Cover Photo: The Dru
Here is a collection of photos from the Chamonix village just before John and my summit of the Aiguille de Tour. We have gotten to know Chamonix pretty well over the years and enjoy hanging around the center area, chilling at cafes, enjoying the many restaurants, and the late-night bar and club scene. There is always so much activity, from local markets, hiking and climbing, skiing for some, and enjoying the culture of the birthplace of modern alpinism. I enjoy visiting the bookstores, photoshops, gear stores, cutlery shops, cheese mongers, and the weekly local markets for food.
“In 1916, Chamonix changed its name to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. A name change designed to cement and place, in the public eye, the close ties that the town had established, and wished to preserve, with Mont Blanc the highest mountain in the European Alps.
In 1760 Horace Bénédict de Saussure, offered a financial reward to anyone who could complete the first ascent of Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco in Italian). Saussure was a Genevan Aristocrat, Geologist, Physicist and Alpine traveller. He also wrote Les Voyages dans les Alpes documenting his travels and is regarded by many as the founder of Alpinism.
Several unsuccessful attempts were made over the next few years to climb Mont Blanc and it wasn’t until 8 August 1786 that the reward was claimed by two local Chamonix men who climbed the mountain from the Chamonix valley. They were Jacques Balmat, a Chamois hunter and crystal collector, and Dr Michel Gabriel Paccard, a Chamonix doctor.
A bronze stature was erected in the town’s main square in 1887 to commemorate the centenary of the first ascent. Seen from behind, it is dramatic: two men, one of them pointing to Mont Blanc with an outstretched arm. You can sense the celebration inherent in the stance.
Walk around it and view it from the front and you will be surprised to find that the statue is not of Balmat and Paccard the two pioneering Mountaineers, but of Balmat and his ‘financier’ Saussure. What of Paccard? Why was he not part of this commemorative statue?
In our era we are familiar with the concept of events and stories being manipulated to massage egos and promote one person over another. It may come as a surprise to learn that the account of the first ascent of Mont Blanc was progressively mis-told and manipulated to promote one man (Balmat) and belittle his companion (Paccard).
The instigator of this misrepresentation was Marc-Theodore Bourrit, another Alpine traveller who had himself failed to find a route to the summit of Mont Blanc and who wrote accounts of the successful ascent denigrating the role Paccard played and promoting Balmat as the ‘braver and fitter’ leader. He even wrote to the King of Sardinia (the Chamonix region of France at that time being part of the Kingdom of Sardinia) who on the basis of the account supplied to him by Bourrit lauded Balmat as ‘Balmat le Mont Blanc’. Paccard didn’t take this lying down but reacted by demanding Balmat sign an affidavit denying Bourrit’s version of events. It had, in fact, been Paccard who was the leader of the two and who reached the summit first, Sadly by now the damage was done and Balmat (despite the affidavit that he signed for Paccard) continued to boast in a conceited way about his part in the ascent, and sadly Chamonix chose to believe him. And for many years thereafter articles and books including Balmat’s own autobiography continued to promote Balmat over his companion. With this knowledge it comes as no surprise that the Bronze statue erected at the time of the centenary effectively airbrushed Paccard out from the glory of that first ascent.”
LensScaper [Andy Hooker], “The story behind the first ascent of Mont Blanc”, 12-17-2012, https://lensscaper.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/the-story-behind-the-first-ascent-of-mont-blanc/, 07-31-2024
Views of town of Chamonix du Mont Blanc.
These are people photos of John Lee, Fabian McKinnon, and his Daughter. John and I met Fabian the previous winter season when we took the Introduction to Ice Climbing course with the International School of Mountaineering. He would be a frequent companion on our trips to Chamonix. One of my favorite stories from Chamonix is from my friend and climbing partner Joe Erickson aka Unkle. On this trip I purchased a nice set fo silver Laguiole cutlery from a fine ship in town and had them shipped to me in the US. A couple of weeks after this trip Joe emailed me and said he was in a knife ship in town while on a work (“ski”) trip and saw a package with my name on it. Small world.
More mountains to inspire us.
