I’m off out to Chamonix in a few weeks to meet friends I wont be skiing due to on going back issues so will have a day or two hangout on my own.

I have been up the Aiguille Du Midi when I was a teenager that was over 30 years ago ! Trouble is i’m not so happy about heights now ! Ill be on my own so wont have a safety net of someone calming me down if I feel panicky at any point. Also have it in my head that if I do go to the top I wont be able to breath properly…not fit at the moment and 2 stone over weight…

…but I want to overcome my fear !

Worth going halfway (lots cheaper) or take the plunge ?

thanks in advance

Top is an overpriced tourist trap, worth it if you are heading to climb something or ski down.

Top is an overpriced tourist trap, worth it if you are heading to climb something or ski down.

Good views though.

[img]https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3480/4565838164_76b024d482_o.jpg[/img]

Breathing should be fine, i’ve been up there a few times overweight and not had any major issues, just don;t run around!! Although it is a tourist trap, it does have great views and is a nice place to relax for a bit.

It is pricey but I’d feel a bit disappointed only going halfway up.

The big dam just past valorcine where the TDF went last year looks great as well. Think you can get the train from Cham.

It is an extra-ordinary place. I have only ever been up once as I too have a fear of heights and its a bit of a hassle / expensive. How about the ice caves, you can also go up Brevent, there is a little restauarnt there and wonderful views on a clear day. Is your back ok for walking, plenty of snow shoe trails, petit balcon through Levancher ?

EDIT Dam is at Emossen. Go to tourist office and ask for walking / non skiing ideas they are always very helpful.

just don;t run around!!

THIS!!!!

We went up planning to have some lunch up there, i thought i’d experiment with altitude and run up the stairs there – it all went a bit surreal after that….

IIRC you can get a cable onwards across a glacier from the top (?to Italy?) – why not make it a proper day out.

I think they’ve opened up some new bits over the last couple of years so you can scare yourself even more 😕

Was up there about 5 years ago. I have no head for heights at all, and I was fine, albeit slightly nervous. You could feel the altitude, but no issue really.

Amazing views though, and you have to admire the people who built it 😮

OK I’ll admit my views are a little tarnished then… Climbing in over one of the viewing platforms was fun though

If they were having people keeling over, then they wouldn’t be facilitating it. You probably won’t be up there long enough for the effects of altitude sickness and certainly not pulmonary oedema. If you do get any effects from altitude, it will be some headache and nausea when you get back. Maybe there’s a time limit on how long they let you stay up there. The only shortness of breath you’ll feel is climbing steps etc

IME altitude effects on people aren’t particularly related to fitness, weight, age etc it’s just completely random and there’s only one way to find out. I know people who’ve turned up unfit and overweight and climbed straight to 4500m and stayed at that height overnight with no ill effects. I know fitness freaks who can’t stay overnight in a hut at 3000m without being very ill by the next morning and having to descend.

Great place and worth the return trip across to Italy and back for great views up Mt Bl

Exposure is manageable – though you might not like the bridge!,

Had a chance to go across on the cable car when I was biking in Cham, instead I caught a chair partway and walked up to the little cafe and viewing platform overlooking the Bosson Glacier instead.
Enjoyed it, but I rather wish I’d gone up to the top of L’Aiguille Du Midi instead.

Back in the day of being an impoverished climber it was a great place for free packed lunches as the loads of tourist got to the top, felt sick, dumped their nice pre-packed unopened hotel lunches in the bins. Happy days.

unfitgeezer – Member
Also have it in my head that if I do go to the top I wont be able to breath properly…not fit at the moment and 2 stone over weight…

Fit or not, you will get short of breath climbing stairs near where the gondola drops you.

Great place and worth the return trip across to Italy and back for great views up Mt Bl

Yes to this. Also Grand Montet is a great viewpoint and less of a tourist trap. My elderly mum and dad did OK up there.

Used to be a source of great summer amusement watching coach loads of t-shirt wearing sweaty tourists pile into the lower cable car, knowing that in a while they’d be huddled together shivering as the top cable car emptied them out at 4000m+.

