Aiguille du Midi is the highest cable car in Europe. There is an ascent only by cable car or along rather difficult climbing routes. And also from it (or rather from the plateau nearby) starts one of the popular routes to the top of Mont Blanc - Three peaks. We already knew that the route could be avalanche-prone now after a storm and with strong winds, but still decided to look at everything with our own eyes and clarify at the Kosmic shelter. They are still closer to the scene of action. And just spending the night at 3500m is not bad.
So some official information about Aiguille du Midi. From the center of Chamonix, the highest cable car in Europe will take you to the Aiguille du Midi station in 20 minutes, directly to the observation deck at an altitude of 3,842 m from where you can enjoy a magnificent view of the mighty Mont Blanc. The Aiguille du Midi, with its 3,777 m height and projecting terraces, offers a 360-degree panorama of all the French, Italian and Swiss Alps. It is worth understanding that the trip to Aiguille du Midi and back will take you at least a couple of hours, including travel time and time spent at the top. During peak dates, due to the increase in the number of visitors, this time may increase, and it will increase significantly.
Naturally, there is a lot of entertainment for tourists at the upper station:
- Step into the abyss - On December 21, 2013, a new project opened at the top of Aiguille du Midi. Fans of tickling their nerves can take a "step into the abyss" — into a glass room hanging in the air on a steel frame. Transparent walls, floor and ceiling will fully convey to visitors the feeling of floating in the air.
- Cafeteria restaurants and a gift shop are open at the station all year round. In summer, at the 3842 m restaurant, you can relax and taste traditional Savoyard dishes in a very unusual setting and at an appropriate height.
- Panoramic gondola cable car - climbing the Aiguille du Midi in summer, you can ride a cable car over the glaciers of the White Valley across the border with Italy to the top of Pointe Helbronner. The panoramic lift is open from May to mid-September (depending on weather conditions).
- Plan de L'Aiguille - the cable car from Chamonix to Aiguille du Midi consists of two sections. An intermediate station at an altitude of 2310 m, Plan de l'Aiguille is the starting point for trekking summer routes along the northern balcony (Balcon Nord) to Montaigne. Five minutes from the station, you can stop at the Refuge du Plan for lunch and rest.
If you are going to visit Aiguille du Midi for sightseeing purposes, do not forget to prepare. And it's not just about pre-purchased tickets. Even if you have a Mont Blanc Pass, it is not yet a fact that when you arrive at the cable car you will immediately go upstairs. On a clear day, the queue can stretch for 1-3 hours. And if you have a pass, then you need to get a special Boarding Pass that will indicate the number of the cabin you will be traveling in. Boarding Pass can be obtained in the info booths located on the square in front of the lift.
Next, it's worth remembering that you come from summer Chamonix to almost winter conditions at an altitude of 3800m., so take warm clothes, sunglasses and sunscreen with you (yes, sunscreen, at this altitude you can burn in the sun in 5 minutes). Also, ask for the weather forecast in advance, because in the afternoon clouds often appear in the mountains. Of course, the clouds floating below you can be very beautiful, but if everything is covered with clouds and nothing is visible beyond 20 meters, then...
So all the queues are behind us, the way is on the lift too, and we are at the upper station. Since there are a lot of people, and already at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, all new arrivals are given the number of the booth where they should go down. But we're staying upstairs and we don't need him.
We walked along the observation decks, looked at the mountains from all sides, saw the exit to the popular rock and ice route from the Kosmic hut. And here we are at the site in front of the exit to the narrow ridge that leads to the plateau below the Col du Midi. That's where we plan to spend the night. The ridge is impressively narrow, snowy, steep cliffs on both sides and harsh climbers tortured, hung with iron come along it.
And we don't have that much iron, and we don't look so harsh, but we have to go... The comb was run quickly - it turned out to be quite light and not at all long. The only thing is to be careful going off the trail when you miss someone. A little later, walking along the plateau and the surrounding peaks, we saw that most of the "hardware" that the "climbers" are hung with (in fact, they are often customers) is not much used.
And here we are at the Col du Midi. There are already several tents, but they are scattered all over the plateau. We also find an already excavated area for two tents with a place for a kitchen and a toilet. We put up a tent. We had lunch. It's time to go somewhere.
First of all, we head to the Kosmic shelter - we need to once again get an opinion on the avalanche danger of the Mont Blanc du Tacul slope. It is from the ascent that the route begins. The climb looks harsh with cracks and supercharges, but it doesn't look too avalanche-prone, but this is from the outside... Plus, the trail and a few people are being screened. But... In Space, we are told that with such a wind (now it is strong, but according to forecasts it can be up to 70 km/h) and after fresh snow, the avalanche danger is very high. When asked about people on the route: sometimes people are lucky, sometimes not, these are lucky so far, but last year they were unlucky and several went to the hospital, and one went straight to the cemetery. Makes you think... But the top beckons, and the slope looks so interesting and so I want to go, we leave the final decision for the evening and go for a walk to a small patch nearby.
The Pupyr is quite pretty, quite steep, with snow supercharges and a great view of the White Valley. We cover the way to the tent quickly. And we start cooking dinner, the question comes up again whether we are going or not. It is a difficult question, a complex multifaceted problem, and it is necessary to make a decision here and now... And there is no time to wait for the weather - today is Friday, and on Monday we leave.
It is difficult, painfully difficult to make a decision that we are not going to the mountain, although the weather is sunny, but the risk is high. And we decide to go down the next day. And then the fast Pasha will try to make it to Mont Blanc in the classics, where there is no such avalanche danger.
And while we were walking, a couple of Spaniards joined us, who speak English very poorly, but they brought beer upstairs...
The night went well and it was warm enough. The morning had the same sunny weather, several bundles were visible on the route. And again, unnecessary thoughts came into my head, or maybe, but still... But we resisted, went for a walk on another pupyr and went to the Aiguille du Midi. After all, we still have to go down, reassemble Pasha's backpack and send him up on the last Mont Blanc train...
Of course, we did not have time to walk along half of the routes that start at Aiguille du Midi or in the vicinity, but if you decide to go through everything or just plan a route, then below you will find a link to the map of the region.
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