Surprise view

L'autoroute Anglaise gives way to a series of dull alphanumeric codes as you drive South East through France, but eventually around Geneva you find you're on the Route Blanche. Finding yourself there usually mean one of two things, you're heading for Italy or your heading for Mountains.
Passing Geneva the scenery really steps up a gear, sheer walls of limestone tower over the valley, the Aravais looks splendid and l'Arve rushes alongside in spate, but it's not till nearly the last moment that you see the tallest of them all, Mont Blanc*.
They've built a rest spot here to allow tourists somewhere to pull over, and despite it being only a couple of minutes from our turnoff I'll often pull in if I'm with people. To fully appreciate the scale of the mountain it needs to be seen from a distance, much closer and the foreground mass of the Dome du Goûter hides the summit. Whilst I was alone today I knew under a bright blue sky, and with a day of chores ahead, it would make a blip. I hoped the new refuge would glint in the sun but what I'd not expected was to be able to see see the tracks in the snow that those using this weather window had made, allowing my eyes to focus I could just make out some groups, you might be able to as well, but this much magnification really tested little camera.
I was sure, oh so sure, after my last climb on Mont Blanc - the desperate abseils ahead of a storm, the race to a bivouac and the sound of rockfall everywhere - I was sure I was done with her, three and a scary half was enough. But on a day like today, under a friendly blue sky, well......

*the refuge is on the edge at 3900m, the tracks disappear over the Goûter at 4304m but distant MB is another half a kilometre higher.