Green Needle
The switches Verte (4 121 or 4 122 m according to the charts and the sources) are a top of the Massif of Mont Blanc, in Haute-Savoie. It belongs to the 82 tops of more than 4 000 meters listed in the the Alps. Its name would come from the color blue-green which the ice takes which recovers the top when the sun the celandine of profile.
This vast mountain, of access diffcile and a long time unconquered, is articulated in three slopes:
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the Southern slope, where in particular its way of normal rise develops, the Whymper corridor. The access is done by the refuge of the lid (2867m). The descent by this way is perilous and supposes to hold a tight schedule (to go down again before the corridor is too much exposed to the sun) and of excellent conditions of snow and ice; a line of recall recently installation currently allows a descent stripped of risk.
- the slope Nant-White, which dominates the valley of Chamonix,
- the Northern slope or slope Argentière, where one notices in particular the corridor Couturier, long toboggan of snow and ice of more than thousand meters height.
None the ways reaching the top is easy: “with Green, one becomes mountaineer…”
First rise
The first rise was succeeded by Edward Whymper, Christian Almer and Franz Biner the June 29th 1865.
See too
- Classification of the tops of the Alps of more than 4000 meters
- Mont Blanc