Post by nickchu

Guest Post by Jamie Clarkson.

Téléphérique de L’Aiguille. Image by Jamie Clarkson.

No holiday in Chamonix, France is complete without a trip up the imposing ‘Needle of Mid-day’ on the infamous Téléphérique de L’Aiguille du Midi. When I visited Chamonix this summer, I was inclined (no pun inteded) to think the same.

Map of L’Aiguille du Midi and the Arve valley.

The intermediate station can be seen near the middle of the picture. Image by Jamie Clarkson.

I tried to ride the system on a Tuesday, but since a technical problem had caused long queues, combined with the fact that the Télécabine Panoramic du Mont Blanc gondola – which is situated at the mountain top – to Italy was closed, I decided to visit the next day. So on Wednesday, I arrived early in the morning. Fortunately, the problems on the Télépherique de L’Aiguille du Midi were now fixed, the Télécabine Panoramic Mont Blanc was reopened, and the weather was lovely. This was certainly a perfect day for riding France’s highest tourist attraction!

At first, I found the queuing system a little strange. After buying a ticket, you were supplied with a number. Once given your card you were told to wait until it was your slot – my number was 17. In the end, it turned out to be a very effective method for minimising congestion, even though the station appeared to be quite crowded. It took perhaps half an hour to reach number 17 from about number 8. This worked out well since you can simply go off and have a walk around Chamonix before coming back when it’s your turn. If you were further back in the queue (I saw one person with 64), you would possibly have enough time to ride all the other cable cars in the Arve valley! After travelling up to the intermediate station (at 2,317 metres), it was a quick turnover into one of the cars for the journey up the second section.

The view north over Haute-Savoie. Image by Jamie Clarkson.

The view to the Grands Jorasses. Image by Jamie Clarkson.

The second section, at 2867 metres long, is the second longest single span aerial tramway in the world. The ride takes around about ten minutes, and the views on the way up are very good (it would be hard to say incredible! or amazing! even though they were, as most of the views in the Alps tend to be so). Once at the top, two things take your breath away – the panorama, and the cold. You sort of forget, in the midst of all the sunshine and majestic mountains that it’s quite cold up at 3777 metres.

The building on the left is the top station of the Téléphérique de L’Aiguille du Midi. Out of view behind the summit is the Télécabine Panoramic Mont-Blanc which leads to Italy. Image by Michel Caplain.

After a short walk over an amazingly high platform linking the ‘north peak’ to the ‘central peak’ there was a surprisingly small queue to buy tickets for the Télécabine Panoramic Mont-Blanc. This system effectively takes you over to Italy. Personally, I don’t see why you would want to miss it, especially after queuing for about half the morning to get up there in the first place. And plus, the price was not bad, costing only €24.40. There was only a small wait for the group of 3 gondolas to arrive (the system was a pulsed gondola); when they did, the whole system slowed down and the attendant helped everyone board. Each cabin had enough room for four people, but it was not busy and none of them were full.

Leaving the station on the pulsed gondola to Italy.  Image by Jamie Clarkson.

A look down into one of the many crevasses. Image by Jamie Clarkson.

The journey was incredible and filled with amazing views down to the various glaciers flowing off Mont-Blanc. There was a great feeling of remoteness, although down below there were many groups of mountaineers and some skiers on the Vallée Blanche. Around one third of the way across, the gondola went through an intermediary station on Gros Rognon. There was no getting out here: it was purely for support and to change the direction of the cables by 8°. The next section of the line crossed the Glacier du Géant, and there were good views of the various crevasses.

Nearing Italy, it became cloudy and visibility greatly decreased. Suddenly the line approached something very unusual — a suspended support pillar. This contraption involved wires being carried between the rocky outcrops of the ‘Grand and Petit Flambeau’. From this suspended line, there was a normal deflection wheel which you would generally find on a typical tower. It was needed here because the glacier was too unstable to build a normal tower. This type of support could prove useful in cities, where lines could be hung between high buildings, eliminating the need for towers.

The group of gondolas crossing the suspended support pillar. Image by Giorgio Ravera.

Left: Pointe Helbronner. Right: Grand Flambeau. Suspension wires are hanging from Grand Flambeau to where the photo was taken from the Petit Flambeau. Image by www.summitpost.org.

The arrival in Italy was not exactly great as by this time the weather turned foul and unfortunately, we were not allowed to disembark, presumably to reduce queuing. On the way back over to France the weather once again became nicer and I was afforded with more wonderful views. One piece of advice I’d give to anyone going on this journey is to make sure your camera has plenty of space — I ended up taking nearly 500 photos! If necessary it would be a good idea to purchase a spare SD card.

SOME FACTS:

TÉLÉPHÉRIQUE DE L’AIGUILLE

• Aerial Tramway
• Two sections of two cabins
• Total Vertical ascent : 1,035 m to 3842 m
• Second section direct span : 2,867 m
• Total ascent time : 20 minutes
• Adult ticket : €50 there and back
• Nearby mountains : Mont Blanc, Mont Maudit, Mont Blanc du Tacul, Grands Jorrases, Aiguille du Dru,

TÉLÉCABINE PANORAMIC MONT-BLANC

• Pulsed Gondola
• 12 groups of 3 small cabins
• 5100m total span with two intermediary supports
• Longest span:2,831m with sag of 255 m but 300m ground clearance
• From 3,778m at Aiguille du Midi to 3,466 at Pointe Helbronner