First, my apologies to those of you who viewed this topic thinking it was another post in the fine series by Nad. But since you're already here, you might as well have a look. :)
Yesterday, my sons and I decided to go for a hike. Not far from here is a smallish mountain called Rocher de Naye (2041m). It isn't technically difficult but can require some stamina depending on the starting point -- or no stamina at all if you ride the cog train to the top. We chose a starting point at about 1175m. We decided to make things more interesting by taking the steepest route up and the most challenging route down which happens to pass through a really cool (and very cold) cave.
For hiking, I wear a Tissot T-Touch. The altimeter function is very helpful for navigating since the topo maps indicate elevation at key points. Just as importantly, I'm not about to wear any of my nice watches where they could easy get damaged. But I really wanted a summit photo to post here. So I put the VC AT in a protective case and put it in my back pack (and hoped that I wouldn't fall in the very slippery, very steep cave).
The boys and I had a great day. Though I hike all the time, for them it is much less common so I was very impressed at how well they kept up. We enjoyed a picnic at the summit followed by a very challenging descent on a blue/white trail (yellow is easiest, then red/white and finally blue/white -- as blue/white trails go this one isn't too bad but it was their first time on one). The cave was a real treat though I'd forgotten to pack gloves for them -- the chains fastened to the cave wall to aid in the descent are very cold in that environment.
Now on to the photos:
The view southeast. Les Dents du Midi are the seven clustered peaks about 1/3 in from the right edge. Just to the right of them, the peak of Mont Blanc is just barely visible.
The boys and the view northeast. The Eiger, Monk and Jungfrau are all visible.
Most people would probably think that this shot is out of focus but I'm confident that for this audience the focus is just right.
