La Thuile is a lovely little alpine town tucked up to the side of the Aosta valley in the far top, left hand corner of Italy. In the summer, you can drive the Little St Bernard Pass, 2188 m, to La Rosière in France. During the winter, the roads are closed but ski lifts still link the two towns. Many of the runs are at high altitude and so were holding the snow quite well. I enjoyed myself immensely by skiing over to France for a coffee in the morning before heading back to Italy for a late lunch with Diane. La Thuile lurks in the bottom of a steep and spectacular valley. Looks great but does not get a lot of sun. Diane much preferred to get the first big ski lift up out of the cold valley and into the sunshine and fabulous views.
There was no more snowfall. In fact, during our entire two month stay in the Alps there was only one significant dump of snow. Even that was quite modest. In a more normal year there would be snow every week. By way of a silver lining, the sunshine was terrific. On our second day the skies were spotlessly clear and the sun was blazing. Ideal conditions for a trip up the Skyway Monte Bianco, a fantastic cable car from Courmayeur to Pointe Helbronner, at 3466 m on the southern side of the Mont Blanc massif. Since I was last up there, a new cable car has been built. Took four years, was completed in 2015 and, at the time, was the most expensive cable car in the world. The hanging cabin rotates as it ascends so everyone gets an all-round view.
The visible scenery from Pointe Helbronner is really quite remarkable. It is well worth investing a few hours to absorb it all. Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) is very close. Slightly further away are the Matterhorn, Gran Paradiso and Monte Rosa. Looking round, you can see hundreds of significant peaks many of which are the setting for amazing stories of mountain heroics and achievements. The thin air is freezing cold and takes your breath away. The sun bores into your eyes and frost forms in your nose as your imagination soars and you take in the full majesty and grandeur of the incredible massif. Then you can pop downstairs to the warm, cosy bar for a beer. At 3pm the station closes. Everyone is herded back down the mountain. I think we were among the last to leave.
Two days later and the weather was still perfect. We decided to have a day trip to Chamonix. Despite four weeks there, we never took the cable car to the Aiguille du Midi because the weather was never good enough. It is quite an expensive trip and really, it is worth waiting for a good day to make the best of the views. We nipped through the 11.6 km Monte Banc tunnel and arrived in France. Unusually, we were pulled over by some French customs officers. Were we bringing any tobacco or alcohol from Italy? We explained our mission. The officer grinned at me conspiratorially, and asked “not even a little Limoncello?” before waving us on our way.
The Aiguille du Midi cable car, at 3842 m, is higher than the Italian Skyway. It is also quite a bit older, smaller and does not rotate. Nonetheless, it is every bit as spectacular and capable of taking your breath away. I first visited this peak in 1981 and have been back sporadically ever since. Most recently, Diane and I came up here in 2008, which is not that recent I suppose. Anyhow, we were here with a group that skied across the Vallée Blanche and all the way down the Mer de Glace to the railway station at Montenvers. That was a terrific day out. Today, our ambitions were much more modest and allowed plenty of time for standing around gawking at the view. Like Pointe Helbronner, this is somewhere I can happily spend many hours lost in the views of mountains, snow, ice and rock. There is similarly a pleasant bar here and even a plush restaurant. On the way back down we stopped off at the mid-point station where there is a lovely little bar in a wooden hut. We could contemplate the setting sun while sipping vin chaude – this is a pretty good way to end a day.
