Aiguille du Midi Takes Your Breath Away

IT'S HARD TO BREATHE at the top of Aiguille di Midi, over 12,000 feet above sea level, whether because of the thin air and spectacular scenery - or both.

This trip is not for those who fear heights (Anna is one of those, although she would say "I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of falling.").    A gondola launches from the street level of the town of Chamonix...and goes up, over a ledge and out of sight.

The ride is in two stages. Here, at the launching point of the second stage, the gondola's cables rise vertically and disappear into the cliff face. They ascend all the way - unsupported by pylons - to the tower visible on the pinnacle of the mountain.

The gondola ride is an engineering marvel of it's own, and riding makes you want to be doubly certain that all of those engineers did their jobs.  This is the view of the cables from the top.  From this perspective the mid way station is a spec on the rocks below.  At this point, a strong, whistling alpine wind is causing the gondola to swing on the cable.  Spooky.

Aiguille du Midi is a mountain peak adjacent to Mount Blanc, Europe's highest point.    It towers above Chamonix and is always winter here - on this day it was -2C with a stiff wind.  The launching station pictured above is in the town that is barely visible below in the following photo.

At the highest point of the station on Aiguille du Midi, 2 gondola rides and an elevator to the tip, makes 12,602 feet in total.   We could feel the effects of the thin air here, as many of us where light-headed.   We were also a bit underdressed ;), although we saw several unprepared tourists board the gondola in shorts and a t-shirt.

Mount Blanc towers next to the Aiguille du Midi, the highest point in Europe.  It is forever snow capped, and we were fortunate to catch it on a relatively clear and sunny day.

The mountain is a huge attraction for mountain sports enthusiasts - hikers, climbers, even tight rope walkers and base jumpers. We rode with several of them on the gondola, taking the easy way down....but the hard way up, or vice versa.

 The lookout point also offers spectacular views of the French - and Italian and Swiss - Alps.

The height of the Aiguille di Midi and the clear skies mean that the famous Matterhorn peak - about 100km to the east in Switzerland - is visible from the platform...and in the photo below...if you can find it?  If you draw a line directly from Melissa's jacket zipper in the photo above, the Matterhorn's pyramid shape is in the background peaking out to the right of a mountain in the foreground.

And a few other shots of Mount Blanc herself....

A glacier sweeps down the side of the mountain towards the town of Chamonix.

As we were standing on an observation platform, a worker hooked himself onto to the railing and launched himself over the edge - with a sledge hammer in hand - to do some repair work on some cabling.

Although there is a tremendous amount to do and see in this area, the visit to the Aiguille du Midi is truly a "mountaintop" experience.