If the Pic du Midi and its transmitter are now an integral part of the Hautes-Pyrénées landscape, its installation between 1957 and 1959 constituted a real challenge. In its early days, the tip of the peak contained only a 500-watt transmitter fed by a beam from Bordeaux. The realization of the current version of the transmitter in 1959 relied on the delicate task of docking a 328-ft high antenna (100 m) at an altitude of about 9,440 ft (2,877 m). The weather conditions at the top of the peak did not make it easy, with winds of up to 167.77 mph (270 km/h).