Rivers of Ice

The glaciers of Chamonix are perhaps the most visceral reminder that mountains are not monuments but processes. The Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice), France's largest glacier, stretches 7 kilometers and plunges to depths of 300 meters. Once, Victorian tourists could step directly from the Montenvers train onto the ice. Today, visitors must descend over 500 steps—a stark measure of our changing climate.

"My grandmother used to tell stories of skating on the glacier in winter," shares Marie Deline, whose family has lived in Chamonix for seven generations. "Now I explain to my children why the ice is so far away."

The valley hosts several major glaciers: - The Mer de Glace, covering 30 square kilometers - The Glacier des Bossons, one of the most accessible, tumbling nearly to the valley floor - The Glacier d'Argentière, stretching 9 kilometers - The Glacier du Tour, popular with mountaineering schools

Each glacier has its own personality, its own patterns of advance and retreat. Glaciologist Dr. Amara Konaté, originally from Mali and now part of the GLACIOCLIM monitoring network, describes them as "archives of atmosphere"—their layers preserving records of past climates, their current retreat writing tomorrow's history.