Needles of Chamonix

The needles of Chamonix are a group of mainly rock tops belonging to the Massif of Mont Blanc. Dominating the valley of Chamonix, they represent one of the most famous landscapes of the the French Alps.

Geography

Geographically, they are the needles extending since the Mer from Ice, in north, until the Glacier of Work, in the south. Their altitude lies between 3 000 and 4 000 Mr.

Since the Needle of the South (3 842 m), a peak directed towards the North-East is completed with the Aiguille of the Plan (3 673 m), from which leave a series others crètes.

The south-eastern peak is made of two tops:

the Sugar loaf (the Back of the Plan).
the Tooth of the Shark .

Towards the North-West are:

the Needle of the Pilgrims .
the Needle of the Comb .

The north-eastern peak is composed of three tops:

the Tooth of the Crocodile .
the Tooth of the Caiman .
the Needle of Insane the (3 501 m).

Needle of Blaitière (3 522 m) with the Needle of Grépon (3 482 m), two peaks are detached:

the northern peak, passing from the Needle of Charmoz (3 445 m for Large Charmoz) with the Small Charmoz , finishes with the Needle of Mr.
the north-eastern peak starts with the Aiguille of the Republic and is completed with the Tête of Trelaporte .
the group of the Needle of Blaitière also includes/understands the needle of the Scissors, switches the Insane one, the Lépiney point and the Chevalier point.

The conquest of the Needles

The majority of the needles of Chamonix were climbed early in the history of the Alpinisme:

1818 : Needle of the South.
1871 : Plan switches.
1874 : Switches of Blaitière.
1881 : The rise of Grépon, by A.F. Mummery, A. Burgener, and B. Venetz, on August 5th, 1881, represents a historical date by the realization of one of the first difficult rock climbings.
the needles are traversed by very many routes of varied difficulty. The end of the XXe century saw there an intensive development of the high level rock climbing on the slopes Chamonix and of the Towards Needles.

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