Aiguille du Midi (In English: Middle Needle) is a 3842m rocky outcrop in the Mont Blanc mountain range in the French Alps. The world's highest cable car, Téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi, was built to the summit in 1955. The Aiguille summit now contains a panoramic viewing platform, a cafe and a gift shop. The popular Vallée Blanche ski run begins here, and the nearby Cosmos Refuge is the starting point for one of the routes to the Mont Blanc summit. The cable car begins in the town of Chamonix and continues across the Italian border to Courmayeur .