| 8/8: | Frenchmen Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard became the first to reach
the top of Mont-Blanc (14,421 ft/4,807 m), a mountain in the French Alps.
Their ascension is generally considered the start of professional mountaineering.
Mont-Blanc is the highest peak in Western Europe: http://www.benoit-guyot.com/blanc.html#english
(source: The Learning Kingdom) |