Chamonix is a small town in a freshly carved glacial valley (think steep walls with hills of gravel and rocks along the sides (moraines). I say ‘freshly’ carved because the Mer de Glacé Glacier (Sea of Ice) used to extend down to the town of Les Bois and was clearly visible from Chamonix (approximately 2 km farther down the Valley than its present location when visitors first started frequenting the area in the early 1741). They have been formally studying this glacier since the ~1870’s but they have data back to 1565. Mer de Glacé is really the birthplace of Glaciology (study of glaciers) and the It is the longest studied Glacier in the world.
Mer de Glace Glacier, you can see the Montenvers Train station on the right that brings you to the glacier
It worked.
The glacier has been in retreat ever since. Blame God, not global warming for this one.
Maximum extension of the glacier in 1644 (green line), this was followed by a retreat then the next maximum was reached in 1821 (red line) … then the exorcisim … then followed a retreat and by 1895 the glacier was at the orange line, currently it is much farther up the valley. Click image for reference paper.
A cool diagram showing the data available and the position of the glacier since 1570
Studies of the Glacier continue annually and each winter a tunnel is drilled into the Glacier. If you visit in the winter season, you can take a stroll in the “Ice Cave” and see inside a real live glacier! If you don’t want to visit Chamonix for the skiing, this is definitely a reason to come back and nerd out! I am seriously considering adding it to my geology bucket list.
You can see the old ice caves at the very bottom of the picture, about 1/3 ftom the left edge. The gondola to get down to the cave in the bottom left. Crazy to think that this glacier once filled this valley. The valley was once filled to the green/trees transition you can see across the valley, would have been quite the site.
An aquaduct the train travels over. You can see the extra track running down the middle of the track. The train locks into this to help it ascend the steep inclne and control the speed of it’s decent.
The Montenvers trains and Aiguille du Dru (Aiguille = needle)
The steep ascent … you can see why they need the extra track.
Aiguille du Dru
You can compare with the photo above and see where the Glacier is versus ~1909 when the train was built.
Maps & Flip Flops 
May 26, 2015 at 1:08 pm
Sounds like you’re having a great time! Just wanted to say that Linds and I did the climb down and into the ice cave … very cool!
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From:”Maps & Flip Flops” Date:Mon, May 25, 2015 at 16:32 Subject:[New post] A Sea of Ice in Chamonix
aearts posted: “Chamonix is a small town in a freshly carved glacial valley (think steep walls with hills of gravel and rocks along the sides (moraines). I say ‘freshly’ carved because the Mer de Glacé Glacier (Sea of Ice) used to extend down to the town of Les Bois and”
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