A history at the summit
Chamonix, the cradle of modern mountaineering, has a history as rich as the peaks that surround it. It was here, in 1760, that geologist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure undertook the first ascent of the “white molehill” (the nickname he gave to Mont Blanc), thus paving the way for alpine exploration, of which Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard wrote one of the most emblematic pages on August 8, 1786: the first successful ascent of Mont Blanc. Since then, Chamonix has become a place of pilgrimage for mountaineers from all over the world, attracted by the vertiginous challenges and breathtaking panoramas.