: it was cold. Really cold. We had on our ski jackets over winter clothes, mittens, hats and boots. But the wind way up there was way bitter. It was so cold that Kaitlyn, who is never cold, complained and refused to stay. I had just enough time while we waited for the elevator to rush over to a sign identifying Mont Blanc. I did not ride that crazy ride to not even figure out which peak was the peak.

                        At the lower, although far from low, level, Bill found another observation deck that was slightly more protected from the wind. Kaitlyn was ok there, playing in the snow. But it wasn’t long before the wind found that corner and whipped up that snow into a white swirl. In the pictures it looks like snow is pouring down around us, despite the blue sky. We were all pretty soaked. The next stop: someplace warm.

                        On our way to the snack bar we made our next, important observation. At that altitude, the air is thin. When we sat down, I realized I was actually slightly dizzy.

                        It must have been that lightheadedness that allowed me to agree to ride the next cable car… to Italy. Ok, it simply sounds cool to say “oh, yea, today I rode a lift from France to Italy.” This one cost us another 50 Euros, but while we were on it I realized they could have charged virtually anything for the spectacular ride.

                        On this one, you take a four person “telecabine” over the glacier. The ride takes 40 minutes, is 3 miles long, and doesn’t have any of those pesky pylons to go over. (whoooooa!) Either it is so smooth or you are so oxygen deprived, you don’t even realize when you are climbing up. And there are a couple of steep climbs. Once, to go through a “tunnel” of sorts at about the half-way point. The second time you pass by a “suspended pylon.” That sounds better than what it is: a cable stretched between two peaks.

                        At the stopping point, there’s nothing more than an observation area where you can look down into Italy, a bar and a small gift shop. I’m not sure if we ever actually crossed over into Italy. The dotted line marking the border must have been covered in snow.

                        On the ride back across the glacier, we saw some crazy people putting up tents. I assume to camp. I guess they figured the “no camping allowed” signs didn’t mean them. Or maybe it’s ok to camp on a glacier in Italy. Closer to Mont Blanc there were a few groups of hikers. And I nearly forgot that on the gondola ride up at the start we spotted a skier trying to make his way down the sheer face of the mountain.

                        I looked around and told Bill… I have to bring my brother here. It is amazing.

                        On the first gondola ride back down to Chamonix, Kaitlyn begged Bill to hold her. He gave me the camera and picked her up. We got separated in the crowd getting on. When we got off I saw that she had actually fallen asleep on his shoulder! Bill wasn’t sure he wanted to crowd onto the gondola waiting to go the rest of the way down, but I saw a sign saying it was a 30 minute wait for the next one so we got on. All the spots lining the windows were taken, which meant I had nothing to cling to. When they saw Kaitlyn sleeping, some German men offered Bill their spots by a railing that ran through the middle of the car. He turned them down.

                        I don’t know how far up (or down) we were when it happened. The gondola stopped cold. Ever wonder what happens when a gondola goes from 35 kilometers an hour (nearly 22 mph) to zero in one second? The whole freakin’ thing swings back and forth and back and forth. The “whooooa!” was overwhelming and not helpful. The only good thing I can say is that since we got on late we were smack in the middle where the swaying was probably the least pronounced. I was terrified. There is no other word for it. I grabbed Bill’s arm as best I could. The German man next to me reached out and held my arm to try to make me feel better. I guess. Bill had words of reassurance like “If we were going to plunge to the ground, we already would have.” I wasn’t the only one who was scared. A woman who had a look of displeasure when we bumped over the pylons now had a look of fear as she clung to her boyfriend.

                        I don’t know how long the gondola hung there. We finally started back down at one kilometer an hour (Bill was watching the operator and his controls) but we did not go far before we stopped again. And swung back and forth again. The German man grabbed my arm again. And this time Bill offered up the comforting thought “worst case, we have to rappel down.” I couldn’t breathe. I started to cry. I thought things like “at least Kaitlyn is sleeping and won’t be scared when we plunge to our deaths.” or “if I’d known I was going to die today, I’d have stayed at a luxury hotel last night.” Honest, those are the things that ran through my mind.

                        After some beeping and crackled talk on the 2 way radio, the operator started the slow ride down again. And we stopped again. And swayed again. This time we were so close to the station, it was simply torture. The people in the back of the car opened the windows and waved their hats outside, whooping. I did not appreciate their ability to make light of the situation. I did appreciate the German man continuing to hold my arm.

                        Finally, the operator crept the gondola the rest of the way into the station. When the doors opened, the car was still swinging back and forth. No one cared; we wanted off that damn thing. So, like a ride at a bad fun house, we jumped from the moving gondola onto the platform. The other scared woman grabbed onto me for support as she lept out. I didn’t get to thank the German man before he was lost in the crowd.

                        Back on firm ground, we were surprised to see our gondola leave the station to make the trip back up… crammed full of passengers. I was angry to see it make the trip non-stop.

                        We don’t know why the thing stopped. We probably never will. The operator never offered an explanation, not that he probably had one.

                        Kaitlyn woke up when we got outside and was ready for lunch. I was ready for a drink. After contemplating a shot, I went with a beer. Bill and I shared a fondue. Up until today, my fromage fear kept me from trying it. But since we’d defied death, who could stay afraid of a little cheese? It was very good. Still, I didn’t ask what was in it.

                        When we arrived last night, Kaitlyn picked up a brochure in the hotel lobby about a summer luge. Turns out, she thought that was where the gondola was taking us. (explains why she seemed so pissed off when we got to the top and there was no luge in sight) So after lunch, that was where we went.

                        The summer luge works like this: You ride a regular chairlift up and ride a sled down a cement luge path. Or track. Whatever you’d call it. Seemed easy enough. But about half way up the lift, Bill and I realized we had no idea how to get off. With skies on, you (in theory) stand up and glide down away from the chair. With no snow… what do you do? Bill’s theory was you just run. Now, I’d defied death earlier, I didn’t want to become the victim of a chairlift mishap. Fortunately, the operator at the top watches and slows down the lift so you can get off.. and run.

                        There are two luge paths down. A green (slow) run and a blue (fast) one. Naturally, I chose the green. Naturally, Kaitlyn chose the blue. So she rode with Bill. I hadn’t gotten far down my green path before I was sorry. I quickly caught up with a little girl who was putsing along. Bill said they waited so long for me at the bottom, he thought I’d flipped out over the side.

                        Kaitlyn loved it. She and Bill went three more times. I only sat out once, and that was to take pictures. Kaitlyn did ride down one time with me. That was great fun because she laughs and squeals and tries to push the controller on the sled to go faster.

                    Most of the other things the little park had were for kids 7 or older. That made Kaitlyn mad. Really mad. One thing she could do was the trampoline. Her second time on, Bill put enough coins in the machine for her to jump for 15 straight minutes. And she did.

                        We wandered through town back to the hotel to change shoes (boots got hot after a while). Bill had a headache so he laid down. So I laid down. And somehow I got Kaitlyn to lay down. It must have been around 8:00 when her mimi hit me in the head… she was out cold. So was Bill. Soon, so was I. Bill woke up around 11 and woke me up asking if we were skipping dinner. Uh, yea. So he went back to bed. I sat up to write, and here I am. But I am getting tired again. Defying death is exhausting.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 2nd, 2007 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.