Grand St. Bernard Hospice

Whilst Lindsay traverses the Chablais on snowshoes with members of the Austrian Alpine Club I am based in Chamonix running our last Mont Blanc Snowshoe week of the season. Last week we experienced litterally buckets of fresh snow making the roads a nightmare but the skiing & snowshoeing excellent! This week we are having 'mixed' conditions - from blue skies and sunshine to fresh 'atmospheric' dustings of fresh snow. But in general the weather's definately calmed down alot. On our Mt. Blanc snowshoe week we head to various locations to enjoy the views and differing cultures of the region. On Tuesday we made use of the good weather and headed over to the Swiss/Italian border to the Grand St. Bernard pass and monastry (or hospice) where we spent the night. We started our walk at 1927m and made our way to this historic location at an altitude of 2472m. The hospice sits high on the mountain pass and is circled by mountains whose highest peaks are Mt. Blanc and the Grand Combin. Good weather is not common due to the pass being the meeting point of so many peaks. We were in luck this week what with a window of good weather making our trip away unforgetable as the views were amazing.