The 2nd Platform	Peripherique	You Can See the Cables

But it was sunny and there was no wind, and the sky was a deep blue, and the snow was a blinding, bright white. The crowed dispersed onto different viewing platforms, and the views were nothing like I had ever seen. I took another elevator to the highest platform. From Chamonix in the valley, you could see only a couple of snowy peaks; but at the top, you were now at the edge of a bowl made up of a dozen or so peaks. Just below us, in the snow filled portion of the bowl, there were long tracks in the snow, people hiking around, and there was even someone laying out his paraglider for takeoff.

We weren't actually on Mont Blanc. We were parallel to it. It was still 2,000 feet higher than we were. You can see it in the pictures. I didn’t notice anyone being ‘giddy.’ People were pretty much in awe, and there were a lot of older people (even older than me); and they moved slowly and cautiously up the stairways and along the platforms. Even I held the handrails when I used the stairs. I felt a little light headed at that altitude but I checked my fingernails to see if they were blue, and they weren’t. I went to all the platforms, and, after about an hour, I took the peripherique down to the halfway area.

The halfway area was not snowbound. As a matter of fact, it was warm and dry, so I hiked just a bit near a ledge overlooking Chamonix and the whole valley, and had my picnic. A few paragliders took off while I was there, and I took some pictures of them. I found myself staring at the surreal view of the valley towns a few thousand feet below me. I saw a little red caterpillar crawling along the valley floor that turned out to be the train to Chamonix and the Swiss border. There was absolutely no sound, and it was a strange, peaceful feeling. After about half an hour, I walked over to the peripherique and descended back down to reality.

I’ll let the pictures give the details. For more Chamonix info - Chamonix

Thanks for reading.