The sole camper for the duration of my stay, I plumped for a pre-cut pitch on the edge of the meadow beyond the house.  So far from any large towns, I anticipated the pitch black night time canopy and revelled in the brilliance and clarity of a myriad stars spangling the Milky Way directly above.  What I didn't expect was anxiety about sleeping alone in my tent in the meadow too far from the house to be heard.

I experienced the full negative force of all the science fiction I had watched.  More than once recollections of Mulder and Scully's X Files investigations disturbed my dreams.  Eventually I employed an often used and extremely helpful coping strategy.  I reminded myself that right at that moment I knew I wasn't in any danger.  Indeed the only real "threat" came in a much more tangible form.  As I had forgotten to reproof it, one end of the tent leaked during a heavy shower.  And that hiccup was soon cured with a plastic bin liner and some sticky tape.  Although my anxiety diminished considerably by the end of the week, the experience proved a salutary lesson in the impact for the anxious of long-term exposure to a particular concept.

Chamonix - Mont Blanc (September 1997)
The twenty kilometre long Chamonix Valley, often called the birthplace of mountaineering, nestles between the bulk of the Mont Blanc range and the towering spires of the Aiguilles Rouges.  One website described the town of Chamonix-Mont Blanc as "rich in tradition and local colour".  In my estimation Chamonix is to the Mont Blanc region what Keswick is to the English Lake District.  However it admirably fulfils an essential function in providing the wide range of accommodation and eating establishments needed to service visitors as diverse as tour parties and climbers.

And, let's face it, most people come to experience the magnificent mountains, either distantly or intimately.  Stunning the scenery certainly is.  I never did work out how the sun managed to touch the top of Mont Blanc both in rising and setting.  Nor could I coin a colour for the creamy, red gold glow on the snow caps but that didn't stop me savouring it from behind a warm baguette breakfast by the tent.  Chamonix is surrounded by peaks and glaciers a plenty.  Whether you want to stroll along the valley side or climb one of the world famous routes on the Drus, the Aiguille Vertes or Grandes Jorasses, a network of cable cars gives easy access above the tree line.

Although three years had passed since the Hintertux, la Flegere's cable car held few fears.  However none of those short swishes could fully prepare me for the Aiguille du Midi angst.  The world famous two stage cable car climbs from the valley floor at 1035 metres to a rock pinnacle at an awesome 3842 metres (12,680 ft) in about 30 minutes.  Cabins whisk the unwary swiftly to a middle station at Plan de l'Aiguille from where the ascent slows in proportion to the increased gradient until the cars inch agonisingly up to the landing platform at the upper level.