Mer de Glace — Local services in Bonneville

Incredible experience! It's such a stunningly beautiful place. We took the train from chamonix and it took us around half an hour to get there. The scenery on the train ride is mind blowing. It's very high up, elevation of 2,100 metres (6,900 ft), just north of the Aiguille du Tacul, where it is formed by the confluence of the Glacier de Leschaux and the Glacier du Tacul. When we got there we took the cable car that went down part of way and then we had to go down 500 steps to the actual glacier. The glacier itself is just wow. Surrounded by vast mountains towering over you making you feel so small and insignificant. Was such a blessing to able to experience seeing something so spectacular. We spent quite a while in the ice cave it was so interesting to learn that there were air bubbles in the ice that had been trapped for millions of years. There was lots of information on the walls about the ice cave so took some time to read that. There were lots of ice carvings so great to take picures. After the ice cave we went back up and visited the crystal museum which was in a cave then walked around in sheer awe. The mountains were so magical and there were so many amazing places to take photos. If you are in chamonix it's a must see place. You can purchase the mont blanc pass which includes visit to this...

From Chamonix you can take the little red train from the Mer du Glace train station. The train will take you up the mountain for 15-20 minutes and during you’ll see the greatest scene of Chamonix and the mountains surrounding it. When you arrive you can enjoy a snack or hot drink at the cafeteria and you may buy a souvenir from the shop. If you look down from the balcony you’ll see the sea of ice Mer du Glace and you’ll be mesmerised by the beautiful scene of the mountains especially the one with the pointed peak. Then you can take the téléférik down where it will take you half the way and then you have to go down the stairs for almost 580 steps where you’ll see a beautiful dug ice cave. The cave is dug on a yearly basis and it’s a little adventure that deserved to be experienced. You have to know that there is a danger of avalanches, and you have to climb back the 580 steps. The last train to take you back to Chamonix go on 16:30 so watch...

A glacier on the northern, or French, side of Mont Blanc, notable for the spectacular banding pattern on its surface.

The Mer de Glace is a valley glacier—a long glacier with mountains on both sides—that extends down from the Mont Blanc Massif toward the Chamonix Valley in eastern France. It is some 7 miles (11 km) long. The Mer de Glace, “Sea of Ice,” gets its name from the undulating, banded pattern seen on part of the glacier below an icefall (a steeply descending section) situated at an altitude of around 10,500 ft (3,200 m). This surface pattern has been described as waves frozen in the midst of a storm. The “waves” are actually alternating bands of thicker, lighter ice and thinner, darker ice, created due to seasonal factors (see panel, right). The bands, known as ogives, are curved—the result of the ice in the middle of the glacier moving downhill slightly faster than the ice...