Chamonix and other France travels

I lived in Paris (15e), France during my Post-Doctoral fellowship from January to May 2002 (Laboratoire Geomateriaux, Universite Marne-la-Vallee).  In that time, and in subsequent trips, I had the opportunity to travel around France extensively, in particular in the Chamonix area.  In 2003, I set out to ski the Mer de Glace, a 24 km off-piste glacier ski run from the top of Aiguille du Midi down 10,000 feet back to Chamonix (yes, as insane as it sounds).