Alpinism course in Chamonix Mont Blanc - part one

As one can understand from my previous post - I liked the UCPA experience in Abries and about a year and a half after the ice climbing course we decided to go to France again, this time for a two week long alpinism course in the Chamonix area.
The town of Chamonix is a Mecca of extreme sports all year around: skiing, hiking, rock, snow and ice climbing, paragliding, parachute skiing, wing-suit jumps, mountain biking and probably many more. For example then day we arrived there was the UTMB race day

UTMB race starting point

As you can see - there was a very special holiday atmosphere in the town and for the following day one could see and cheer the finishing runners while they are running, walking or limping the last kilometres before the finish. 

We used the time before the course for mountain biking and hiking nearby and then went to the UCPA school to meet another participants and our instructor and get our gear. One of the great things about UCPA is that they provide you with everything you need - so if you are interested in only trying out some kind of sport - you can join the course without having to invest in all the equipment.

There are plenty of bike trails in the area

View from Brevent to the Mont Blanc

On the first day we had our "alpinism school" on a natural climbing wall that was located in Chamonix itself, we covered basic rock climbing techniques and belaying. On the next day we went to the Mere de Glace glacier to practice with crampons, how to walk on ice tied one to another and even performed a crevasse rescue.

Our instructor Dominique

Glacier walking

Ice world

Crevasse rescue

Mere de Glace

In the next days until the weekend we practised what we learned by rock climbing near Brevent, and doing some actual snow alpinism near Aiguille du Midi.

View from Brevent

Summit

Those breathtaking views...

Aiguille du Midi - note the people walking on the ridge

As you can see the area is rocky, snowy, wild and insanely beautiful and I am glad that I had the chance to visit it. I think it is a good place to stop. In a next post I will share some pictures from the second week of our course, and from the places we've been to during the weekends.