Mont Blanc face on
The massif, the Aiguille du Midi and the glaciers in one frame.
Tiia Monto — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ximonic, Simo Räsänen — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rémih — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vassil — CC0
**Entirely different, and both worth it if time allows.** The Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m) puts you *inside* the high glacial world: suspended platforms, thin air and an unforgettable sight — but it is far more expensive, crowds heavily and can bring on altitude sickness. La Flégère is cheaper and quieter and puts you *opposite* the mountain, so you see the whole massif as it appears in photographs, and from it you walk to Lac Blanc. For one outing on a clear day: the Aiguille for the experience, La Flégère for the view and the walking.
**Early morning, between late June and October.** The reflection needs still air, and the wind rises after midday and erases it. Before late June the path stays under snow and the lake is frozen or partly frozen. The climb is about two hours at ordinary fitness and the descent quicker; take water and an extra layer, since weather above 2,000 metres turns in minutes.
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La Flégère is a mountain station at about 1,900 metres on the **northern** side of the valley — the side opposite Mont Blanc — and that is its whole secret: from here you do not see the mountain from beneath it but **face on**, so the Mont Blanc massif, the Aiguille du Midi and the Bossons glacier open out in one complete picture. Climbers go up the other side; photographers come here. It is reached by cable car from the village of **Les Praz** (a few minutes), and a chairlift continues to **L'Index** at 2,385 metres for a wider view. At the top is a restaurant with a terrace facing the mountain directly. From La Flégère begins the valley's most famous walk: the climb to **Lac Blanc** (about two hours, moderate) — a mountain lake at 2,352 metres in which Mont Blanc is mirrored almost perfectly on a still morning, the image you see in every book about the French Alps. The path is rocky and stepped, with metal ladders in places.
The massif, the Aiguille du Midi and the glaciers in one frame.
Mont Blanc mirrored in a lake at 2,352 metres.
A further rise to 2,385 metres for a wider view.
La Flégère, 74400 Chamonix