Aiguille du Midi gets a spruce up for summer
Although the Midi cable car isn’t closing for an extended period of maintenance in between the winter and summer seasons, it did get a little spring clean the other day to the delight of many watching tourists.
Every couple of years the cabins are completely removed from their cables and flown to Berne in Switzerland where they undergo a thorough MOT. Once there, any necessary repair work is carried out to the floor panels and windows and the whole cabin is given a lick of paint before the summer rush.
Watching the cabins make their precarious flight is quite a sight to behold. Suspended below a Super Puma helicopter, the cabin must hang on a cable a minimum of 90m long; otherwise the down thrust created by the helicopters rotors makes the cabin too heavy for the chopper to lift in the first place. On its return, a team of lift personnel guide the cabin onto specially designed rails at the mid-station from where it can be slid into position and winched back onto its cables.
Anyone wishing to take a ride on the newly snazzed up cable car this summer can do so any day of the week from 8.30am – 4.00pm. A return ticket to the top costs €36 for Adults; €25.20 for Children or you can purchase a Family ticket for €108. It costs an additional €3 to take the lift to the very top viewing point at 3842m.
Photo credit: Le Dauphine
