Méribel Summer Fun - Part 4

Hi everyone and welcome to another summer blog post. I'm still having a brilliant time here, and am very grateful being able to spend some time in and around Méribel. The hiking boots, road cycling shoes and mountain biking shoes are all being used with much vigour. Oh, not forgetting the tripod with my mate called Canon. Here's yet another twilight photo from the Altiport area, and this is why the Blanchot/Altiport area is called Altiport!?!

About a week ago Mrs SkiHemsley (my wife Harriet) travelled out to spend some time here. She had a flight booked to Geneva Airport which landed in the evening. I decided to make a day trip here, there and everywhere before picking her up. Last April I visited Chamonix for the first time in well over a decade, and loved it very much. So why not pop there indirectly on the way to Morzine (to have lunch with my mate called Slippers), and then onto Geneva?

It's such a stunning place scenery wise, with incredibly dramatic and huge mountains, and glaciers close to the town. The one thing that stood out to me was the colour of the river that flows through. It's almost milky. In fact the majority of the water will be glacial melt, and it's the sediment from the bottom of the glacier, a very fine-like powder smaller than sand.

I enjoyed my coffee in Chamonix, and a stroll around town before heading for lunch in Morzine. Afterwards I picked up Harriet. Speaking of glacial melt, here's another photo taken from Méribel. This is the River Doron high above the resort in the Tueda Nature Reserve. The source of the River Doron is the Gebroulaz Glacier. Can you see the difference on the left here where a fresh water stream, meets the glacial melt of the River Doron? Not certain the alpine cows could care less though?

Harriet has been 'working from home' some of the time, and when not she has been keen to be in the great outdoors. On one of these days she wanted to use a ski lift and to get high up. In Méribel the Tougnete 1 and 2 lifts are open in the summer, with Pas du Lac 1 and 2 open in Méribel-Mottaret. We chose the Pas du Lac to get to the top of Saulire.

One observation was that there were tradesmen working in Le Panoramic mountain restaurant next to the top of the Courchevel cable car. Could this mean that it might be open for the first time in many years, this winter? After all, it would fit in with the cable car reopening as well. Pure speculation on my part, so please don't quote me on it. This restaurant isn't for everyone, but it does offer stunning views from its terrace.

A few times each ski season, we get to experience a 'sea of cloud' treat. This is where the cloud level is mid mountain; some of the ski lifts rise through this level and you look down on the cloud. Some of you may have witnessed this climatic condition, it's a real blow your socks off moment. Well, guess what? Harriet and I had a sea of cloud the other day, and it was just as mesmerising in the summer as the winter......

Well, that's it for now. Harriet and I leave Méribel this weekend to return back to Leamington Spa. I've still loads of photos from this summer trip, including more evidence and sightings of the new Courchevel cable car. I'll post about this and other things after I get back. There's an end of holiday feeling now, but what a great trip it's been. Do come back soon..... Live With Passion. Martin.