The mountain, comprising three separate peaks (in French Aiguille), is the highest point of the massif, and is located in the department of Savoie.

For reasons apparent from the picture, Aiguille Septentrionale is also called the Tête de Chat (Cat Head).

The central peak of the Aiguilles d’Arves was first climbed by the brothers Pierre Alexis and Benoît Nicolas Magnin, from nearby Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, on 2 September 1839.

[2] The southern summit was first climbed by the Swiss mountain guides Christian and Ulrich Almer and their American client, W. A.

On the summit, they found the cairn built by the Magnin brothers, but ascribed it to "a legendary chamois hunter".