Considered the capital of mountaineering, Chamonix shares with Saint-Gervais-les Bains and Saint-Véran the record for the highest municipality in France thanks to the presence on the territory of the municipality of the Aiguille du Midi cable car (at 3,777 meters) and Mont-Blanc, the highest summit in the Alps which peaks at 4,806 meters.
The Mont-Blanc peak in the clouds
This altitude combined with the presence of the numerous peaks that surround it makes Chamonix one of the hotspots for mountaineering since the 18th century.
The Vallée Blanche where one of my idols – Louis Lachenal – died
The Grandes Jorasses and the Dent du Géant
The Aiguille Verte
The Chamonix Aiguilles
The Chamonix valley
L’Aiguille du Midi
Saint-Michel church
At the time part of the Duchy of Savoy, itself part of the Kingdom of Savoy-Sardinia, the town which is called at the time “Chamouny” and which is still only a rural village, is visited in 1741 by William Windham and Richard Pococke, two Englishmen who praise in the Anglo-Saxon gazettes the beauty of a gigantic glacier which would soon be called the “sea of ice”. The curiosity aroused by their writings quickly leads to the arrival of numerous tourists who develop the practice of mountaineering.
In 1760, the aristocrat Horace-Benedict de Saussure promises a strong reward to anyone who reaches the summit of Mont-Blanc. The feat is achieved in 1786 by two men from Chamonix, Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard.
Women are not left out: Marie Paradis is the first woman to reach the summit of Mont-Blanc in 1803, followed in 1838 by Henriette d’Angeville.
In 1792, the Napoleonic army annexes the Duchy of Savoy and the King of Sardinia Victor-Amédée III, who recognizes the annexations, cedes by treaty the town of Nice and Savoy to France in 1796. But Napoleon’s exile soon leads to the restitution of the territories in 1815 to the Kingdom of Sardinia, until 1860 when Victor-Emmanuel II cedes (again) Nice and Savoy to France, according to the secret treaty of Plombières.
The first ascent of the Aiguille du Midi is accomplished in 1818.
The Aiguille du Midi on the right
The Aiguille du Midi on the left
In 1820, a group of three mountaineers disappears while attempting to climb Mont Blanc. Their bodies will only be found forty-one years later, at the bottom of the Bossons glacier. Which reminds me of a chilling episode (that’s fair to say) – from the series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, “The Crystal Trench” which I highly recommend.
The railway built in 1901 opens up Chamonix, which becomes a popular ski resort.
The Winter Olympics are held there in 1924 and mountaineer Maurice Herzog, known worldwide for having reached the summit of Annapurna in 1950, is the city’s mayor from 1968 to 1977.
Today, the rural town no longer exists: Chamonix-Mont-Blanc brings together sixteen hamlets, allows you to reach the Aiguille du Midi by cable car, has a casino and offers numerous activities – for our greatest pleasure.
The Rose du Pont restaurant
February 16, 2024
