Mont Blanc Hiking: Lac Bleu to Mer de Glace and Montenvers

Jul 20, 2015
2 min read

While Lac Bleu was a walk in the park, this hike from Lac Bleu to Mer de Glace glacier via Le Signal Forbes was a bit painful. Downhill is not my best suit given my busted knee and admittedly, two hours and change of descending took a bit of a toll. There were bits of technical scrambles and a some climbing on this hike which I didn't mind, but the altitude and heat was the monster to us that day.

I come from Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, populated with twelve million people. You would understand that the concept of glaciers never existed in my realm of consciousness before.

Glaciers utterly fascinate me now. The thought of ice rivers hundreds of years old at mountain peaks, (mostly) intact even in the summer, blows my mind. These massive chunks of ice, lined up like ice canyons, gush out in large volumes of rivers when the ice thaw.

And speaking of thawing ice, glacial melt is rather normal. Every summer, glaciers feed rivers. However, what is rather abnormal is the incredible heat at altitude that glaciers are melting in historical speed. I don't know about you, but that is a concern for me.

I view traveling as a privilege. I always have. And my hope is that when it is not possible for everyone to travel, with this blog, I hope I am also bring places to you. But more than anything, I hope I am able to communicate the message of awareness of how our world is changing. Climate is changing. Glaciers are melting at a faster rate and if we are unlucky, they will soon be gone. And to communicate the urgency of doing something different collectively if not to reverse the effects of a warming planet, but at least to slow it down until you and the future generations also have the chance to see it.