Snow! And other adventures

Anna, loving the snow

So I'd forgotten how exciting it is to get your hands on the first snow of the season. This was a bit of a cheat, of course, since there's no actual snow in Chamonix valley at the moment (just a lot of rain in the forecast at the moment) but above 1600m or so the rain that fell on us was snow, and so our hike from the train at Montenvers to the hut at the Plan d'Aguille last Thursday was properly, and exhilaratingly, snowy. Cue lots of snowball fights, snowmen making etc. We were 16 all together, and had the hut to ourselves (just as well, considering the level of noise and chaos...).

 Zoe and her gorgeous cousin Ruby, at the train station

 Waiting for the train

The hiking gang assembles at the top

Setting off

As previously mentioned, the start of the hike was rather hairy as the girls slipped around on the snow in their running shoes (we're still not quite the totally well equipped natives) and I kept an iron grip on Zoe's hand as we negotiated the very narrow trail with a vertigo-inducing drop on one side ('Fall INTO the mountain' I kept crying hoarsely), but, thankfully, after half an hour or so the trail levels out and then I could properly enjoy the sunshine and the snow and the company and the great views.

Anna leads the way

 Zoe gets a rest

 The excitement was too much for Gaia

 The quest for the hut

Our destination: the refuge de Plan d'Aguille

One of many, many snowballs thrown

Life in a hut (well, this hut, anyway) is very civilized: lots of tea and cake on arrival, lots of games and card-playing, and then a three-course meal cooked for you by the very nice hut manager, Claude. He'd made an extra-special effort to cook us some Haute-Savoie specialities, including veal cooked with cheese and lardons, and a potato far, a kind of salty-sweet custardy potato cake with prunes, which of course was completely rejected by the kids, a few of whom conceded to eat the veggie soup and most who just ate  plain pasta. Wasted on them, I say, but not on me...

Zoe (and dolly) tucked up in her cozy bunk

The proud hikers

A beautiful shot up to where we were (just above where the snow starts)