Aiguille du Midi, 10 June · near the top
A private edition
Part Four
the mountains
Chamonix · Haute-Savoie · 8 June–11 June 2026
North and up. The one chapter where the weather had an opinion of its own.
We left Nice and drove for the mountains, stopping first at Lake Annecy — fresh water, a novelty for two salties, the whole surface busy with kayaks and sails. From there the road climbed to Andrine’s place.
The day before, the Aiguille du Midi was shut inside cloud. The morning we rode up, the sky opened as if it had been arranged: the whole valley below, Italy on the horizon, and after the go-go-go of Paris, a place that makes you pause. Even the birds at 3,842 metres were curious about the humans.
The Mont-Blanc’s car park says Bentleys and Ferraris. The basement says Clarins spa — steam, sauna, pool, the works — which is where the mornings actually started.
The best of what was said at the time, tidied only enough to read.
Dinner belonged to Le Monchu, twice — coals brought to the table, the cheese melting away softly, red wine doing what red wine does at altitude. And on Andrine’s directions we took the hairpins to Sixt, walked in behind the waterfall, and ate a baguette each in the spray — an incredible feast of nature.
