Vallée Blanche Aerial Tramway, Gondola lift in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France.
The Vallée Blanche Aerial Tramway is a cable car connection linking two mountain peaks in the Mont Blanc massif across glacier ice, reaching 3777 meters in altitude. The cabins move on thick wire ropes that have no supporting towers beneath them for long stretches.
Construction of this installation started in 1954 and was completed four years later. Engineers developed special anchors for the ice at the time because the glaciers shift under the weight of the ropes.
Alpine climbers use this section of their journey to cross the border between the two countries while traveling through the high mountains. The cabin passes midway above wide glacier surfaces that change color depending on the season and light.
The tramway runs during summer months when weather conditions allow passage and no storms reach the mountains. Those traveling to this altitude for the first time should spend a few days in Chamonix beforehand to adjust to the thin air.
Two kilometers of the route run without any tower beneath the ropes, anchored only to rock walls. The cables stretch across a length of 315 meters between the rock anchors.
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