Chamonix Celebrates 70 Years of Aiguille du Midi Cable Car

This month, Chamonix is celebrating 70 years since the inauguration of the cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi. For many years the lift was the world’s highest cable car and it still opens up the world’s largest skiable vertical and access to the world’s longest lift-served descent, the Valley Blanche.

Fully inaugurated in 1955, the Aiguille du Midi cable car—rising to an altitude of 3,842 meters—whisks visitors to the gateway of the high mountains in 25 minutes. Although tens of thousands do use it to access the famous ski run each winter, many more come to simply enjoy the  breathtaking panorama it provides from the top of the Mont Blanc massif and the surrounding Alps.

Built without the use of helicopters, its construction was both a technological feat and a remarkable achievement and its history goes back almost 50 years before it was finally completed.

In 1910, the Compagnie des Funiculaires de Montagne decided to build a cable car to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi. A first section, from the Gare des Pèlerins to the Para (located at an altitude of 1696m), was inaugurated in 1924, and during the first Winter Olympics, it was used to transport bobsleighs via a service cable car.

On June 15, 1924, the cable car welcomed its first passengers and became the first aerial funicular in France to transport travellers. A second section to the Gare des Glaciers, at 2414 meters, was opened to the public on August 18, 1927 and in 1940, a service cabin reached the Col du Midi, at 3630 meters.

Finally, the original route was modified to allow the construction of the current cable car, directly linking Chamonix to the Plan de l’Aiguille (2200 m), then to the summit of the Aiguille du Midi (3842 m).

Hats off to the 6 Chamonix and Valdôtain mountaineers who achieved the feat on June 29, 1949, of stretching a cable between the Plan de l’Aiguille and the North Piton of the Aiguille du Midi !

And what about the 30 workers, nicknamed «the Spiders of the Sky,» who worked and lived at the summit of the Aiguille du Midi to offer the world and Chamonix the highest cable car in the world?

The first section became operational on July 25, 1954, and the second section was inaugurated on June 24, 1955.

This summer, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of this iconic cable car, a photo exhibition will be displayed on various floors of the site, retracing the epic story of its construction, with a tribute in images to the forces that made this technological feat possible.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to pose in front of the restored cabin of the second section, painted in the colours of the time, which will be installed on the plaza at the Aiguille du Midi.