Mont Blanc Cable Car Out of Action

The main cable of the Aiguille du Midi cable car has fallen onto the principle access route to the mountain resort of Chamonix. A maintenance crew was trying to shorten the cable by 8 meters when they lost control of it.

The cable links Chamonix at 1000 meters with the first cable car station at 2300 meters. Fortunately no one was underneath the cable when it fell. The police have put a detour in place. The maintenance operation should have been a standard procedure to shorten the cable after a year in service.

Earlier in the year a helicopter hit the cable of the Grand Montets cable car during avalanche clearance. The accident follows a series of incidents with French cable cars including a crash on the prestigous Vanoise Express during running in.

The Aiguille du Midi cable car serves the popular Vallée Blanche off-piste route and is also used by climbers and ski mountaineers climbing Mont Blanc. The maintenance operation was scheduled to last a week but will be considerably longer.

Posted by davidof on Monday, 10 May, 2004 at 07:25 PM

I am born 10th of May 1971 - and first time I got a ski injury was this year in Chamonix Valley Blanche ! ( See at Top Stories - Danger, Crevasse ) .

What a chance ! Now our planned Chamonix trip becomes futile for now !

Bernhard Franz

Posted by on Friday, 14 May, 2004 at 09:02 PM

Any news on repairs? A colleague is off there this summer for some climbing. He’s hearing that one school of thought is that its easy to repair. Meanwhile there is a school of thought that is shaking its head, sucking air through its teeth and totting up the cost of a new cable.

Posted by on Tuesday, 18 May, 2004 at 05:23 PM

No news yet. I was talking to a member of the Chamonix Gendarmerie yesterday who said it was probably going to take sometime, possibly July and that local guides were concerned about the impact it will have on their business.

See the Chamonix OHM site for contact details

http://www.ohm-chamonix.com/

Posted by davidof on Sunday, 23 May, 2004 at 12:21 AM