Glaciers, caves and Swedes

We took a 40 minute ride on an old train car up to the top of a mountain on the north end of Chamonix, just barely making it on board before it started to chug uphill.


At the top, we were greeted with some marvelous sights!


I'm not sure how large the glacier is, but you can see it begin in the valley basin here. It's much, much larger than it appears and if you look hard, you might see tiny black specks - skiers! We considered trying to ski it, but decided not to after learning that it was highly recommended to have an experienced guide, in order to avoid the deep crevasses... the 120-feet deep crevasses.


Don't go chasing frozen waterfalls.


The whole crew!


From the top, we took a cable car down to a man-made ice cave. It's actually re-constructed annually since each year the glacier's center moves 90 meters and its' sides 45 meters. The current cave is in the middle; you can see last year's cave to the left and next year's to the right.


Not quite the best English translation, but we got the point.


Sam keeping it real.


The ice is eating my arm!


The cave's shimmering ceiling.


It really wasn't very deep, but became remarkably chillier the farther in we went.


The beautiful but barren frozen landscape.


Tiny skiers peering into previous caves.


Back in Chamonix, Rachel telling secrets.


Isabelle looking quintessiantially Swedish.