First Ascent of Mont Blanc

August 8, 1786

Jacques Balmat, a chamois hunter, and Michel Paccard, a doctor, climbed alpine Europe's highest peak from Chamonix after earlier failed attempts. They spent a night on the ice; Balmat's fingers blistered. Horace Benedict de Saussure had offered the prize. Modern mountaineering began on a single windy afternoon. Saussure himself would summit the following year, carrying barometers and thermometers to measure the atmosphere at altitude.