By Caroline George In Chamonix, France, guides go to work riding the Aiguille du Midi lift, just like bankers ride the subway to work in New York. The difference is the view. The cable car raises alongside a 1,200-meter-long beautiful rock and then a knife-edge snowy ridge called the Frendo Spur.

By Caroline George There is no easy way up the Drus—A beautiful granite monolith that stands proud above the Chamonix valley, burning like a flame as the sun sets down on it. There is no easy approach to it either. It’s a mountain that you have to earn.