January 2020

Le Brévent – Chamonix, France

Le Brévent was the peak where we initially planned on skiing… before we barely survived the green slopes over at La Flégère. Definitely a “steep” learning curve if you have only skied in the northeast like us. But we paid for this Mont Blanc Unlimited Pass and while we were done skiing, we figured the views from another peak were worth the gondola ride up.

We walked right up to the Le Brévent lift and started the ascent up. From here, we could see the La Flégère lodge where we skied at yesterday along with sweeping views of Chamonix below.

One more gondola to the top but this one an intense gondola like the one up to Aiguille du Midi. Only two gondolas on the cable that alternated back and forth, completed suspended connecting the two peaks far above any ground. A familiar sight of being squished into the gondola full of people with ski and snowboard equipment as we made the journey flying through the sky. When we disembarked, we were completely speechless.

The other side of Le Brévent was completely stunning! We did not expect to continue to see new vistas but this one really felt heavenly. The untouched snow looked like clouds at first but it was just blanketed. Simply spectacular.

We spent a lot of time up here, walking to were the skiers and snowboarders go on the trail so we could take advantage of every view point. Since we were up here and had no intention of leaving, we walked down to the Le Panoramic Restaurant which as the name implies has a panoramic view of the Alps.

While it was very crowded with hungry skiers, we were able to squeeze in at a table. Everything was overpriced up here but all the food looked and smelled great. We decided to keep it simple and order a blueberry tart (one of the specialties of the area) and Kevin grabbed a beer, which due to altitude had a fun time pouring without developing a ton of foam. The pie was actually quite delicious!

With that, we did one final lap of the area, taking in each and every angle that extended into the distance.

Funny that there seemed to be a strange advantage to not skiing up here – that we got to take the gondola back without any people – complete unobstructed view. And while I should have been terrified, I still was – but having survived it once and having an operated in the gondola made it that much better.

Before taking the final gondola down, we sat and watched the paragliders run and let the wind put up under the parachute as they glided in the sky, floating and twirling like a dance.

The walk back down to the town was certainly less challenging and we were rewarded with such an amazing view.