Photo : SNappa2006 (https://www.flickr.com/people/snappa2006/) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Mer de Glace
Born from the meeting of the Tacul and Leschaux glaciers, the Mer de Glace stretches about seven kilometres in the Chamonix valley, where it gives birth to the Arveyron torrent. With its 40 km² catchment basin, it remains the largest French glacier, even though its thickness has greatly diminished since the nineteenth century.
Long feared by the valley's inhabitants, this river of ice owes its present name to the British explorer William Windham, who christened it so in 1741. It then became an obligatory stop of nascent Alpine tourism, immortalised by many painters and visited by scientists come to study its movements. An ice cave, dug each year in the body of the glacier, now completes the visit.
The site is reached from Chamonix station by the Montenvers rack railway, then by a gondola that gradually replaces the steps that have become necessary as the glacier retreats and moves away from its former level. Spring and summer remain the best seasons to enjoy the panorama over the surrounding needles.
