In Chamonix, in the tiny Montenvers station, the famous red cog train departs every 30 minutes.
Inside, on its old-fashioned wooden benches, hikers of all ages and from all over the world, hikers, scientists and more or less experienced mountaineers mingle.
It only takes 20 minutes at 20km / h to transport this little world to a whole different universe.
Terminus: the Montenvers.
To discover
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When getting off the train, it's impossible not to be seized by the raw and mineral panorama.
The wharf, on a rocky outcrop, overlooks the gigantic moraine of the Mer de Glace glacier.
Facing the travelers, a majestic cirque surrounded by peaks, each more mythical than the next: among them, the Drus (3754m), the Aiguille Verte (4122m) or the north faces of the Grandes Jorasses (4205m) then, below, this immense glacial valley which cuts through the massif.
A heap of stones and a tongue of ice, white or greyish depending on the season, the dimension of which we really realize when we see, in winter, tiny skiers dancing on them on their return from the famous Vallée Blanche.
Read also In Chamonix, first winter in Montenvers
The longest glacier in France
The positive aesthetic shock of such a majestic site then comes the inevitable “slap” at the sight of the glacier.
The immense moraines, piles of rocky debris located on the sides, testify to its melting and its inexorable decline.
Covering an area of 40 km2, the Mer de Glace rises for 7 km towards the back of Mont-Blanc, making it the longest glacier in France.
Read alsoWhen the sea of ice disappears ...
Visitors wishing to explore the Ice Cave take the gondola below to descend to the foot of the glacier.
But the arrival of the cable car being today much higher than the level of the glacier, it therefore follows a maze of 580 steps on metal bridges, each year more numerous (there were 430 in 2015) .
It's hard not to feel sick to your stomach when you take these steps and read the signs on which the years and the level of the glacier are marked.
A historic place
In 1870, the Mer de Glace was directly observable from Chamonix.
Today, you have to take the Montenvers train and climb to an altitude of over 1,900 m to see it up close.
Chamonix Valley Tourist Office / Morgane Raylat
Discovered in 1741 by British explorers Pococke and Windham, the glacier was little known and particularly feared by the inhabitants of the valley. At the time, he went down to the hamlet of Les Bois in Chamonix! The two Britons, after 5 hours of walking from the village, discover the place and describe it as… a “sea of ice”. The term will remain. A certain enthusiasm is born to come to admire this incredible landscape, in particular on behalf of travelers, artists and famous writers (Victor Hugo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, George Sand…) which will amplify its notoriety.
A shelter, then a “temple of Nature” are built to allow sleeping on site;
and in 1869, the Grand Hôtel du Montenvers was built.
Then comes the railway line project.
It started in 1906 and was to be one of the great human adventures in the region, inaugurated in 1909. The line, which quickly enjoyed great success, was electrified in 1954.
A new extraordinary challenge
View of the Montenvers-Mer de Glace site development project.
Compagnie du Mont Blanc - Clément Facy
Between 1990 and 2000, they were between 450,000 and 480,000 to come each year by train to this site. Today, there are between 340,000 and 360,000 annual visitors. The panorama is still as majestic as ever, but the site needs to be accompanied by informative messages, to be decoded and revitalized with meaning, especially in the face of climate change. This is the extraordinary challenge that is underway for the oldest historic mountain tourism site in France.
The Municipal Council of Chamonix entrusted a Public Service Delegation to the Compagnie de la Mer de Glace (60% owned by the Compagnie du Mont Blanc) in June 2021, to operate this site for 33 years. The budget, which amounts to 53.3 million euros, includes broadly: the construction of a new gondola for access to the glacier (December 2023), the construction of a Glaciorium: interpretation center of glaciers et du climat (December 2024), the construction of a new terrace above the departure station of the cable cars, a restaurant and the development of new routes on the site and making it more accessible to people with reduced mobility, of all the spaces created. The works, planned over 4 years, also include the demolition of the old gondola,the deconstruction of the Le Panoramic restaurant and its terrace.
The actors of this adventure show the will to enhance the memory of the site, to protect while making it discovered and finally to inform and educate visitors on climate change.
Mathieu Dechavanne, CEO of Compagnie du Mont Blanc, starts from the principle that
“if you want to protect, you have to know.
The idea is not to run after the ice, but to perpetuate the links between the mountain and the man ”
.
The project received the favorable opinion of the Higher Commission for Sites, Perspectives and Landscape and that of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
What to do at the Montenvers-Mer de Glace site in winter?
THE ICE CAVE AND THE GLACIORIUM
The Ice Cave.
Mont Blanc Natural Resort
By following the footpath (about twenty minutes) or via the cable cars.
In any case, you will have to take the metal steps at the end.
Re-cut each year, the cave sinks to a depth of 110 meters in the ice.
The sound of flowing water and the greyish rock surrounding the entrance are quickly forgotten once inside.
Visitors, quickly refreshed, walk through a gallery of turquoise blue ice, and can touch the bowels of the glacier with their fingers.
The history and the life of the mountain dwellers at the beginning of the 19th century are quickly described, sculptures and play of light amuse the youngest ...
After going up to the level of the quay, a small hook through the Glaciorium allows you to learn about the formation of the Mer de Glace and its evolution.
An educational place and a scientific approach to the mechanisms of the glacier, through images and models.
This axis will in principle be much more developed and modernized in the next version of Glaciorium.
THE WHITE VALLEY
The Mer de Glace is the final part of the famous descent, which starts at the top of the Aiguille du Midi.
To descend this vast glacial basin, there are six major routes.
Find our guide to the Vallée Blanche.
MONTENVERS - MER DE GLACE TRAIN
The little red train of Montenvers.
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Tourist Office
This train journey to the Mer de Glace departs from Gare du Montenvers in Chamonix.
Round trip with on-site visits to the Ice Grotto and the Glaciorium: adult € 35.50, child € 30.20.
Family pass: € 110.10.
One way ticket + visit: adult € 29.50, child and senior € 25.10.
Return from Vallée Blanche (winter): adult € 30, child and senior € 25.50.
Or sleep
The Montenvers Refuge
Built in 1880 to accommodate the first climbers and travelers to visit the Mer de Glace, Le Refuge du Montenvers has a sober granite facade, pierced with many small windows.
Le Refuge du Montenvers / Press photo
This little granite gem, built in 1869, overlooking the site, was completely renovated in 2017. The spirit of refuge in what it has most authentic is there, embellished with the comfort of a modern hotel.
The old wood is original, the stairs tell the story of the passage of time and on the door of each room, the portrait of a writer, mountaineer or explorer past Montenvers.
The whole works wonderfully and makes you want to listen to mountain epics by the fireside before setting off on these high altitude lands.
Double rooms, family, suites or dormitory with 10 beds.
Le Refuge du Montenvers, impasse du Montenvers, 74400 Chamonix-Mont-Blanc.
Phone.
: 04 50 53 87 70.