Back in my mountain adventurous days we spent 3 nights camping on the glacier at the back of the Midi whilst hitting all the local summits, fantastic days. I’d say it’s must and the cable car across to Italy, wouldn’t think you’d have any breathing issue as long as you don’t run about, like the other said.

Will never forgot the first time you walk out of the Midi fully kitted up and cross the snow bridge onto the ridge, wakes you up very quickly with exposure like that 😯

I was really fit when I visited 20 odd years ago and a run up the steps nearly killed me. My girlfriend was fine though.
It was something though to be so high up and still see the climbers going up some more. I wouldn’t have swapped for anything.
Amazing view though just like being up in a plane.

It’s a funny place. A sort of weird jump-off point between the real world and the outdoor one. I did the Cosmiques ages ago and stepping over the railing at the end onto an observation platform full of tourists was just properly bizarre.

Nice views, worth taking some binoculars up with you and playing ‘spot the climber’.

I had been climbing on Mt Blanc du Tacul and climbed the arête des cosmiques as a more interesting way back to cable car.. I has a nasty fall which shook me up a little so was a bit edgy. Then arrived at the tourist platform which was full of Japanese tourists who proceeded to pour sake down our necks.

Adrenaline, sake and altitude are not a great combination !!!

Will never forgot the first time you walk out of the Midi fully kitted up and cross the snow bridge onto the ridge, wakes you up very quickly with exposure like that

Yes when I set foot on the ridge having walked across from the Torino I was immediately “impressed” by the view down to Chamonix swimming pool.

going to the bar at the top of brevent and looking towards mt blanc is a rad spot. also grand montets. dont go up aguille if you cant see the spire

If the weather is good the 360 degree views (from different points) are amazing – my favourite being out towards the Periades & Dent du Geant.

Like Jedi says though – don’t bother if you can’t see the spire!

It’s only about 3,800m so you might get a bit breathless (altitude effects different people differently irrespective of their fitness over about 2,500m but only mild symptoms until you go above about 3,600m)

The views from the Plan de l’Aiguille (the mid-station) are nowhere near as ‘panoramic’ as they are from the top – you can only see down to valley & Chamonix

The cable car across to Italy is closed in the winter, but it might still be worth a trip through the tunnel to Courmayeur where the ‘Pointe de helbronner’ cable car and facilities have recently been modernised and extended with the ‘Skyway Monte Bianco’. Kindof makes the midi lift look a bit like something out of ‘Where Eagles Dare’ now …

Fit or not, you will get short of breath climbing stairs near where the gondola drops you.

Heh! Just like when I rode the logging road from Vail Village up to Mid-Vail, I did a little sprint up a short slope to the cable-car tower, then stood there, gasping for breath, pain in my chest and lots of sparkly lights across my vision; I honestly thought I was having a coronary!

This is the view from the Italian Side of Monte Bianco but you get the idea … the vista, the altitude and ‘rarefied air’ @3,800m just adds to the experience. Even if you only go up to the top for the views it’s worth doing I reckon – I always have the song ‘I can see for miles’ by The Who as my ‘earworm’ 🙂

Not sure the Helbronner lift is open this time of year.
Good trip if you can get on.
The Aguile du Midi is great.
If you can get on the lift, stay in the middle not by the window, you don’t have to seek out the exposure up there, walk in and go for a coffee and a bite to eat, take it easy and then have a look about and maybe some of the observation points.

Helbronner is definitely closed in winter. As others have said, definitely worth getting the second stage to the top, but only if visibility is good and forecast to stay that way else it is a bit of a waste of time.

Glad to hear that I’m not the only idiot to do an amateur experiment of altitude on yourself by sprinting up the metal staircase to the view platform; I very nearly passed out after that and had a fair old headache for a while after. The stupidity of youth.

But, worth doing it, by far the best panorama in the Alps based on what I’ve been to.

From earlier today.
Aguile du Midi Cam
Checking this hourly while at “work” at the moment as I’m off there next Thursday.