Aiguille du Midi
| Aiguille du Midi | ||
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 Aiguille du Midi (in summer) |
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| height | 3842 m | |
| location | France | |
| Mountains | Mont Blanc massif , Savoy Alps | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 52 '44 " N , 6 ° 53' 16" E | |
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| First ascent | August 5, 1856 by JA Devouassoud, A. and J. Simond (northern summit as early as 1818) |
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| Development | 1927 by a cable car | |
| Normal way | forgotten by the cable car | |
 Aiguille du Midi (right) and Dôme du Goûter (far left) |
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The Aiguille du Midi ( 3842 m ) is a rocky outpost in the Mont Blanc massif south of Chamonix and towers over the city center by 2800 m. The summit area is accessed by a cable car for tourism, is one of the most popular viewpoints on the highest mountain range in the Alps and is the starting point for alpine mountain and ski tours.
Cable car
Overview
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In 1955 the Télépherique de l'Aiguille du Midi cable car opened. It leads from Chamonix to the top of the rock in two sections. From the middle station on the Plan de l'Aiguille ( 2310 m ), the rope hangs for kilometers without intermediate supports and 1467 meters high to the mountain station. The train first travels up over the Les Pelerins glacier before ascending along the north side of the Aiguille du Midi. When it opened, it was considered the highest cable car in the world (height of the mountain station: 3777 m ). The railway has since lost this title, but it is still the second highest cable car in Europe after the railway to the Klein Matterhorn in Zermatt . The mountain station and the associated panoramic terrace, restaurant and café are among the most popular tourist attractions in Chamonix.
The fast ascent often leads to headaches and other symptoms of altitude sickness in sensitive people .
history
The first concrete considerations for building a cable car to the Aiguille du Midi come from two Swiss engineers in 1905. They planned to connect the hamlet of Les Pelerins with the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. The project encountered insurmountable technical implementation difficulties at the time and was canceled for this reason.
Four years later people tried the challenge again, this time it was the French company Funicular Railways . A partial success was the opening of the first cable car section Les Pelerins - La Para in 1924.
The second section, La Para - Les Glaciers , was completed three years later. The further planning initially included a third section - whose valley station, also known as “coffee grinders” or “iron” because of its shape, is still enthroned as a ruined building above Chamonix at 2400 m - on the Aiguille di Midi, which, however, due to geological problems, is initially slightly lower located Col du Midi was re-planned and was finally abandoned entirely. From the opening of the second section in 1927, the cable car bore the honorable title of cable car with the highest mountain station in the world . However, this was never the case, as the highest cable car in the world was the Zugspitzbahn, which went into operation in 1926 (2805 m). The newly built cable car to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi in 1955 then rightly carried the title until it went to the cable car built in 1979 on the Klein Matterhorn in Zermatt .
With the outbreak of World War II and the construction of the Planpraz - Brévent cable car , the popularity of the cable car declined and operations ceased in 1951.
The Italian engineer Count Dino Lora Totino , who had previously planned a cable car to the summit of the Matterhorn , planned to rebuild the cable car to the Aiguille du Midi on a different route with a lower station to the left and a new middle station at Plan du Midi. After four years of intensive construction work, the construction of the two sections of the new Telepherique de l'Aiguille du Midi cable car by the German company Heckel was completed, the second section of which still overcomes the greatest difference in height of a pillarless cable car.
In 1991 the entire facility was completely renovated.
The summit building
Here you will find a souvenir shop, a snack bar and a cafeteria as well as a gourmet restaurant, named 3842 , due to the altitude . The souvenir shop has a special edition of stamps depicting the Aiguille du Midi in its sales offer. The postcards can be thrown into a post box directly on the mountain.
Transmitter at the summit
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Aiguille du Midi transmitter
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| Basic data | |
| Place: | Chamonix-Mont-Blanc |
| Department: | Haute-Savoie |
| Region: | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes |
| Country: | France |
| Coordinates : | 45 ° 52 '43.3 " N , 6 ° 53' 14.5" E |
| Use: | Broadcasting station |
| Tower data | |
| Data on the transmission system | |
| Waveband : | FM transmitter |
| Radio : | VHF broadcasting |
| Send type: | Digital television |
On top of the summit there is also a relatively weak radio and television transmission system, which can be received a few hundred kilometers away using a directional antenna.
More cable cars
From the Aiguille du Midi, the technically unique small gondola lift Vallée Blanche leads over the Glacier du Géant to Pointe Helbronner ( Italy ) at 3462 m . The return journey from Aiguille du Midi takes around two hours, and from the valley town of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc it takes between four and five hours. The Pointe Helbronner can also be reached by cable car from La Palud near Courmayeur in the Aosta Valley via the Rifugio Torino at 3375 m . Thus, a system of several cable cars spans the entire Mont-Blanc massif. Because of the frequent strong winds over Glacier de Géant, the cable car to Pointe Helbronner runs only irregularly.
Alpinism
The first ascent of the lower north summit took place on August 4, 1818 by the Pole Antoni Malczewski and six guides. On August 5, 1856, J. Alexandre Devouassoud, A. and J. Simond climbed the southern summit for the first time as part of an expedition organized by Count Ferdinand de Bouillé . Due to the construction of the cable car, the normal routes on the Aiguille du Midi were forgotten again.
A large number of sport climbing routes lead through the south face; Despite the proximity to the cable car, one shouldn't ignore the great height and the alpine surroundings. The south face became famous through the route by Maurice Baquet and Gaston Rébuffat , which they opened on July 13, 1956 and which is now called Rébuffatführe (VI +) after the first ascent.
An ascent to Mont Blanc begins from the mountain station (via the Refuge des Cosmiques and crossing of Mont Maudit ).
In spring the Aiguille du Midi is the starting point for the high alpine ski route Vallée Blanche , which leads over the Glacier de Géant and the Mer de Glace to Montenvers and Chamonix. With a length of approx. 20 km and a difference in altitude of 2800 m, it is considered to be the longest ski route in the Alps that can be reached with a lift .
photos
Aiguille du Midi
Aiguille du Midi photographed from the helicopter
Aiguille du Midi in winter
Descent from the Aiguille du Midi by cable car to Chamonix
North side in winter
Cable car gondola to the Aiguille du Midi, seen from the Plan de l'Aiguille middle station (2310 m).
Panorama with Mont Blanc and mountain station
Covered terrace
See also
Web links
- Website of the Aiguille du Midi cable car (French, English)
- chamonix.com - The official website of the Chamonix valley (German, English, French, ...)
- Aiguille du Midi on chamonix.net (English, French)
- Aiguille du Midi on SummitPost (English)
- Téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi. In: remontees-mecaniques.net . Retrieved on October 24, 2011 (French, detailed photo report on the construction and remainder of the first cable car).
- (Very nice) photo gallery on Tripadvisor
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bolesław Oleksowicz: Antoni Malczewski. In: WIRTUALNA BIBLIOTEKA LITERATURY POLSKIEJ, VIRTUAL LIBRARY OF POLISH LITERATURE. Retrieved August 12, 2010 (Polish, English).
- ↑ L'Aiguille du Midi et son telephérique (3842 meters). Retrieved August 12, 2010 (French).
- ↑ Hartmut Eberlein: Area guide for mountaineers and climbers Mont-Blanc-Gruppe . Bergverlag Rudolf Rother , Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7633-2414-3 .