Aiguilles du Diable — Pointe Carmen
Named after Carmen, the heroine of Bizet's 1875 opera — one of several capricious 'mistresses-and-devils' names attached to the five Aiguilles du Diable by Chamonix guides in the late 19th century, in keeping with the 'devil's needles' theme.
Second-highest of the Aiguilles du Diable, on the SE ridge of Mont Blanc du Tacul; the first of the needles to be climbed.
One of the five Aiguilles du Diable on the south ridge of Mont Blanc du Tacul. Climbed in the early 1920s during the systematic campaign of the Chamonix guide Armand Charlet, who with various partners completed first ascents of all five needles and in 1928, with Camille Devouassoux and Bradford Washburn, made the first integral traverse — Corne du Diable → Pointe Chaubert → Pointe Médiane → Pointe Carmen → L'Isolée → Mont Blanc du Tacul — which remains one of the finest granite traverses in the western Alps.
Summit · huts that serve as bases for routes on this peak
- Refuge des Cosmiques3,613 m