A good view of the reservoir at behind the Emosson Dam. Swiss mountains (the Alps) are in the background. The water level in the reservoir seems to be lower than usual as you can see the light "tide" line where the maximum water level reaches. Presumably it reaches that line in the winter, expecially when snow melts in the spring. Before the Emosson Dam was built, a smaller dam called the Barberine Dam was constructed - this is now 40 metres under water!

Pete took this picture of me (scruffy - I could have tucked my shirt in!). We are on the viewing platform at the Aiguille des Grands Montets, another quite cold place as it is about 2000 metres above sea level. Again the views are amazing.

This is the Aiguille des Grand Montets, taken from the glacier below, which you can actually walk on! The previous photo in this series was taken from the very top viewing platform which you can see. Although it was quite cold up there, plenty of hardened mountaineers wre sunbathing in shorts and t-shirts!

This is the glacier at Grands Montets that the public are allowed to walk on. It is quite dangerous however because there are crevasses everywhere, as you can see in the photo, and you certainly don't want to fall down one of those. It is easy to slip over too, as we found out several times. Quite exhilerating and at times clouds came right across and enveloped us, and cleared just as quickly. Amazing!

This is the Aiguille du Midi at a height of 3842 metres, the highest place in the region the general public can visit via cable car and eat in a restaurant. A lift takes you up to the very top from the cable car station where the views are tremendous, especially on a clear day looking down into the valley below. In the summer the temperatures here are at freezing point or below compared to 25 degress on average in the valley. In the winter -20 degrees is not uncommon I beleive! Thermal underwear definitely required! From here you can cross the Vallee Blanche in cable cars and down into Italy. Note that there is a tremendous feat of engineering the other side of the Vallee Blanche where a pylon for the cable cars is not fixed into the ground but suspended on other cables slung between mountain peaks!!!! It doesn't seem possible, but it is!