Culture Trips to Chamonix Mountain

EMLyon organised a culture trip to Chamonix Mountain for GEP students on September 23. In France, winter is the skier's paradise. Because of its unique natural landscape and Europe's highest cable car station, Chamonix Mountain has been the best choice for skiers. In 1924, the first Olympic Winter Games was held there.

Early in the morning, we began our trip. After 3 hours’ drive, we arrived in the Chamonix town. This town is located in the southeast of France. In the cable car station, many ski enthusiasts were waiting for the cables with colorful clothes and professional equipment. Our GEPers together took two cable cars to go to the peak of the mountain. In the cable car, we saw the blue sky and the snow-capped mountains. What beautiful and spectacular scenery! After changing to another cable car, we finally arrived at the summit of Chamonix Mountain. At the viewing platform of the mountain, we saw dense clouds. The clouds were floating in the hillside, swaying like a girl's belt. It is said that when there is no cloud, visitors can see the territory of Switzerland and Italy from the viewing platform. Also in the viewing platform, we can overlook the highest cable car station in Europe: ’the compass peak’, which is 3,800 meters above the sea level. At this moment, the only thing we can do is to press the camera shutter to take beautiful pictures. After taking pictures, we had lunch together in the restaurant, which was more like a party.

After lunch, there was another challenge: rock climbing!  Chamonix is not only a ski resort, but also a Climbing resort. We must admit that Chamonix is full of vitality. For people who like rock climbing, here is no doubt their paradise. Climbing is indeed the sport of the brave! Under the cliff, every GEPer rushed to climb up. Also, Climbing can test whether you trust your companion. You can climb quickly only if you trust your team members. In my opinion, life is also like Climbing! In order to make it easy to ’down’, we should learn to trust others!

The Chamonix Mountain Cultural Trip was wonderful. The beautiful town of Chamonix will forever remain in our GEPer’s memory!

By Ma Tianxiang, GEP 2011