Aiguille du Midi

Our second hike in the French Alps started with a gondola ride from the bottom of the Chamonix valley to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi … and a crazy, and potential altitude sickness inducing, 9,200 foot elevation gain in about 20 minutes! Fortunately, we only felt slightly dizzy : ). The Aiguille du Midi is a 12,605 ft mountain directly below the 15,771 ft summit of Mont Blanc. The gondola that travels to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi was opened in 1955, and was the worlds’ highest cable car for around two decades. It still holds the record for the highest vertical assent for a cable car, traveling from 3,396 ft to 12,605 ft.

Our assent in the cable car took us into a deep overcast of cloud cover. When we arrived at the summit of the Aiguille du Midi we had zero visibility over the surrounding peaks. After waiting for about an hour on the summit though, we were finally rewarded as the clouds slowly parted to reveal the following vistas:

The summit of Mont Blanc is barely visible through the clouds in the center of this picture.

Mont Blanc Massif from Aiguille du Midi.

Looking down on the Chamonix valley, over 9,000 feet below. Note the triangular shadow of the Aiguille du Midi cast over the center of the valley.

Look for the two climbers traversing just below the ridge line at the bottom of this picture.

The viewing platform on the summit of the Aiguille du Midi.

… and finally, a short time lapse of the clouds flowing over the summit of Mont Blanc: