Images from the French and Italian Alps - June 2011
Young donkey wearing a heart-shaped bell on Monte Mottorone above the town of Stresa in Italy.
Young boy watches boats on the lake while his grandmother dines with friends on Isola Dei Pescatori near Stresa.
Classical statue framed by honeysuckle blossoms - Stresa.
High school students on an end-of-year outing swim at the beach on Isola dei Pescatori on Lago Maggiore in the Italian Alps.
Classmates take photos of their friends swimming and wading in the lake.
Gardenia blossom along the lakeshore in Locarno, Switzerland. Please click to enlarge.
On the lakefront on Ascona, Switzerland at the north end of Lago Maggiore.
Thunderhead over the Swiss Alps above Ascona.
Looking down Lago Maggiore from boat as it departed Locarno.
On the lake promenade in Stresa with Isola Bella just offshore.
Mont Blanc and the Bossons Glacier from the town of Chamonix in the French Alps. The bright white seracs of ice at the lower right are five stories in height.
The Aiguille du Midi from Chamonix in the morning light. The gondola ascends to this peak in two stages.
The second gondola ascends almost vertically as it nears the summit.
Climbers prepare their gear for an ascent of Aiguille du Plan in the middle distance (just behind the woman in the red jacket).
A skier and climber descend from the summit ridge on the Aiguille du Midi. The sharks fin of the Grandes Jorasses and the dark spire of the Dent du Geant (Giant's Tooth) are at right.
The same group after descending from the Aiguille du Midi -- all groups climb down to the col and then over to and up the needles.
Climbers descending from the Aiguille du Midi at 12,600 feet (3,842 meters).
Climbers with the summit of Mont Blanc in the background at 15,774 feet. Note the glaciers descending in all directions from the summit.
The Bossons Glacier from the Aiguille du Midi. At one point in the 19th century this glacier extended almost to the valley floor. All of the glaciers in the Mont Blanc massif are shrinking due to climate change -- with less snow falling on the summits in the winter and with warmer average summer temperatures.
Images copyright 2011 - Peter B. Seel - all rights reserved.
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