Aiguille du Midi vs Punta Helbronner – which one you should do?

Skyway Monte Bianco viewed from Pavillion, at 2,200m - mid-station of the Skyway Monte Bianco.

Aiguille du Midi vs Punta Helbronner – which one you should do?

Aiguille du Midi or Punta Helbronner- which one you should go to visit? Honestly, I would visit both and connect from one another through the Panoramic Mont Blanc Tunnel gondola.

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You can tell my happiness of being on top of the world (at least European world). Here at the Aiguille du Midi. Aiguille du Midi vs Punta Helbronner – which one you should do?

The case for Aiguille du Midi – Aiguille du Midi vs Punta Helbronner – which one you should do?

Aiguille du Midi (3842m) is located in Chamonix, in the border with Italy, and is one of the biggest attractions to go year-round, and lots in the summer to go and see the Mont Blanc (4810 m).

The funicular departs from a very modern lift base that has a shop, a food outlet and the big funicular that takes you to the middle station, from where you take a second funicular to the top. The top has a series of different terraces at different heights, to see 360-degree views of the French, Swiss and Italian Alps in all their splendour plus the magnificent Mont Blanc. Inside the structure is a bit old and you go within a cave, taking an elevator to go up the rock. This does not take the awesomeness of the landscape… It is really worth to go up there, you do feel you are on the top of the world, even though is really the top of Europe!

The Panoramic Mont Blanc lift connects Aiguille du Midi in France, with Punta Helbronner, in Italy. Aiguille du Midi vs Punta Helbronner – which one you should do?

You can connect to go to Italy via the Panoramic Mont Blanc lift, which is a series of three gondolas (cable cars) going together on top of the Mer de Glace (the glacier sea) that zips you to Italy to Punta Helbronner (3466 m). This gondola has reopened last year after being closed for a bit due to one of the cabins falling on the glacier. I’ve written about it in this post some time ago. Still, this happened in winter, when this lift was closed, and it was due to a massive snow storm combined with really cold temperatures which froze the snow on top of the cable and its weight made it snap.

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June 27, 2019

A Feltrinelli bookshop at an altitude of 3466: Europe’s highest bookshop opens on Mont Blanc

From IlLibrario.it

60 square meters at an altitude of 3,466 meters and a literary proposal addressed to those who love walking in the woods, surrounded by nature, to those who are always looking for stimuli and points of view, to those who challenge their own limits and to those who feel the need to escape (and find themselves) in open solitudes. The images are of the new library in the Punta Helbronner’s station of the Rotating Funicular Skyway Mont Blanc.

Skyway Monte Bianco. La Feltrinelli at 3,466 m. Photo Lorenzo Passioni. A Feltrinelli bookshop at an altitude of 3466: Europe's highest bookshop opens on Mont Blanc — Skyway Monte Bianco. La Feltrinelli at 3,466 m. Photo Lorenzo Passioni. A Feltrinelli bookshop at an altitude of 3466: Europe’s highest bookshop opens on Mont Blanc

On the Mont Blanc, inside the Punta Helbronner station– The SkyWay, the third floor of the Skyway Monte Biancodi Funivie Montebianco S.p.a.: here Feltrinelli has chosen to inaugurate the highest bookshop in Europe.

“What makes the mountain unique and the lucky explorer is the possibility of looking at the world from a different and exciting point of view. And this is precisely what makes a good book and the mountain, the reader and the traveller, so similar”, reads the presentation of LaFeltrinelli 3466 (the photos are by Lorenzo Passoni, ed).

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February 1, 2018February 1, 2018

The Panoramic Mont-Blanc lift, that connected Aiguille du Midi with Punta Helbronner has fallen down and will be closed this coming summer.

The gondolas that go on top of the Mar de Glace, from Aiguille du Midi in France (Chamonix) to Punta Helbronner in Italy (Courmayeur)

The Panoramic Mont-Blanc lift finished in the ground after suffering very weird conditions. A thick ice cover, thicker than the width of the cable covered a very long stretch of cable creating a very heavy mass, which made the cable collapse.

The Mont Blanc Panoramic Lift has fallen to the ground due to the weight of ice on top of its cable.

Continue reading “The Panoramic Mont-Blanc lift, that connected Aiguille du Midi with Punta Helbronner has fallen down and will be closed this coming summer.”

Tag: Punta Helbronner