Oliver Laxer's Adventure

The days following the Tour du Mont Blanc blurred together. Tired and sore, I spent my time reading, drying gear, playing guitar, and writing the last article. I began to settle into life in Chamonix. Luke and I would buy un pain du campagne (very nice loaf of bread) from Pin Pin for lunch and we’d alternate cooking each night.

After a much needed rest day, I eased back into movement with a nice easy run, while Luke ran up the Brevent cable car to set a new PB in the vertical kilometer. Then, a nice afternoon of good bread and watercolor painting. Taking rest days or easy days in a place like Chamonix doesn’t feel right. Lying on the couch reading a book and seeing the glacier top Dome du Gouter from my peripheral vision nags at my mind, but the rest is needed.

On the 22nd, we ran up through the pine forests to the Mer de Glace. Or rather, what’s left of it. The second longest glacier in Europe, following the Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland, and has carved a gorge through the mountains.

Unfortunately I still hadn’t rested enough and my knee was having some trouble so Luke ran ahead while I hobbled 11 miles to le Plan du Midi. Chamonix sits in a valley with steep mountain walls on either side. 3500 feet above the valley floor, a step or balcony sits, giving some relief to the topography and allowing for a great place to walk. From the Mer de Glace, I continued along le Grand Balcon du Nord towards town. Since the balcony sits above tree line, spectacular panoramic views are displayed. To my left, granite spires of the Aiguille du Plan and the Aiguille du Midi; in front of me, the high peaks of Mont Blanc and le dome du gouter; and to my right, Chamonix in the valley, the south balcony and le Brevent.

I took the cable car down to the valley to save my knee and had a very late lunch with Luke. The rest of the day was spent reading, relaxing and eating good pasta. 

After another rest day, Luke and I woke up early and headed to the church to watch the start of TDL, a 300km ultra race with 25,000m of elevation gain. We got croissants from le Richards and watched the brave runners depart. It was quite exciting! Luke and I then ran/hiked up le Brevent, 4900 feet above town. We began by powering up the endless switchbacks of the VK (vertical kilometer) route under the gondola. We then followed the path winding up in elevation. We passed the takeoff zone for paragliders, a grassy slope filled with fluorescent wings. Luke and I looked at each other and debated giving it a try. However, Luke only had one more day and it all just seemed a little too last minute. The whole climb, we were presented with breathtaking views of the Mont Blanc massif across the valley. The summit of Le Brevent provided views in all directions, into France and Switzerland.

On our descent, we got a text from Seth asking when we were going to get back and if we wanted to go up Le Aiguille du Midi. Earlier in the trip, we weren’t sure if we wanted to because it seemed rather touristy and felt odd to take a cable car up without adventuring at the top. But Seth said it’s awesome (spoiler… he was so right) and he helped us buy tickets. We had an hour and a half to run down almost 5000 feet to make it to the cable car in time, a brutal leg workout. Lots of impact. We made it down with time to spare for a quick shower and lunch before riding the aerial tram up 3900 feet to the mid station, on the balcony. The second half climbs another 5500 feet to the top of the granite spire of Le Aiguille du Midi. The top station, viewing platform, elevator and restaurant was built into and on top of the spire.

I did a sketch of the incredible view and spent just over an hour at the top. We then went to the Patagonia store to hear a talk by ultra runner Chloë Lanthier! Very cool!

Luke’s last day came up quick. We ran up the north balcony in the morning, before taking le Brevent cable car up the other side of the valley with our paragliding pilots. Seth had helped us get tickets and when I asked my pilots if it was dangerous, he said “yes… very” and laughed. His name was Oliver too and was quite funny. I thought that Oliver would give me some sort of safety briefing or tell me what to do, but within minutes of reaching the top of the cable car and putting on a harness, he told me to run. To what? To the edge of the field of course. We ran and the wing listen above us. My feet left the ground and the grassy field dropped 5 feet, 10 feet, 100 feet… We picked up speed and I’m not exactly sure how to describe this, but I truly felt like a bird.

We glided through the air, around cliffs, climbing thermal drafts until we soared above the 8200 foot peak of Le Brevent (which we had climbed the day before.) The views were just incredible. A new angle: the angle of the crow. No foreground to block the mountain, just air, endless mountains, and glaciers. We soared way up and then Luke and his pilot caught up to us and we flew to the next to each other. Oliver let me fly for a bit and it was so cool being in control. He then took over again and did some spins and tricks, leaving me quite dizzy. Back on Earth, Luke and I debriefed that crazy experience while walking back. After dinner, Luke and Seth left and for the first time of this trip, I was alone. Though not for long.

The next morning, I went to a group run with Patagonia and was led by Chloë (who gave the talk the other night.) There were so many nice people! We ran some trails, did some drills, and then returned to the Patagonia store for some breakfast.

That evening, I saw my friend’s Instagram story of the view out the train window somewhere in Europe. I texted her and found out she was with another friend in Croatia, but was headed to Italy the next day and invited me to join them! I had three free days before flying out of Geneva and spent my evening searching bus and train schedules. Finally, I called them and said “okay, so this really doesn’t make sense logistically or financially, but I think I could make it work,” so I bought my tickets.

With one day left in Chamonix, I ran a loop on the north balcony. 3000 feet up and then descended down to le Mer de Glace. It started with some metal rungs which was cool, but then turned into a full on via ferrata. I was there just with my trail running vest and went by a guy with a helmet and who was clipped in. I held on tight. I was going to skip the via ferrata by taking the gondola back up, but it was €12, so I risked it again.

It snowed last night on the high peaks and looked incredible. I ate a peach and kept climbing back up to the balcony, across and back down to Chamonix. Finally, I showered, packed, ate, and napped before the finale in Chamonix. Seth came up and together we watched the start of UTMB, a 108 mile ultra race around Mont Blanc. At 5:45, 2500 brave runners embarked on their 108 mile circumnavigation of Mont Blanc. Luke and I did most of the route in five days and simply cannot imagine running it. The town was electric. Thousands upon thousands of spectators lined the street.

Cowbells and yells filled my ears as the race began. It took eight minutes for all participants to pass through the funneled streets of Chamonix. Such a cool race. So cool to see! 45 minutes later, I was on a bus eventually heading to Florence Italy, where I’d meet up with my friends and pasta!

The last two weeks in Chamonix have been incredible. The scale of the mountains, but also the accessibility from cable cars and huts allows for seriously cool adventures. Forever grateful for le Richard’s for making the best croissants in town and of course for Seth for a place to stay and being so supportive of my adventures.

Read about my spontaneous Italian adventure in the next article!