Saint-Gervais-les-Bains

Hello from the slopes of Le Prarion above St. Gervais-les-Bains. I arrived in Geneva early this morning, stupidly having watched movies the whole flight rather than sleeping. A couple trains quickly got me to St. Gervais and then I hiked myself and my two backpacks full of race gear 2,700 vertical feet up the mountain to my cousin's husband's family chalet. (Thank you N & S!)

 It's adorable and has terrific views of whatever mountains those are across the way (in the opposite direction of Mt. Blanc). I'll probably stay two nights then hike up over the rest of the mountain and down to Chamonix, and continue on my way to Courmayeur, where I'll be running Tor des Géants, a 330Km race with 80K+ feet of vertical gain. It's going to kick my butt for days.

I had to go back down into the village to hit the ATM and get some food. It was a great run down, but then once I was there the weather was very threatening. I ate some quick pizza and asked if there was a taxi stand nearby. Apparently not, but luckily the pizza guy offered to take me for 10€. (The exchange rate is awesome right now, aside from airlines sucking, now is a great time to visit Europe.) So I got a ride as far as the pavement goes, and then hiked as fast as I could through the hail and lightning back to the chalet.

I'm all stocked up and there's actually a small restaurant a few chalets over, so tomorrow I'll probably just hang out up here rather than going back to the village.

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