Grabbing an adrenalin kick at Aiguille du Midi..
Enroute for Aiguille de Midi and arriving early in the morning following a trip from the serenity of a lakeside overnight at Aix les Bains, we took the utterly compelling ‘Route Blanc’ over towering aqueducts and mountain hugging roads, before dropping into Chamonix…
Home of the impressively snow capped peak of Mont Blanc.. and a chance to compare this experience with one of our family favourites when we took a cable car onto the top of the Pyrenees at Pic du Midi. Although the cost of the ‘Télépherique de l’Aiguille du Midi’ is reasonably pricey… it’s worth every penny for both the experience of the cable car rising to over 3800m and the views when we finally arrived at the needle like peak…
This peak soars over the snowfields, glaciers and crags allowing a truly 360˚ view across the French, Swiss and Italian Alps… including a sight of the Mer de Glace (a snaking 7km of glacier that moves down the northern side of Mt Blanc)
The pearly white peaks of Mt Blanc provides a sensational backdrop to the view across the Alps from icy viewpoints that surround the platform, yet there’s more to do…. a chance to experience an ice cave, a multimedia presentation on extreme alpine sports like base lining or Ski Gliding… or even the ‘Step into the Void’ (a glass like box that juts out of the platform with compelling, vertiginous views)
Every region should have Something special
We’ve been fortunate to see some of Europe’s finest over the past 2 years, and each have had something to remember them by. For instance, Tiroler Zugspitze’s Cable Car or Norway’s Geirangerfjord takes some beating…. For those who love a few figures to add some depth to the experience… the Mont Blanc cable car travelled at some 45km/h providing some highly entertaining jolts as it passes across the pylons… there are 22km of bearing/hauling cables to help the ascent to the top…there are only 2 cable cars taking unto 600 passengers an hour!!!
But we’ve decided we’ll be back again… we’ve seen that for a little more money, you can head out the ice cave with your crampons/ice axes and try the 20km descent down from the spike at Aiguille du Midi… a 5hr adrenalin pumping family adventure…. now that would be a great way to finish our 2year journey across Europe!!
Chamonix
so where did we park the bus for the night?
You can simply park up in the campsite under the cable car… if you dare!! Great little French aire and perfect for seeing this area!
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