Travel Tips

We were roped up to walk through the big crevasses at the start of the hike. I was taking my brother and his girlfriend (who both live in hot Taiwan!) on their first glacier hike. My husband joined us for the first half of the hike, and turned around at the ladders (he had things to do the next day and couldn't stay overnight).

To reach the start of this hike, you take the Montenvers train and follow the signs (and the trail which goes downhill) to reach the Mer de Glace and the trail for the Couvercle Hut.

Basically you need to either know where you are going from experience, be with someone who knows, or know how to read a map in order to reach the Couvercle Hut. On the glacier there are no set trails or trail markers (though sometimes you can find piles of cairns in th very rocky morraine areas).

Here, crossing the big glacial river involved getting a bit physical (and finding a good rock for a mid-step that was luckily in the middle of the river!)

Yes, people ski down this same glacier in the winter. This view is the famous 'Vallee Blanche' ski run as it looks in summer time!

Once you walk over the glacier, there are several sets of ladders to climb, and another hike up a rocky trail to reach the Couvercle Hut itself.

The views of the mountains from the Couvercle Hut (maintained by the Club Alpine Francais - reservations recommended) were great.

This summer, due to the heat wave melting the ice on the mountain tops, we could hear giant rock falls coming down all around us in rolling roars that sounded bigger than thunder. This went on from the minute we stepped on the glacier until after dark.

A number of climbers we spoke to in the hut that day had run away from mountain climbs due to the large rock fall. Summer 2003 - not a good year for mountaineering!

Here we are having made it up the ladders, with the Talefre Glacier now in the background.

The Couvercle Hut is actually 2 huts - this is the summer hut which serves meals and has a large number of comfy bunkbeds to sleep in. There is a smaller winter hut (originally the only hut) which is tucked under a large slab of rock. This is what gave the refuge it's name (couvercle is French for cover, such as a lid on a pan).

They do make you wear some pretty silly plastic gardening clogs when you come here. Leave your ice axes and boots at the door!

We were happy for the cold beers after the long hot hike (normally it's not a hot hike - this year was just a heat wave).

In the early AM on they way back to Chamonix and the Montenvers train station we saw a lot of marmottes on the trail near the streams.

In the big crevasses near the train station people practice ice climbing techniques and also crevasse rescue procedures.