The "Aiguille du Midi"

The "Needle of Mid-day" is a mountain in the French Alps accessed from Chamonix, France, by "Telepherique" - a ride on a gondola with one of the highest vertical ascents on the planet (2807 meters). We (Shirley and I) made this trip with Mary Anderson-Nissen back in May of 1984 - 40 years ago. We were on a trip to Europe - our first trip to continental Europe - which included Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. John and Mary were living and working in Geneva, Switzerland, and we stayed with them there and made a few side-trips while in Geneva including this one to Chamonix. Here is a shot (not made by me) which makes clear how this mountain got its name:

L'Aiguille du Midi. Viewed rom the front of the church in Chamonix, the sun is right over the needle at noon on certain days***************************** I have slightly modified my set-up for making a photo of a slide. I found that putting a slide on a piece of paper was not ideal because paper has fibres in it and with the slide resting right on the paper, those fibres become a part of the picture. So I have done two things: I have put a tissue over the bulb of the lamp, making the light a blank white background, and I have made a hole in the paper so that the slide has no paper behind it. I think that improves the quality. Probably not as good as a scan, but scsnning takes a lot of time, and I don't own a slide scanner in any case.

From the gondola as we ascend out of Chamonix.

Looking down at the installation at the summit of Aiguille du Midi.

Looking up to the summit of Mt. Blanc.

The other gondola coming up as we go down.